Paul Clement's Excellent Adventure

With the sacking of Steve McClaren in May a job opportunity opened up in the Championship, a job that would tempt any unemployed coach. The immediate front runner was Paul Clement, the former assistant manager of Carlo Ancellotti at Real Madrid and indeed it had been rumoured that he would take over as boss even before McClaren left the club.  Therefore it was no great surprise when he was appointed Head Coach and it is the culmination of a long and very unusual route he's taken into professional football.

Steve McClaren was sacked by Derby in May 2015

The son of former England player Dave Clement, Paul was not so lucky in his attempts to become a professional footballer, not making higher than non-league, instead becoming a PE Teacher and taking his gaining his coaching qualifications. If I was being very harsh I would say he embodied the untrue stereotype that those who can't do, teach. From the age of 23 he worked both as a full time PE teacher and at the Chelsea centre of excellence. He was given his first full time job in professional football by Fulham where worked as a coach in the academy, returning to Chelsea after working for 7 years at Fulham. On his return to Chelsea he was initially appointed to the under-16's, but he quickly moved up the ladder until 2008 when the arrival of interim manager Gus Hiddink, precipitated his promotion from coaching the reserves to coaching the first team.

Although Hiddink would leave at the end of the season having won the FA Cup, Clement was kept on the staff by replacement Carlo Ancelotti. He stayed for 2 successful seasons as Ancelotti's assistant before trigger-happy owner Roman Abramovich fired the Italian. After a brief stint as Steve Kean's assistant at Blackburn, Carlo came knocking, looking for an assistant at his new club Paris Saint-Germain and Clement would follow. The famous saying "All roads lead to Rome" means that no matter what path you take you always end up in the same place. Well, in football this can be amended. For any successful person in world football, whether you are a player, a manager or a coach, the phrase is "All roads lead to Real (Madrid)". Whether that be playing for them or against them, or managing them or managing a team against them.

Paul Clement and Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea

Afters spending 2 seasons at PSG, 'Los Blancos' came calling for  Ancelotti and his able assistant followed him. After winning the Copa del Rey and the clubs 10th Champions League title in his first season at the club things looked good for Clement and Co. However a trophyless second season guaranteed Ancelotti's sacking - if there's one thing Real Madrid don't have it's patience. With Ancelotti taking a year long break to recover from back surgery, there was now no better time for Clement to strike out on his own.

John Peacock was Clement's first backroom staff addition

Upon his arrival at Derby Clement quickly set about bringing in his backroom staff. First to come was John Peacock, leaving his role as coach of the England under-17's to become first team coach. As a player, Peacock made over 200 appearances for Scunthorpe and after his playing career finished he had a stint as Academy Director at Derby County between 1998 and 2002. The word on the grapevine was that the FA weren't happy to lose him, which speaks something about how well regarded he was in the setup.

The next arrival was former Switzerland goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler as Goalkeeping Coach. With most of his career appearances coming at FC Basel, he is probably most well known for being the only goalkeeper in history to not concede a goal in normal time at the World Cup in 2006. His only coaching jobs before coming to Derby were several short spells as the Goalkeeper Coach of the Philippine national team. 

Pascal Zuberbühler arrived as Goalkeeping Coach

Derby started the season with the trio of Clement, Peacock and Zuberbühler in charge of first team affairs. On paper, it's a gamble; a Head Coach with no previous experience of being top dog, backed up by a First Team Coach who main coaching experience is teaching teenagers (albeit some very talented teenagers). It does have shades of when Phil Brown was in charge - a young rookie manager backed up by an inexperienced assistant, but without the upheaval behind the scenes that was a hallmark of Brown's reign.

One thing that could be noted is that amongst the coaching staff there was not a single face that a casual football fan would be able to recognise. In fact I dare say quite a few of the players would have had no idea who any of the coaching staff were and about their pasts, which could in turn make it difficult for Clement to gain that automatic authority that any successful leader needs. Also with none of the senior staff having had any experience of top level or even Championship football there's always the possibility that specific points are harder to get across in the changing room.

Kevin Phillips arrived in September as Assistant Coach

In a move that could be seen assuage fears of miscommunication, Kevin Phillips was brought in as Assistant Coach to Paul Clement from Leicester City. Phillips has a huge wealth of experience to draw up on; he made 660 first team appearances as a player, scoring over 282 goals and winning the European Golden Shoe for the 1999-2000 season. A prolific goal scorer in his playing career he was a well liked member of Nigel Pearson's coaching staff at Leicester City and respected by the players. I'm certain that every Derby player knows who Phillips is. Yes, even the much maligned Jeff Hendrick would surely have some clue. As someone who has been around the block, seen it all and done it all, he would be the ideal candidate to get any unwelcome opinions across to the players without much backlash. 

Will this new look team be able to deal with the high expectations of the fans and more so, the high expectations of our chairman Mel Morris? There have been mixed signals so far; a much improved defence to go with a less decisive attack. Draws seem to be the flavour of the day, week and month but I'm optimistic. My optimism has been misplaced in the past - I was certain we would beat QPR in the playoffs and I was also certain we would make the playoffs last season. Time will tell, I guess.