Thorn gives backing to Clarke

Last updated : 27 June 2011 By Covsupport News Service/RD

Now that young Coventry City defender Jordan Clarke has signed the three year deal with the club, his manager Andy Thorn has backed the player to improve and become a major talent.

The 19 year old Academy graduate has already made one Under 20's England appearance to add to his four Under 19's caps.

When Thorn took over temporary running of the team following the dismissal of Boothroyd toward the end of last season, he gave the young defender a chance to prove that he could play well in the Championship by selecting him eight times from of the ten games played under Thorn's management.

Thorn, the former chief scout for the club, rates Clarke very highly and predicts a very bright future for the lad and thinks he will be an essential player in the team for the forthcoming season.

He said to the CT: “We feel that Clarkey is an unbelievable talent and he will just grow in stature, particularly in the system we will play. He will be a very, very good player." 

"Steve Harrison and I have liked Clarkey for a long time and we are just pleased that when we gave him his chance, just like Chris Hussey, that he took it and that’s a great example to players like Shaun Jeffers, Callum Wilson and Cyrus Christie as to where they can get to.”

Clarke was thrown in at the deep end and was found wanting on a few occasions. He was given a harsh lesson in the games at Swansea and Leeds which adversely affected his confidence, but Thorn firmly believes he will be a stronger player because of it.

“I think he’ll benefit from that experience last season and we certainly won’t be in awe of any teams this season,” said Thorn. “We’ll be going into games off the back of what we did at the end of last season and raise the cross bar every time we play."

"The players set the standards. We might have given them a guiding hand but they are the ones who set their own standards. They looked after each other on the pitch, made demands of each other and drove each other on and that is why they finished the way they did, and that’s just the start."

“We want to build on that. No-one will drop below those standards because if they do they won’t be playing, and they know that, but the thing I like best of all is they drive each other on.”