Kenny Jackett’s Portsmouth gesture to former Bristol Rovers boss

The 41-year-old departed the Memorial Stadium in December, with the Gas sitting in the League One relegation zone.

He’s spent a short stint at Pompey in the aftermath, though, having been invited to the south coast by Jackett.

Clarke thanked the Blues boss for reaching out to him. 

And the ex-Salisbury manager heaped praise on Jackett for putting Pompey on track to clinch promotion this campaign. 

Speaking to Not The Top 20 Pod, Clarke said: ‘I went down to see Kenny Jackett, who's done a fantastic job at Portsmouth this season.

‘I was really grateful to be invited down there and spend the day with Kenny, who's an experienced manager and knows his stuff.

‘He got me involved, chatting to his staff and all bits of pieces.

‘A lot of Championship managers like Dean Smith at Aston Villa and Paul Cook at Wigan Athletic have invited me up for a couple of days.

‘So I'm going to do it like that, study the game, evaluate what went right and what went wrong through my managerial career.

‘I still also hold that strong belief that I am a good manager, I've proved that over the 400 games I've managed, but you never stop learning in this game.

‘You've got to keep progressing and, that key word, keep adapting.’

Pompey defeated Clarke’s Rovers 2-1 in August, with Gareth Evans and Ronan Curtis on target.