Pep Clotet appointed Birmingham head coach permanently after serving on interim basis since June
Pep Clotet has been appointed Birmingham’s permanent head coach after serving on an interim basis for the past six months.
The Spaniard took over from Garry Monk in June and has guided Blues to 15th in the Championship after 19 games, prompting club chiefs to hand him the job outright.
A statement from Birmingham’s board read: “Pep has shown his coaching expertise, man-management and leadership skills, allied to exemplary professional conduct, that can help take the Club forward.
“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 was criticised by his former co-worker Monk ahead of their meeting last week, with the latter now in charge of Sheffield Wednesday.
The pair had worked together at Swansea, Leeds and Birmingham before Monk’s departure from St Andrew’s, with Clotet succeeding him in the Blues dugout.
“In terms of the, I don’t know what it is, is it interim, caretaker head coach?” Monk said last week. “I’m not sure what his title is, I don’t speak with him.
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“I think what’s most important to me when I’m assembling a staff around me is to give them opportunity. You show them complete trust and you hope they repay that trust with hard work and loyalty.
“Sadly not everyone has those values in their character. Some choose to pursue their own opportunities in the worst possible way.
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“I think the most important thing for me is you live and you learn.
“I didn’t listen to a lot of people in football circles who warned me about the type of character he is, but, yeah, that’s an error in judgement from myself.
“It was an error in judgement by me, but it’s an error I won’t make in the future.”