Alex Clapham was on the brink of securing an assistant‑manager role at a Championship side when Borussia Dortmund knocked on his door. The opportunity was so compelling that he had to abandon his plans in England and head straight to Germany.
"The first thing I did was call my wife and tell her we were heading to Germany, not back to England," he recounts to Sky Sports. Fortunately, his partner embraced the adventure, and Alex spent the next 18 months immersed in the world of one of Europe’s most heavily attended clubs as a set‑piece specialist. "Working at that level was mind‑blowing," the 37‑year‑old admits, "but it also came with its own set of challenges." Clapham describes a particularly chaotic six‑month spell under Nuri Şahin, highlighted by a Champions League night against Real Madrid where Dortmund led 2‑0 before eventually succumbing 5‑2. "The atmosphere was unlike anything I’d ever experienced – the most intense I’ve seen outside Dortmund itself," he says.
He also witnessed high‑stakes encounters with Barcelona and the fierce Bayern Munich rivalry. Yet, for Alex, each match was another chapter in a journey that has already taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and on to Genoa in Italy. He now says he is ready for the next challenge, wherever it may be.
How does a man with no professional playing résumé end up coaching at such elite institutions? The answer lies in a decisive choice he made at 23 to pursue coaching rather than continue as a semi‑professional player on the soggy pitches of northern England.
"I wasn’t enjoying the playing side, but the coaching courses in England were out of reach, so I almost gave up," he explains. "I ended up earning every badge in Spain, which was a costly sacrifice, but it has paid dividends." He recalls watching a Levante coach run a session, noting the meticulous attention to players’ body shapes and the need to convey those concepts in a second language. "The Spanish methodology, the focus on psychology, was a completely different world," Alex says.
While studying in Barcelona, he worked full‑time as an English teacher, hopping on the metro to attend training sessions in his spare hours. By the time he turned 30, he had accumulated enough credentials to become the U19 coach at Getafe.
Although he drew inspiration from Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao, it was the pragmatic, compact style of José Bordalás’s Getafe that left a lasting imprint. "They stayed solid, kept a tight shape, and relied on set‑pieces to win games," Clapham notes.
He would often linger after the first‑team training to observe their set‑piece routines, absorbing techniques that he later applied as a head coach in Sweden. That Swedish stint opened further doors. He linked up with Ian Burchnall, followed him to Notts County as a set‑piece coach, then moved on to Southampton, and eventually became a globetrotting specialist for clubs owned by 777 Partners.
In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, coaching in Portuguese and Spanish. "Living in Rio was unforgettable – the players were incredibly receptive to new ideas," he says. The head coach, former World Cup winner Jorginho, gave him freedom to implement his concepts. In just seven appearances, his set‑piece drills produced five goals, contributing to Vasco’s promotion back to Brazil’s top flight.
Yet the celebration was muted; after the season ended, the squad dispersed at the airport, a stark reminder of the club’s modest expectations despite its size. Soon after, Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors – now at Southampton – reached out, and Alex helped the Italian side secure promotion as well.
He describes a pattern of short‑term assignments across varied cultures: "One week I’m at a club, three weeks later I return to find the atmosphere completely changed after a couple of defeats. It taught me a lot about club dynamics and staff management." His time at Dortmund proved especially educational because of the caliber of players he interacted with. Working alongside world‑class defender Nico Schlotterbeck required a high degree of tactical acumen.
"Many players now have personal analysts who bring ideas to me – ‘Should we block this space? How do we screen this opponent?’" Alex explains. "They become teachers as much as I am theirs." He also forged a close bond with the club’s explosive winger Karim Adeyemi, a relationship that forced him to adapt his coaching style.
"Adeyemi taught me more than anyone because I had to find a way to communicate with his unique personality," Clapham says, adding that it took him until the Christmas break of his first season to fully understand the player’s mindset. These experiences echo his earlier days as a classroom teacher, where listening and adapting were essential.
"I think I took more from teaching than I ever imagined," he admits, and it fuels his ambition to move beyond set‑piece duties. Recent conversations with João Tralhão – then Dortmund’s assistant and now José Mourinho’s right‑hand man at Benfica – sparked a new curiosity about broader tactical responsibilities.
Alex has been touring clubs to broaden his knowledge: he visited Cesc Fàbregas’s setup in Como, studied under Elche’s rising star Eder Sarabia (whom he believes could become Barcelona’s next head coach), and keeps tabs on innovators like Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich. When asked about his next step, Alex says the assistant‑manager role feels like the natural progression.
"A manager may need distance from the squad, but an assistant works closely with the players. That’s where I see myself for the next five years," he says over coffee in Madrid.
Where that appointment will be remains uncertain; the world is now his playground. Yet his foot remains planted both in Spain and England, and if he ever returns home he will bring back a portfolio of experiences few coaches can match.