Alex Clapham was on the verge of taking a role as an assistant manager at a Championship side when a call from Borussia Dortmund changed everything. He recalls the moment he had to break the news to his partner: “The first thing I told my missus was that we were heading to Germany, not England,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports.
The prospect of moving to a club that regularly hosts the largest crowds in Europe was both exhilarating and daunting. Fortunately, his wife embraced the adventure, and over the next 18 months Clapham immersed himself in the club’s set‑piece department, learning from some of the most experienced coaches in the world. “Working at that level was insane,” the 37‑year‑old admits, “and it wasn’t always smooth sailing.” His tenure at Dortmund included what he describes as a “six‑month roller‑coaster” under the short‑lived stewardship of Nuri Şahin. One of the most unforgettable moments was a Champions League clash with Real Madrid: Dortmund surged ahead 2‑0, only to see the match end 5‑2 in favour of the Spanish giants.
“The atmosphere was unlike anything I’d ever experienced,” Clapham recalls. “It was the most intense I’d seen outside of Dortmund itself.” He also witnessed high‑stakes encounters against Barcelona and the fierce rivalry with Bayern Munich. Yet, for Clapham, each of those experiences is simply a chapter in a broader journey that has 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 some of the continent’s biggest clubs? The answer lies in a pivotal decision he made at the age of 23 to pursue coaching full‑time.
Frustrated with the muddy pitches of northern England, he realised he wanted to be on the touchline rather than the field, but the coaching courses in England were out of reach. “I almost gave up,” he confesses, “until I discovered that I could earn my badges in Spain, even though it meant a hefty financial sacrifice.” The Spanish system proved transformative.
Clapham remembers attending a session run by a Levante coach, where the focus on minute adjustments to players’ body positions was explained in a language he was still learning. “The methodology in Spain, the emphasis on psychology, it was a whole new world,” he says. While studying in Barcelona, he worked full‑time as an English teacher, hopping on the metro to attend training sessions whenever possible. By the time he turned 30, he had secured the role of U‑19 coach at Getafe.
Although he grew up admiring Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao, it was the pragmatic approach of José Bordalás’s Getafe side that left a lasting impression. “They were compact, defensively solid, and they won games through set‑pieces,” Clapham explains. He would often linger after the first‑team training to watch the set‑piece work, absorbing every detail and later applying those lessons as a head coach in Sweden. His career then entered a phase of rapid expansion.
In Sweden he crossed paths with Ian Burchnall, which led to a stint as a set‑piece coach at Notts County, followed by a role at Southampton. These positions turned him into a globetrotting specialist for clubs owned by 777 Partners.
In 2022 he arrived at Vasco da Gama, coaching in Portuguese and Spanish. “Living in Rio was surreal,” he says. “The players were eager to try new ideas.” The head coach, Jorginho – a 1994 World Cup winner – gave him complete freedom to implement his routines. Clapham’s time in Brazil was brief but impactful; during his seven appearances the team scored five goals from set‑pieces and secured promotion back to the top flight.
Yet the celebration was muted. “We flew back to Rio and everyone went their separate ways at the airport,” he recalls. “You can’t really throw a party after finishing fourth in the second division at a club as massive as Vasco.” The experience highlighted the stark cultural differences between European and South American football environments. Soon after, Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors – now at Southampton – reached out for assistance, and Clapham contributed to the Italian side’s promotion push.
“I was just moving from club to club, learning the nuances of each culture, each structure, each mentality,” he says. He cites a stint at Standard Liège, where a sudden shift from triumph over Anderlecht to a gloomy atmosphere taught him how to manage staff under pressure and coach other coaches. Working alongside world‑class defenders such as Nico Schlotterbeck at Dortmund forced him to raise his own standards. “Many players now have personal analysts who bring ideas to me: ‘What do you think about this opponent’s movement?
Should we block here or screen there?’,” he notes. “I learn more from them than they learn from me. They become my teachers.” He mentions Pascal Gross, who is on a trajectory to become a top‑level coach after time with Roberto De Zerbi, as one of the few who would pick his brain.
Perhaps the most rewarding relationship was with Dortmund’s dynamic winger Karim Adeyemi. “He’s an incredible character,” Clapham says, adding that Adeyemi taught him more about player management than anyone else. “It took me until Christmas of my first season to realise that players are fully engaged but often keep their feelings to themselves because bigger personalities dominate the room.
A quick coffee, a chat before they lace up – those small moments matter.” Clapham believes his background as a teacher informs his coaching philosophy. “I probably took more from teaching than I imagined,” he admits, and it may explain why he now envisions a future beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been having in‑depth tactical discussions with João Tralhão, formerly Dortmund’s assistant and now José Mourinho’s deputy at Benfica, who questioned why Clapham limited himself to set‑pieces.
He has spent recent months on study visits: observing Cesc Fàbregas’s setup in Como, admiring Elche’s manager Eder Sarabia – whom he predicts will one day lead Barcelona – and keeping tabs on Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich. “I’m always hunting for detail,” he says. When asked about his next step, Clapham says the assistant‑manager role feels like the natural progression. “A manager may need some distance from the players, but an assistant must be close to them.
That’s where I see myself for the next five years.” Where that will be remains uncertain; his career has become truly global, with strong ties to both Spain and England. If he ever returns to his home country, he will do so with a portfolio of experiences that few coaches can match.