Clarke appoints number two

Steve Clarke has made his first backroom staff addition, bringing Kevin Keen to the Madejski Stadium.

The former West Ham midfielder was in the dug out with Clarke yesterday, in our 1-0 defeat to Watford. He leaves his youth coaching role he had at Fulham, where he was under 18s manager, which he only started back in July, since being sacked from West Brom with Clarke.

Keen has spent the majority of his coaching career with West Ham United, where he first became aligned with Clarke. He then went onto coach with the Scot at Liverpool, both working under Kenny Dalglish, before Brendan Rodgers’ appointment saw the duo depart the Reds.

It is unknown whether Clarke will seek any more backroom staff members, but with Sal Bibbo (goalkeeping) and Neil Harvey (sport science) still at the club, there appears to be not need. The only other name would be Keith Downing, whom Clarke worked with at West Brom.