Alex Clapham was on the brink of accepting an assistant‑manager role at a Championship side when Borussia Dortmund knocked on his door. The opportunity was so compelling that he had to inform his wife immediately, telling her the new job would take them to Germany instead of England. The move turned out to be a turning point in his career, and he spent the next eighteen months as the club’s set‑piece specialist, learning the ropes at a stadium that regularly hosts the largest crowds in Europe.
"Working at that level was insane," the 37‑year‑old admits, "and it wasn’t always a smooth ride." Clapham’s Dortmund tenure included what he describes as "six turbulent months" under the stewardship of Nuri Şahin. He witnessed a dramatic Champions League encounter with Real Madrid, where Dortmund surged to a 2‑0 lead only to see the match end 5‑2 in favour of the Spanish giants.
"The atmosphere was unlike anything I had ever experienced – the most intense I’ve seen outside Dortmund itself," he recalls. He also lived through high‑stakes fixtures against Barcelona and the ever‑present rivalry with Bayern Munich.
Yet for Clapham each of these moments formed part of a broader journey that has already taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and on to Genoa in Italy, with the next adventure still unwritten. How does a coach with no professional playing résumé reach such heights? The answer lies in a decisive choice he made at the age of 23 to pursue coaching full‑time.
Frustrated with the soggy pitches of northern England and unable to secure a place on the English coaching courses, he turned his back on the domestic route and headed to Spain, where he completed every badge despite the high cost. "I almost gave up," he says, "but I finished my licences in Spain and that gamble has paid off handsomely." In Spain he was exposed to a different football philosophy. He remembers watching a Levante coach meticulously tweak players’ body positions during a set‑piece drill, all while delivering instructions in a language he was still mastering. "The Spanish methodology, the focus on psychology, it was a whole new world," he notes.
While studying in Barcelona, he worked full‑time as an English teacher, hopping on the metro to attend training sessions in the evenings. By the time he turned 30, he had earned enough credibility to be appointed head coach of Getafe’s U‑19 side.
Clapham cites the influence of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao as inspirational, yet it was the pragmatic, defensively solid approach of Getafe under José Bordalás that left a lasting imprint. "They stayed compact, defended as a unit, and then struck from set‑pieces. That template stuck with me," he explains. He would often linger after the first‑team training to observe their set‑piece routines, absorbing every nuance and later applying those lessons in his own head‑coach role in Sweden.
His career then entered a snowball phase. In Sweden he crossed paths with Ian Burchnall, which led to a stint as a set‑piece coach at Notts County. From there he moved to Southampton before becoming a travelling 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 phenomenal – the players were eager to try new ideas," he says. The head coach, Jorginho, a 1994 World Cup winner, gave him complete freedom to implement his concepts. Although his tenure lasted only seven games, his influence was evident: Vasco scored five goals from set‑pieces during that period and secured promotion back to the top flight.
The celebration, however, was muted. "We flew back to the airport and everyone went their separate ways. You can’t really throw a party after finishing fourth in the second division at a club of Vasco’s stature," he recalls, noting how the experience underscored the club’s massive scale.
A short spell at Genoa followed, where sporting director Johannes Spors (now at Southampton) asked for his expertise. Clapham contributed to another promotion campaign, then continued to hop between clubs, each with its own culture, structure and mentalities.
He recounts a stint at Standard Liège where, after a victory over Anderlecht, the atmosphere turned sour within weeks, providing a harsh lesson in managing staff morale and coaching the coaches. Working at Dortmund proved to be a masterclass in learning from elite players. Collaborating with world‑class defenders such as Nico Schlotterbeck forced him to raise his own standards. "Many players now have personal analysts who bring ideas to me – ‘Should we block here or screen there?’ – they become teachers as much as I am theirs," he says.
He highlights Pascal Gross, a future top‑level coach who spent time with Roberto De Zerbi, as one of the few who would regularly pick his brain. Perhaps the most memorable relationship was with Dortmund’s electrifying winger Karim Adeyemi.
"He’s an incredible character and taught me more than anyone because I had to adapt my coaching style to suit his personality," Clapham explains. It took him until the Christmas break of his first season to truly understand Adeyemi’s mindset: players may be fully engaged but reluctant to voice concerns when senior figures dominate the room. Small gestures – a coffee before a match, a quick chat while lacing boots – become crucial communication tools.
Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his affinity for these personal interactions. "I probably took more from teaching than I realised," he admits, and it also fuels his ambition to move beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been deepening his tactical knowledge through study visits, such as a trip to Como to observe Cesc Fàbregas’s coaching setup, and he admires Elche manager Eder Sarabia, whom he predicts will one day helm Barcelona. He also follows the work of Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, always seeking fresh ideas.
When asked about his next step, Clapham says the role of assistant manager feels like the natural progression. "A head coach may need distance from the squad, whereas an assistant must be close to the players.
That’s where I see myself for the next five years," he says over a coffee in Madrid. Where that will be remains open – his career has become truly global, with strong ties to both Spain and England. If he ever returns home, he will do so with a portfolio of experiences few coaches can match, ranging from the dusty pitches of northern England to the high‑tech training grounds of Dortmund, and everything in between.