"I didn't see it coming, but when I spoke to the people here and to Gianfranco about the project they had in mind they sold it to me very well. I'm glad I came."
Steve Clarke has not looked back since arriving at West Ham United last September and is relishing the prospect of helping the club to plenty of success in future. While he achieved huge success at Saturday's opponents Chelsea and earned plenty of credit for his part in their recent fortunes, Clarke said he was hugely motivated by the task in hand at the Boleyn Ground.
"I'm now at a club where if you have a problem, you solve it in a different way," he said. "We've had terrible run of injuries and in January had to get a few players out and we have had to call on the young players we hadn't thought would have been in the team this season and we've had to work with them and deal with them but they've responded greatly and it has been very satisfying."
Looking forward to 2009/10 and his first full season at the club, Clarke said he had no doubt about his immediate ambitions with five games to go this campaign. "Me personally I want to be involved in European football. If I miss one thing from my job at Chelsea, it would be involvement in the Champions League, that would be the one thing I would miss the most. For me personally I would like to be involved in Europe.
"You have to push yourself and you have to challenge yourself. It may get to the point next season where we may wish we hadn't qualified but we'll deal with that when we come to it. Apart from plaudits and pats on the backs and well dones - the one tangible thing we can take from this season is to qualify for Europe. If you are ambitious you need to aim for as high as you can get."
Clarke is looking forward to working with Dean Ashton for the first time and the hard work of a pre-season programme. "Over the summer all of the injured players will come back hopefully. I think every injury will be back pre-season so we will have a strong squad and then it's another test of management and coaching to get the best out of the whole squad and utilise the players as best you can to challenge for every competition."
The Scot would not be drawn on whether he had enhanced his undoubted reputation since turning up in east London. "It's up to other people to decide. I made the step to come here for personal ambition so other people will need to judge whether I'm doing a good job or not. I think West Ham are quite happy with what I'm doing and I think Gianfranco is quite happy with what I am doing."
He admitted he wants to be a manager one day and had positive talks with Zola about such a scenario. "It went very well as because it's not going to happen tomorrow or next week or next year, it's something for the future … At this moment of time I'm happy here."
Clarke and Zola are expected to confirm their long-term commitment to the club shortly and he paid tribute to the club for the faith shown. "When we came here initially they wanted us to be together as a team and to work on a long-term project and not a quick fix. They've stuck with us as we've had difficult times and backed us 100 per cent and we'd like to repay that faith by finishing as high up the league as we can. "