Frank Lampard
Paul Clement has explained the conversation which brought him to Everton at the end of January and opened up on how his relationship with Frank Lampard has developed over time.
Paul Clement said : “Frank called me when things started to get very serious in the discussions with Everton. I think he was close to agreeing, but not quite. He asked me whether I’d be interested in coming, and I always thought if I was to go back to being an assistant again it would be this kind of role. Assisting someone like Frank – someone I’ve known for a long time since he was a player, someone who I like and respect. If I was going to do that role again, having been a manager for the last five or six years, it would be for someone like him. So it wasn’t a difficult decision to come and work with Frank, and a great coaching team in my opinion. Also, it’s a fantastic club in Everton as well. It wasn’t much thinking to be honest, I got the call and two-and-a-half days later I was here and back on the grass.”
Lampard and Clement have had a long relationship together stemming back from the Everton manager’s playing days at Chelsea. The latter initially worked with the London club’s academy before stepping up to the first team and assisting in two successful seasons at Stamford Bridge. From that point on, the Blues coach has detailed how he and the former midfielder have kept in touch throughout the latter days of the manager’s playing career and his first steps on the touchline at Derby County.
Paul Clement added: “I first met Frank when we were both at Chelsea. I was initially with the academy and then stepped up to work with the first team where he was a player, during two very successful years. First of all I was assisting Guus Hiddink in his interim role, won the FA Cup, then Carlo Ancelotti came in. We had a very successful season in 2009/10, which was a double-winning team with Frank at the peak of his powers – along with Ashley [Cole], John Terry, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech. It was a wonderful team to work with and a big experience for me, my first time working at senior level football. We kept in touch through the years, I saw him when he was out in America and I was at Bayern Munich at the time, we met up for a coffee. His first game as a manager at Derby County was against me when I was at Reading, so that was a nice thing – although it wasn’t so nice for me when they won in the last minute of the game!”
Clement has made up part of a wide coaching team under Lampard, joining the club alongside Joe Edwards and Chris Jones with Duncan Ferguson and Alan Kelly remaining in their positions. Ashley Cole confirmed his move onto the staff a few days later. And the first team coach has explained that he believes it is crucial for the manager not just to have a good staff around him, but for the right environment to be in place for them to be able to share their ideas before Lampard makes his final decisions.
Paul Clement remarked: “Frank’s very inclusive in the way that he approaches management, which is very nice for those that work with him. The immediate coaching team work very closely in collaboration with the manager. The manager’s always in our office, the discussions go on all day long around the preparation for games. We all have an input in the selection of the team, the tactics, the training programme, the analysis. Ultimately the manager makes the final decision and that’s important, but he’s got good staff around him that can offer where they see it. We get behind him and the players once that plan’s been set. There’s lots of different skills and experiences in the room, they’re all slightly different, and I think that’s important. It’s important not to all think exactly the same, not all be alike. There are different ways, and it’s up to us to put those ideas across. But then when the manager decides the plan, we’re all totally behind it. We really help in reinforcing those messages to the players because, when they go onto the pitch and the pressure’s high, they need to be really clear in their mind of what we’re asking from them individually and as a team as well.”
