By Shaun Murphy-
Birmingham City have appointed Pep Clotet as their new head coach, six months after he took over as caretaker boss of the Championship club.
The 42 year old was formerly an assistant to Garry Monk who was sacked in June after 15 months with the club. The former Oxford boss has led Blues to 15th in the table after 19 games.
“We have a clear vision of what our footballing philosophy needs to be and Pep and his staff have begun to implement that,” said a club statement.
“Pep has shown his coaching expertise, man-management and leadership skills, allied to exemplary professional conduct, that can help take the club forward.
“We trust that our supporters will continue to get behind Pep, the coaching staff and the players, all of whom are passionate about bringing success to Birmingham City and have the club’s interests at heart.”
His permanent appointment comes just over a week after Monk, now Sheffield Wednesday manager, said he had made an “error of judgement” in working with Clotet. Mark Robins had initially been instead it is the 42-year-old Spaniard who has been confirmed in the role.
“Pep has shown his coaching expertise, man-management and leadership skills, allied to exemplary professional conduct, that can help take the club forward,” a club statement said.
“We have a clear vision of what our footballing philosophy needs to be and Pep and his staff have begun to implement that in a short space of time.
“He has also brought out the best of, and trusted in, our young players. This is another important part of our strategy. The club must be together as one, with the same togetherness and ethos through from the Academy, the Under-23s to the First Team.
“We trust that our supporters will continue to get behind Pep, the coaching staff and the players, all of whom are passionate about bringing success to Birmingham City and have the club’s interests at heart.”
Clotet has guided Birmingham to 15th place in the Championship after 19 games of the Championship season, six points outside the play-off places and nine clear of the drop zone, while working with a squad considered to be in transition.
They drew 1-1 at home to Millwall on Saturday, days after a midweek 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday exposed old wounds relating to Clotet’s initial appointment and Monk’s departure.
“With Garry, together we had five fantastic years,” he said. “I think he grew thanks to my experience and my influence, and obviously he helped me a lot.”