Cheltenham's Darrell Clarke recovery: Five months without a league goal, bottom of League One - but hope remains

New Cheltenham manager Darrell Clarke explains how he has got the Robins winning — and scoring — again after inheriting a side who had not scored in five months and sat rock bottom of League One; Clarke's side have taken eight points from his six games in charge, scoring seven goals

Digital Football Journalist @Ronnabe

Saturday 18 November 2023 18:19, UK

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Get us promoted. Keep us up. All managers know their first brief when they take over a new job. Few are as straightforward as the one Darrell Clarke received at Cheltenham.

«Score a goal,» he tells Sky Sports with a wry but honest smile. «We hadn't done it all season! But we got one in the game against Derby, and then looked to keep building, and ticking things off as away we go.»

The job Clarke took on was not for everyone. He inherited a side one game away from the longest scoreless run in Football League history, bottom of League One with one point from 10 games and seemingly heading straight for League Two.

«To almost give away a quarter of the season with nothing to show for it, virtually everybody was resigned to relegation at that point,» local journalist and Cheltenham fan Jon Palmer explains.

You don't need to shy away from challenges to be put off. Robins legend Steve Cotterill, the first man to manage them in the Football League two decades ago, did exactly that. But Clarke, who had only left Port Vale in April, saw an opportunity in the crisis.

«There's good people at this football club, it's done well over the years and punched above its weight,» says Clarke. «I thought there was a chance to create history here — we've never stayed in League One for four seasons in a row.

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