The circus continues as Clarke turns Cellino down
Friday, 27th May 2016 14:02 by Tim Whelan

Massimo Cellino might have promised to appoint a ‘special’ coach for the new season, but it won’t be Darrell Clarke, who has decided to stay at Bristol Rovers.

The two clubs had been discussing a compensation package of around £250,000, but now Clarke has taken matters into his own hands and announced that he had decided to stay with the Gas. Rovers issued the following statement:

"Bristol Rovers are delighted to announce that Darrell Clarke has agreed to remain at The Memorial Stadium as manager and has agreed a new, improved, three-year contract which will make him the highest paid manager in the club's history."

Sky Bet are now quoting John Sheridan as the favourite, with the odds shortening to Evens, but our midfield talisman of the 1980s is now gainfully employed at Oldham Athletic. As we’ve now been turned down by two managers who will be plying their trade in League One next season, you have to wonder if anyone who is already in a job will be daft enough to resign and work for Il Presidente.

So will Cellino be stuck with the one man who has confirmed that he actually wants the job? Steve Evans has told BBC Radio Leeds that he will hang around for one more week to see if our unpredictable majority shareholder will change his mind and offer to renew his contract. “I’ve not allowed my representatives to put me in front of any other board of directors or chairman and have a chat about somewhere else, because of the wonderful opportunity that is here.”

“The chairman is very straight with me and has been all down the line. I have had a great relationship with him all the way through the season I’ve been here. I need to establish, in the next week or so at the latest, whether I have a plan going forward at Leeds United.”

Would Cellino swallow his pride and keep Evans after making repeated attempts to land an alternative head coach? He probably won’t, but Evans hasn’t done a great deal wrong in his time at Leeds, and with Clarke now out of the running I don’t see any better alternatives to keeping him on.

Photo: Action Images

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