IT'S NOT TOO LATE, THOSE WHO DREAM

Keep taking the coaching badges and applying for posts, your dream job may just be round the corner. 

Paul Clement, son of former Queens Park Rangers and England defender Dave, Clement  is one of the few English coaches working abroad at a highest level. The 41-year-old now works with  Zinedine Zidane, helping train some of the best footballers in the world. At Real Madrid, Ancelotti describes Clement as “one of the most dynamic and intelligent” coaches.

Clement's father, a favourite at Loftus Road, took his own life at the age of 34 in 1982 after suffering from depression, when Paul was 10. Paul wanted to be a footballer like his father but unlike his brother Neil, who played from WBA, he didn't reach a professional level.

Paul played non-league football near his hometown, Sutton in London, but he switched attentions to coaching aged 23, at Chelsea's centre of excellence, when Glenn Hoddle changed the playing style at the club. At this time he was at Glenthorne School as a physical education instructor, having trained at St Mary's Twickenham.

Clements said that “Teaching gave me a foundation: organisation, planning, understanding different learning styles and needs, the importance of good communication. I've taken that into my coaching”.

Clement obtained his UEFA ‘A’ coaching licence in 1999 at the same time as Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers and became a full-time football coach a year later when he was appointed at Fulham's academy, where he worked with Jean Tigana. He also helped train the Republic of Ireland U-21s for three years.

In 2007, Chelsea made an offer for him to return, where he started as Under-16 coach, graduating to the youth team, then the reserves and then to the first team during Guus Hiddink’s spell as caretaker manager.

Hiddink impressed the young coach with his charisma, people skills and linguistic ability as Chelsea won the FA Cup and reached the 2009 Champions League semi-finals, losing out to Barcelona.

Clements  stayed with Chelsea when Ancelotti replaced Hiddink and helped  win the domestic double in 2010. When Ancelotti  left Chelsea, Clement moved to Blackburn Rovers as an assistant to Steve Kean during his unhappy reign, but wasn’t long before Ancelotti  asked Clement to join him in Paris St Germain.

Clement couldn’t refuse, he took three hours of French lessons daily and was part of the team which won the Ligue 1 in 2013. David Beckham, with whom Clement worked closely, was the most famous Englishman at PSG, but the assistant coach was the rising star.

Ancelotti moved to Madrid and Clement followed in July 2013. Clement has ambitions to go into management and said: “I’d like to think there's a chairman out there who will look at me and think he’s had a good apprenticeship.”

Modern football demands the more innovative coach with fresh ideas; somebody with a thirst for learning what’s out there, someone who's travelled the world looking at different methods. The secret is to reduce the time and space that players have so they think quicker and have to act quicker. It is a simple as that!