Alex Clapham was on the verge of accepting a role as assistant manager at a Championship side when a call from Borussia Dortmund changed his trajectory completely. The first thing he did was call his partner to tell her the job would take them to Germany, not England. "The first call was to my missus to tell her it was Germany rather than England," he recalled to Sky Sports.
Fortunately, his wife embraced the adventure, and over the next eighteen months Alex immersed himself in the world of set‑piece coaching at a club that boasts some of the highest attendances in Europe. "It was crazy working at that level," the 37‑year‑old admitted, "and it wasn’t always easy." Clapham’s tenure at Dortmund included what he describes as a "six turbulent months" under interim manager Nuri Şahin. He witnessed a Champions League night against Real Madrid where Dortmund surged to a 2‑0 lead only to be humbled 5‑2 by the Spanish giants. "An atmosphere I have never lived before.
The best I have seen outside Dortmund," he said, recalling the intensity of that night. He also experienced the high‑stakes fixtures against Barcelona, the fierce rivalry with Bayern Munich, and the everyday grind of training at a top‑flight club. Yet for Clapham, each match and each training session was a stepping stone on a journey that has already taken him to Getafe in Spain, Vasco da Gama in Brazil and Genoa in Italy, and he is already looking for the next destination, wherever it may be. How does a young Englishman with no professional playing résumé end up in such elite circles?
The answer lies in a pivotal decision he made at the age of 23 to pursue coaching rather than continue as a semi‑professional player on the muddy pitches of northern England. "I was playing on muddy pitches in northern England and not enjoying it, so I wanted to coach but I could not get on the courses in England. I almost gave up," he explained.
"I ended up doing all my coaching badges in Spain. It was an expensive sacrifice," he added, noting that the financial and personal costs of moving abroad have now paid off. Clapham remembers a particular session run by a Levante coach, where the focus on minute adjustments to players' body positions was delivered in Spanish. "The methodology in Spain, the emphasis on psychology, it was completely different," he said, highlighting how the experience forced him to think in a second language while absorbing a new coaching philosophy.
He learned Spanish while living in Barcelona, juggling a full‑time job teaching English with evening training sessions on the metro‑linked pitches. By the time he turned 30, he had earned enough qualifications to be appointed head coach of Getafe’s U‑19 side. The influence of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao was evident in his thinking, but it was the pragmatic, compact style of José Bordalás’s Getafe that left a lasting impression: "What they did was stay solid, be compact, and then win off a set‑piece." Clapham would often linger after the first‑team training to observe set‑piece routines, absorbing the nuances of how the senior staff organized those moments.
He later transferred those ideas to his first senior head‑coach role in Sweden, where he crossed paths with Ian Burchnall. The two eventually teamed up again at Notts County, where Clapham served as a set‑piece specialist before moving on to Southampton and then becoming a globetrotting troubleshooter for clubs owned by 777 Partners. In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, again coaching in Spanish.
"Living in Rio was one of the most amazing experiences. The players were so open to ideas," he said.
The head coach, Jorginho – a 1994 World Cup winner – gave him complete freedom to implement his concepts. Although his stint lasted only seven games, Clapham contributed to five set‑piece goals and helped the club secure promotion back to Brazil’s top tier. The celebration was muted, however: "We flew back to Rio and everyone just went their separate ways at the airport. Unfortunately you cannot celebrate finishing fourth in the second tier at Vasco.
That was an eye‑opener and I really realised this was one of the biggest clubs in Brazil." From Brazil he was recruited by Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors (now at Southampton) to assist with their promotion push. The pattern continued: short, intensive assignments across different leagues, each with its own culture, structure and mentalities. "They all had different cultures, different ideas, structures and mentalities. Sometimes you would be at a club one week, go away and then when you came back three weeks later, they had lost a couple of games and there was a completely different atmosphere," he reflected.
These rapid changes taught him valuable lessons about club dynamics and staff management. He cites a stint at Standard Liège, where after a victory over Anderlecht the mood turned bleak within days, forcing him to navigate a tense environment and learn how to support a coach under pressure. "It was a lesson in managing staff, coaching the coaches," he noted.
Working alongside world‑class defenders such as Nico Schlotterbeck at Dortmund also broadened his perspective. Modern players often have personal analysts who bring tactical ideas directly to the set‑piece coach. "What do you think about this? This opponent leaves that space.
Can we block there or screen there? Can we hurt them here?" Clapham explained, emphasizing that the flow of knowledge now runs both ways. He learned as much from the players as they did from him, mentioning Pascal Gross as an example of a player who is already preparing for a future coaching career after time with Roberto De Zerbi. One of his most memorable relationships was with Dortmund’s explosive winger Karim Adeyemi.
"He is an incredible guy. What a character," Clapham said, adding that Adeyemi taught him more about communication than anyone else. It took him until Christmas of his first season to understand that while players are fully engaged on the pitch, they may be reluctant to voice concerns in front of senior figures. Small gestures – a coffee before a match, a quick chat while they lace up – can make a huge difference.
Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his affinity for those personal interactions. "I probably took more from that than I imagined," he admitted, and it also explains why he envisions a future beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been having in‑depth tactical discussions with João Tralhão, then Dortmund’s assistant and now José Mourinho’s deputy at Benfica, who questioned why Clapham limited himself to set‑pieces.
These conversations sparked a desire to broaden his skill set. He has spent recent months on study visits, including a trip to Como to observe Cesc Fàbregas’s coaching setup and admiration for Elche manager Eder Sarabia, whom he believes could become a future Barcelona head coach.
He also follows the work of Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, constantly seeking new details to add to his repertoire. When asked about his next career move, Clapham says the role of assistant manager feels like the logical step. Over coffee in Madrid he explained, "As a manager, you might not want to be too close to the players. An assistant needs to be close to them.
That is where I want to be for the next five years." Where that assistant role will be is still open – the world is now his playground. Yet his experiences, from Spain to Brazil to Germany, have left him with a unique blend of tactical insight, cultural adaptability and a network that spans continents. If he eventually returns to England, he will do so carrying a portfolio few coaches can match, ready to influence the next generation of players and staff wherever his journey takes him.