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Steve Clarke has categorically denied his move to Fulham broke down due to a last minute hitch over bonus payments.

Last week Royals boss faced the media and said he had decided to reject a switch to Craven Cottage because he felt ‘Reading was more appealing’.

He said the his decision “wasn’t about money, it was about professionalism and ambition.”

But then on Sunday a story emerged contradicting Clarke’s version of events.

Written by Wayne Veysey, a former Evening Standard, Press Association and Goal chief correspondent who now calls himself the Football Insider, the report claimed that the move collapsed when Clarke and his agent ‘tried to renegotiate lucrative top-up bonuses’.

It quotes a Fulham source as saying “Steve Clarke had agreed the contract with (Fulham owner) Shahid Khan. It was then passed over to Clarke’s agent Phil Smith who wanted to renegotiate more money.

“The structure of the basic salary was fine. It was additional elements that was the problem, the bonuses.

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"The tweaks (to the contract) were so substantial that Fulham were not willing to consider them. Shahid Khan said, ‘no thanks, we won’t be doing that’.”

But, speaking at his weekly press conference at Hogwood Park on Thursday morning, Clarke poured scorn on the story.

“It’s not true,” he vowed.

“I don’t think they even got the name of my agent right in the article, which says it all.

“That tells you everything about it.”