Now Hammers have the mark of Clarke

Despite feeling frustrated about how little time he was spending coaching Chelsea's players under Luiz Felipe Scolari, he was enjoying learning from the World Cup winner and assumed he'd only leave Chelsea to take up a manager's job elsewhere.

"Then, out of the blue, I got a phone call from Gianfranco [Zola] saying that he had a chance of the West Ham job and, if he got it, would I come?" explained Clarke.

The 45-year-old's initial reaction was to say no because it wasn't a manager's position he was being offered, but Zola promised him free rein when it came to coaching West Ham. The Scot wondered whether he might take methods developed working alongside Jose Mourinho and be successful with another group of players at another club.

He also had a feeling that his mate could make it work at Upton Park. "We haven't had any success yet but I think we've shown that, given time, we might do," said Clarke.

"If you compare West Ham now to West Ham at the start of the season, I think you can see our mark - Gianfranco's mark - on the team."

West Ham's solid passing game backs up Clarke's belief. And he knows how to coach a team to play that way.

He added: "Improving is all about repetition. The players work on how to receive the ball, how to see angles and how to pick a pass.

"We practise every day and, when it comes to Saturday, they know what to do: control and pass.

"Seeing it happen in games is our measure of success. I think we're getting it. We've a lot of improving to do but I think it's starting to come."

That goes for individual players as well as the team, of course. While Craig Bellamy has attracted the headlines and speculation about his future, Carlton Cole (left) has signed a new long-term deal and is in the form of his life.

Clarke was the striker's youth team coach at Chelsea. "He was a kid back then," he remembers.

"Maybe he's just maturing now. He's understands football better, realises you have to be 100 per cent focused for every game."

Those hours of repetition at Chadwell Heath have played a part, too.

Cole's goal at Newcastle last Saturday was evidence of that. A month ago, the big striker might have looked to lay the ball off. At St James' Park, he smashed a half-volley high into the net:

"A great goal," said Clarke. "We'd like to think that's work on the training ground helping to make scoring instinctive for him. We tell him all the time: have the shot, have the shot.

"And, at the moment, that's what's happening in games."

All's well at present, then, but Clarke isn't in the mood for promises about the future. He's well aware that West Ham remain a couple of defeats away from being dragged back into the most densely-populated relegation battle in many seasons. Obviously the aim for a club like West Ham is to be where Aston Villa are now and, given a settled financial future and the time to plan and build a team, the aim would be to challenge for a European position.

"First of all, though, you want to have a season or two not having to look over your shoulder," he added.

They're very different worries to the ones Clarke left behind at Stamford Bridge. But he's got his own sense of perspective and a particular example to look to as regards what good coaching can achieve:

He said: "I can still remember the days when Chelsea had to think about safety and staying up. In recent years, it's been a different kind of pressure.

"Now, lose one game at Chelsea and there's pressure: it's what's happening there now. Expectations are so high which is down to Jose Mourinho. Never mind the money. He came in and turned a good team into a great one."

Clarke is still in touch with the Special One. "I keep an eye on what he's doing and he keeps an eye on what I'm doing." he laughs. "Maybe he'll call me for advice about playing Manchester United in the Champions League, although he's been over doing his own spying, hasn't he?"

It goes without saying that Clarke watched his old club being dismantled last weekend as well. For all that his attention is wholly focused on the job at Upton Park, it shouldn't surprise anyone that, as a former Blue, he didn't much enjoy what he saw.

He said: "For me, last Sunday was quite sad. I've been through a lot with those players. We had some very good times together; some great moments. They were always so strong and so together. But I have a great faith in the players. I know what's inside them and I know they can come back."

Right now, of course, Clarke's more interested in what's inside the players at West Ham. And he is pretty pleased with what he's discovered so far. The move west to east across London already looks to have been the right one, for the coach and for the man:

He added: "You can get into a routine at just one club. There was always a danger of it just being 'Steve Clarke Chelsea'. I wanted to see more and experience more in football: different characters and different ways of doing things. West Ham is a special club and you don't see that until you're here.

"It's only from inside that you can get a feel for a club and really understand their DNA."