Clark in at Birmingham and Howe's in the top half

27 June 2012 10:35
Birmingham City, who recently lost manager Chris Hughton to Norwich City, appointed, as expected, former Huddersfield Town boss Lee Clark as manager yesterday. Eddie Howe, 12th longest serving manager

The Birmingham fans must have gone through a period of panic when such names as Paul Ince were linked with the job but it was Clark they finally turned to and he's already appointed former Liverpool and Newcastle midfielder Terry McDermott as his number two.

McDermott worked with McDermott at Huddersfield along with ex-Blackburn defender Derek Fazackerly who is also expected to move to St. Andrew's.

He'd been with Huddersfield from December 2008, when he replaced former Burnley manager Stan Ternent, until he was surprisingly dismissed in February of this year. During his time at the Galpharm he led Huddersfield to a run of 43 league games without defeat, a run only ever bettered once in league football by Nottingham Forest in the 1970s.

Clark was twice linked with the Burnley job, firstly in January 2010 and again a year later, although it was later confirmed that the target the second time was Steve Clarke, now in charge at West Brom.

Clark's appointment means all the Championship clubs now have a manager with only Premier League Tottenham and League Two club Gillingham searching for new bosses.

The list of managers in the Championship shows just how often clubs do make changes. Eddie Howe, appointed at Burnley in January of last year is now in the top half of those 24 managers (he's 39th overall of the 92 clubs) and only five have been in charge for over two years.

And who knows, there could still be more changes before the big kick off. Speculation continues to suggest that Gianfranco Zola will replace Sean Dyche at Watford.

The Championship managers ahead of the 2012/13 season are (in order of length of service)

Kenny Jackett (Millwall) - 6th November 2007Nigel Clough (Derby) - 6th January 2009Ian Holloway (Blackpool) - 21st May 2009Gus Poyet (Brighton) - 10th November 2009Owen Coyle (Bolton) - 8th January 2010Tony Mowbray (Middlesbrough) - 26th October 2010Steve Kean (Blackburn) - 13th December 2010Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace) - 1st January 2011Paul Jewell (Ipswich) - 10th January 2011Darren Ferguson (Peterborough) - 12th January 2011Chris Powell (Charlton) - 14th January 2011Eddie Howe (Burnley) - 16th January 2011Keith Hill (Barnsley) - 1st June 2011Malky Mackay (Cardiff) - 17th June 2011Sean Dyche (Watford) - 21st June 2011Steve Cotterill (Nottingham Forest) - 17th October 2011Derek McInnes (Bristol City) - 21st October 2011Nigel Pearson (Leicester) - 15th November 2011Neil Warnock (Leeds) - 18th February 2012Simon Grayson (Huddersfield) - 20th February 2012Dave Jones (Sheffield Wednesday) - 2nd March 2012Steve Bruce (Hull) - 8th June 2012Lee Clark (Birmingham) - 26th June 2012Ståle Solbakken (Wolves) - 1st July 2012

Source: FOOTYMAD