I always like it when someone goes early , a bit like the fruitcake who was giving it the big un after the first game of last season and told us all how clueless we all were , how did that one work out YN ?
Well first of all nobody knows if it's good news since we are several months away from the start of a new season and haven't anything to go on .
Every club requires a HC or a manager so that in itself is just appointing someone because the business requires it to , nothing more than that .
My research tells me he's a pragmatic HC with no particular style of play on his cv , he'll assess the way he wants to play when he's had a good look at the remaining squad and whatever if any the club can bring in .
So expect a style of play that Clarke feels he can be successful with would be my shout .
The motives for his acceptance of the job are pretty easy to work out , he knows it's a dysfunctional club but if he does well in a Duff / Collins Way then a bigger job may well be in the offering possibly as early as next year and he can get out higher up the pyramid , Duff got the Huddersfield job based on what he did at Oakwell not Swansea .
The Cheltenham job doesn't offer him that opportunity so career wise it's a risk worth taking , at the worst he'll probably get back in at a club in league two .
Again the done well on a meagre budget fits the profile we are currently seeking although he's some fails on that c.v notably at Walsall and he didn't save Cheltenham from the drop either last season , if we were in the same financial position as we were in 2018 when we hired Stendel I pretty much doubt he'd even have got an interview .
Whether he's a success here will depend on the recruitment or how quickly some young and returning players perform , again none of us know what's ahead on that score .
So to sum up we've managed to attract a HC who is prepared to take a chance at a dysfunctional club because his present job at newly relegated Cheltenham doesn't offer the same route to a bigger club and as everyone knows this is a risk and reward game .
Lots of moving parts to consider , after the first 10 games next season we will probably know more .
Hopefully he starts better than he did at Cheltenham last season .