Paul Clement, Real Madrid’s Assistant Head Coach, has many responsibilities at the Ciudad Real Madrid - the Spanish giants’ training ground - however tying the shoelaces of the club’s glittering array of playing staff is not one of them.
The Englishman who is charged with refining the skills of Carlo Ancelotti’s multi-million pound squad on a daily basis can, however, remember when helping seven and eight-year-olds sort out their laces was a big part of his daily duties.
“I started working in grassroots football and worked in a number of Football in the Community schemes. My first was Wimbledon and then I worked at Chelsea and Aston Villa," he said.
The Boot Room
Our full interview with Paul Clement is available in April’s edition of The Boot Room, The FA Licensed Coaches’ Club magazine
"It gave me a great foundation into some of the most important things needed in coaching: communicating with people, being organised, planning and building your ideas of training exercises.”
The 42 year-old’s rise from PE teacher and part-time grassroots coach to preparing practice sessions for the two most expensive footballers in the world is an intriguing tale, one which Clement believes is reward for thousands of hours learning every part of the coaching profession.
“I did lots of football jobs in my early years. My first part-time job in elite football was at Chelsea. I did five years part-time coaching alongside my teaching career and then I went to Fulham in 2000 for my first full-time role which was in education and welfare.”
Full-time roles at Craven Cottage as assistant academy director and youth team coach followed before returning to Stamford Bridge. It was here his career rapidly accelerated. Clement went from U16s coach to become Ancelotti’s first-team coach in four years.
“When Carlo came in [as manager in 2009] I was on a trial basis initially. I did two weeks with him and then I said I want to go back to the reserves. He declined and said to me ‘you will learn with me, I like what you’re doing, come and work with me and you’ll have a great experience’.”
Carlo Ancelotti has worked with Paul Clement at Chelsea, PSG and now Real Madrid
True to his word, fantastic experiences have followed. In their first season together in 2009/10 Ancelotti and Clement led the London club to a Premier League and FA Cup double, becoming the first team in the Premier League to score more than 100 goals in a season. The Anglo-Italian pairing have been together ever since and Clement glows when he describes the working relationship.
“Carlo’s not tried to make me something that I’m not. He’s always said you need to be yourself and express your own personality. I have a lot of respect for Carlo’s style, there’s no ego or flashness about him he just is who he is.
"He has a really good relationship with players and that helps me to be relaxed and comfortable in my own personality with players as well.”
When the Italian was sacked by Chelsea in May 2011, the pair had a temporary parting of ways before being reunited when Ancelotti took over at Paris Saint Germain in December 2011.
The move across the channel proved to be one of the biggest challenges of Clement’s varied career.
“If you want to work abroad you have to try and crack it with a language. Staff meetings at PSG were often in four languages, so everything took more time. Here, we try and do everything in Spanish but there’s a lot of ‘can you repeat that please, so I understand’. So the process of things can take longer.”
Conquering the language barrier is a recurring theme in Clement’s coaching story, an issue he believes has prevented English coaches developing a better reputation in the global game.
“France was a real challenge. PSG are a big club, and they are going to be a very big club, but a lot of the infrastructure they had in place wasn’t really to help with foreign coaches and foreign players coming in.
“I do have ambitions to be a manager. I’m not in a rush and I’ve got to wait for the right opportunity”
Paul Clement Real Madrid assistant head coach
"When you’re trying to get the gas activated and set up the internet and a telephone and you have very little understanding of French, it’s a real challenge.
“Putting our kids into French school was a real challenge, because thev’re coming home crying, then mum’s crying and then dad’s crying, there’s a really big knock-on effect.
"I underestimated the value of having a balanced and calm and tranquil family life to help with the football."
In the future the Londoner hopes to have the opportunity to fill his days with the responsibilities of being a No1 rather than forever playing the supporting role. There is no rush, however.
“I do have ambitions to be a manager. I’m not in a rush and I’ve got to wait for the right opportunity. It’s got to be the right club for me and I’ve got to be the right person for the club.”
“Twenty years ago I would never have thought I would be in this position, so now I have an open mind to things and in the next ten, 15 or 20 years I don’t dismiss or rule out anything.”
Our full interview with Real Madrid’s Paul Clement is available now in April’s edition of The Boot Room, The FA Licensed Coaches’ Club magazine.
April’s edition includes an insight into life behind the scenes at the Spanish club as well as exclusive interviews with Sir Clive Woodward and England’s new Women’s Head Coach, Mark Sampson. There is also a dedicated grassroots coaching section on how to run your own World Cup tournament.
To subscribe to The Boot Room magazine join The FA Licensed Coaches’ Club today at TheFA.com/FALCC or get the digital version here
