BREAKING NEWS: Reading sack Steve Clarke after less than a year

Jamie Clark, Sports Editor | December 4, 2015

Steve Clarke has been sacked as head coach of Championship club Reading, after a last-gasp defeat at home to QPR on Thursday night left the Berkshire club with just one win in eight matches.

The Scottish boss, 52, sees his reign at the Madejski Stadium cut short 12 days before the one-year anniversary of his appointment. Clarke won 19 of 53 matches in charge of the Royals, giving him a success ratio of just under 36 per cent.

Poor form behind dismissal

Reading remain a point off the play-offs, but have played a game more than the teams above them, with Coral offering promotion odds of 8/1.

“Following Thursday night’s defeat at home to QPR, added to a recent run of poor form which has seen the team pick up just one win in the last eight Championship fixtures, the board feel that a change in manager is now necessary,” an official Royals club statement read.

“As part of this process, assistant manager Kevin Keen will also be leaving the club, and we would like to thank him for his efforts. In the interim period, Under-21s Manager Martin Kuhl will take temporary charge of first team affairs.”

Fulham in his future?

Clarke held talks with Fulham over their managerial vacancy in November, and may now once again be a target for the Craven Cottage club despite his strong ties to west London rivals Chelsea. He is odds-on at 1/2 to be next permanent manager of Fulham.