Club Statement

The former Newcastle United, Fulham and Sunderland midfielder, who turned 42 earlier this week, has agreed a one-year rolling deal at Bloomfield Road.Having started his managerial career with Huddersfield Town in 2008, Clark guided The Terriers to two play-off campaigns and broke Football League records by overseeing a 43-game unbeaten run in regular season matches.Clark has since spent two-and-a-bit seasons in charge of Birmingham City, consolidating the club and introducing a number of young, academy players to his squad during a time of player upheaval. Last season he kept The Blues in The Championship in a dramatic match on the final day.As a player, Clark was promoted to the Premier League with all three clubs he served and also represented England Under-21s on 11 occasions. Prior to becoming a manager, he spent time as a coach at Newcastle and assistant manager at Norwich City.On his appointment, Lee Clark said: "I am absolutely delighted. The main objective is to try and keep the club in The Championship and build from there. It is a big challenge because of our position in the league but it's a challenge that can be overcome."It's one that if we achieve what we set out to achieve, which is to stay in the league, it will be a tremendous feat by the whole group. I'm very confident with the players I've got here, in what we can do going forward, that we can achieve those goals."Chairman Karl Oyston added: "We needed someone with experience of The Championship and that's what Lee brings to the club. Lee's done remarkably well in a difficult background at Birmingham."We needed someone to come in and organise us properly and bring in the structure, approach and positivity that we've been lacking. Results have demonstrated that."Lee is bright and positive and we're happy to support his plans for the squad moving forward."