Gareth McAuley hails West Brom boss Steve Clarke

.Clarke has led the club to a record number of Premier League wins and points in his first season in charge and is on course to beat the club's highest ever Premier League finish.

And McAuley, who was crowned both Supporters' and Players' Player of the Season on Sunday, said calls from Clarke in the week of his appointment convinced the squad that the Baggies had made a good decision.

McAuley said: "He phoned everyone and spoke to them when he got the job, which was a nice touch. It was reassuring and once we got back into training we knew we were going to have to work hard.

"His philosophy is to work hard. I was on holiday in Portugal at the time of the call. He told me to get my rest in because when we got back in we were going to be working hard.

"We have got a great season ahead of us and he was right about that."

Clarke has taken the Baggies to 48 points – beating their previous Premier League best of 47 – with four matches to spare.

And they have claimed a club record 14 wins in a Premier League season to leave them on course to better last season's best Premier League finish of 10th.

McAuley said: "If you look at his CV and see where he has worked in the past, the appointment made sense.

"The club appoint coaches who work with the players like Roy Hodgson did. They both work at developing players and making them better as a group.

"The gaffer has continued the ground work Roy put in. But he's added a few more tactical things too – like starting with three strikers at Southampton.

"There's a great wealth of knowledge there although he'd probably tell you himself that he's still learning the job.

"He's been fantastic since he came into the club but I don't think anyone was expecting anything else from him.

"He's been in and around top clubs playing European football. He's learnt from the best. He's intelligent and he studies football.

"He's very astute in terms of our preparation and we could tell from day one he was going to be good."