Alex Clapham was on the brink of signing a contract as an assistant manager at a Championship side when the call came from Borussia Dortmund. The German club’s invitation was so compelling that he had to drop everything and head abroad.
"The first thing I did was call my wife to tell her we were heading to Germany, not England," he recounts to Sky Sports. Fortunately, his partner embraced the adventure, and during his 18‑month stint as Dortmund’s set‑piece specialist he absorbed a wealth of knowledge at a club that boasts the highest attendances in Europe. "Working at that level was insane," the 37‑year‑old admits, "and it wasn’t always a smooth ride." Clapham describes a particularly chaotic six‑month period under interim manager Nuri Şahin. He recalls a Champions League night against Real Madrid where Dortmund surged to a 2‑0 lead only to collapse and lose 5‑2.
"The atmosphere was unlike anything I’d ever experienced – the most intense I’ve seen outside of Dortmund itself," he says. He also lived through high‑stakes fixtures against Barcelona and the fierce rivalry with Bayern Munich.
Yet for Clapham these moments are simply chapters in a broader journey that has taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and on to Genoa in Italy. Now he is scouting his next challenge, wherever it may be.
How does a young Englishman with no professional playing résumé end up in such elite environments? The answer lies in a pivotal decision he made at 23 to pursue coaching rather than continue as a semi‑professional player on the muddy pitches of northern England.
"I wasn’t enjoying the playing side, but I couldn’t get onto the FA courses here, so I almost gave up," he explains. "I ended up doing every badge in Spain, which was a costly sacrifice, but it paid off." He remembers a session run by a Levante coach where the focus was on tweaking players’ body positions, all delivered in a language he was still mastering. "The Spanish methodology, the psychological emphasis – it was a completely different world," he says. While studying in Barcelona, Clapham worked full‑time teaching English and would hop on the metro to attend coaching courses in his spare moments.
By the time he was 30, he had earned enough credentials to be appointed head coach of Getafe’s U‑19 side. Although he grew up admiring Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao, it was the pragmatic, defensive style of José Bordalás’s Getafe that left a lasting imprint.
"They were compact, solid, and relied heavily on set‑pieces to win games," Clapham notes. He often lingered after the first‑team training sessions to watch the senior squad rehearse dead‑ball routines, absorbing every nuance from the head coach and his staff.
Those lessons became the foundation for his next role as a head coach in Sweden. "From there it just snowballed," he says. In Sweden he crossed paths with Ian Burchnall, later following him to Notts County as a set‑piece coach.
Subsequent appointments at Southampton and a series of short‑term contracts with clubs owned by 777 Partners cemented his reputation as a globetrotting specialist who could troubleshoot dead‑ball situations on demand. In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, again conducting sessions in Spanish. "Living in Rio was phenomenal – the players were incredibly receptive to new ideas," he recalls. The head coach, Jorginho – a member of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup‑winning squad – gave him complete creative freedom.
Although his tenure lasted only seven games, his influence was evident: Vasco scored five set‑piece goals during that period and secured promotion back to the top flight. "I expected a big celebration, but after we flew back everyone just went their separate ways at the airport," he laughs.
"You can’t really celebrate a fourth‑place finish in the second division at a club of that magnitude. It was a wake‑up call about the size and expectations of Brazilian football." Soon after, Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors – now at Southampton – reached out for assistance, and Clapham contributed to Genoa’s promotion campaign as well.
He describes a nomadic rhythm: "One week I’m at a club, three weeks later I return and the atmosphere has completely changed – new results, new pressures, new dynamics." These constant shifts taught him valuable lessons about club culture, staff management, and the psychological side of football. He cites a stint at Standard Liège, where after a win over Anderlecht the mood turned bleak, the coach came under fire, and the staff were visibly nervous.
"That was a masterclass in handling pressure and coaching the coaches," he reflects. Working with elite players also accelerated his learning curve. At Dortmund he collaborated daily with world‑class centre‑back Nico Schlotterbeck, whose personal analysts would approach Clapham with tactical queries: "Should we block this space? How do we screen this opponent?" He says the players often became his teachers.
Pascal Gross, for example, is earmarked for a top‑level managerial career after spending time with Roberto De Zerbi, and he would regularly pick Clapham’s brain on set‑piece nuances. Perhaps the most memorable relationship was with Dortmund’s pacey winger Karim Adeyemi. "He’s an incredible character.
As a coach, he taught me more than anyone because I had to adapt my approach to suit his style," Clapham explains. It took him until the Christmas break of his first season to truly grasp Adeyemi’s mindset. "Players are fully engaged but often keep their feelings to themselves because of senior personalities in the dressing room.
A quick coffee chat before they lace up can make a difference." Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his affinity for those personal interactions. "I probably took more from that experience than I realized," he admits, and it also fuels his ambition to move beyond set‑piece duties. He recalls in‑depth tactical discussions with João Tralhão, then Dortmund’s assistant and now José Mourinho’s deputy at Benfica, who repeatedly asked why Clapham limited himself to dead‑ball work.
Over the past months he has been on a series of study visits: observing Cesc Fàbregas’s setup in Como, admiring Elche manager Eder Sarabia – whom he believes is destined to coach 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 is clear: the assistant‑manager role feels like the natural progression. "A manager may need distance from the squad, but 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 appointment will be remains uncertain. The world is now open to him, and his network stretches from Brazil to Italy, Germany to Spain, and back to England.
Should he eventually return home, he will do so with a portfolio of experiences that few English coaches can claim – a career built on curiosity, adaptability, and an unwavering willingness to chase opportunity wherever it appears.