It was the Scotsman’s first management position in football and he hit the ground running as he led the Baggies to their highest points tally in the Premier League in his debut season.

West Brom finished eighth in the table but couldn’t replicate their form the following season and Clarke was dismissed on December 16, following a 1-0 loss at Cardiff City.

The defeat meant the 51-year-old’s side had won just seven Premier League games out of 34 in 2013 and were only two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League.

It was exactly one year on from his dismissal that Reading gave Clarke his route back into the game but the new Royals boss is adamant that he has nothing to prove in football.

“I’ve got no point to prove to anybody,” he said. “I think my time at West Brom was successful, that is my take on things.

“I look back on my time there with a lot of pride and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately it finished a little bit prematurely but that’s the nature of football these days.” West Brom currently sit 14th in the Premier League under the leadership of Alan Irvine, just three points above the relegation zone at the same period of the season in which Clarke was sacked.

He added: “The only thing I can say on West Brom at the moment is since I left I don’t think things have significantly improved since then. It is where it is. Maybe I feel a little hard done-by by that, but I’m delighted to be here at Reading.”