Paul Clement Rejects QPR, but Managerial Move Inevitable for Real Madrid No. 2
Paul Clement still has a job to do. That comes with the territory when you work for Real Madrid; there is always another game to be won, another trophy to be added to the collection.
That is perhaps why the Englishman quickly shut down speculation that he could succeed Harry Redknapp as Queens Park Rangers manager, as the west London club fret about their Premier League survival over the second half of the season.
Clement’s father, Dave, played over 400 times for the club, while very few men (with no real professional experience) ever get the opportunity to start their managerial career at the highest level. Nevertheless, Clement denied any interest in the vacancy—presumably further clearing the path for Tim Sherwood.
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“I’m very flattered to be linked with Queens Park Rangers, a club I supported as a young boy and for whom my dad played,” Clement told the Guardian. “It would be a real honour to manage that club at some point in the future. But, at this time, I’ve got no intention of leaving Real Madrid in mid-season.”
QPR’s situation—deep in the relegation mire, and with an older, expensive squad that cannot now be changed before the end of the season—perhaps helped make up Clement’s mind for him, overriding any personal feelings he might have for the club.
Clement’s reputation, and his recent body of work, means he will be a strong candidate for almost any managerial vacancy that opens up over the next few years. The last thing he will want to do is rush into a bad situation—while QPR might not exactly be “bad,” it is far from ideal. Clement can afford to wait.
There may also be an element of unfinished business about Clement’s decision; it it is perhaps illuminating that he said he has “no intention of leaving Real Madrid in mid-season.”
That indicates that he could be open to leaving the club in the summer—which makes sense for many reasons, least of all that it would give him a full pre-season to try and instil his own ideas and bring in some of his own personnel to what would be his first foray into management—but also that he still has things he wants to achieve at Real Madrid (the insertion of “at this time” further suggests that he feels the point is approaching).
Since pairing up with Carlo Ancelotti when the Italian joined Chelsea, the Anglo-Italian partnership has crossed Europe, picking up trophies all along the way. They won the league and FA Cup with the Blues, before also winning the league and cup after relocating to France and Paris Saint-Germain.
Since joining Real Madrid, they have helped deliver the Champions League, “La Decima,” and then both the European Super Cup and the World Club Cup, meaning the Spanish league title is about the only trophy that still eludes them—the Copa del Rey, while nice, is surely a secondary consideration.
That is no small consideration. Clement is far from a regular tweeter but, when he does log into his Twitter account, it is notable how many updates are to acknowledge another trophy won, either as a club or for one of the individuals he coaches.
It is clear that Clement takes a special pride in helping his club to be successful, and it is certainly not a great leap to suggest that winning La Liga would complete the collection for the Englishman.
That target looks in sight this season, with Real Madrid currently four points ahead of Barcelona (they face archrivals Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon this weekend, which might see that gap closed) more than halfway through the season.
Clement has not hidden a desire to strike out on his own one day, but it would seem he wants to complete the journey with Ancelotti, ended with a league title, before he does.
“I think it’s soon,” Clement said back in May 2014 (per the Daily Mail). “A few opportunities have come my way. But this [Madrid] is a difficult place to leave. It’s a great club, a great city, a great tradition and it gives you the opportunity to win things.”
Ancelotti, for his part, has always hailed the value of Clement—who he initially worked with at Chelsea to offset the language barrier. Ancelotti needed time to learn English, but the partnership ended up being a perfect one, with Clement overseeing much of the day-to-day training and the Italian taking a greater overview, wielding his renowned man-management skills to great effect.
When Clement followed Ancelotti to PSG, and then to Madrid, it was no longer because he would be a good translator—it was because he was the best assistant Ancelotti could think of. Indeed, suddenly it was Clement struggling with the language.
Ancelotti told The Times in 2013 (via Inside Spanish Football):
"Paul is the best manager I’ve ever had on the training pitch. He prepares training brilliantly and manages the exercises properly—the best assistant I’ve ever had. He has all the quality, all the skills and all the experience to be a manager. I know one day I’ll have to say goodbye, and that could be the day that I stop and go on holiday. I spoke with Paul’s Spanish teacher, who said he needs ten years to speak Spanish, so we have to stay!
"
It is that sort of glowing endorsement, from one of the most successful managers in the modern game, that is why Clement is always going to be in demand whenever a job opening is created. Throw in his CV and the different places he has coached, and suddenly you have an all-rounder of remarkable quality.
Football is littered with stories of high profile No. 2s who managed to turn their situation into a shot at a top job, to often mixed results. Sir Alex Ferguson saw a succession of his assistants and first-team coaches—Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Carlos Queiroz, Rene Meulensteen—leave Old Trafford to take their shot in the spotlight, to generally disastrous results (McClaren, after an erratic start, has slowly found his feet), underlining the cliches about how not all great soldiers are cut out to be generals.
The role of the manager is indeed a very different one to the assistant, one where external considerations—recruitment, long-term planning, contract negotiations—can steal you away from the training pitch. Ancelotti may praise Clement’s training programmes, but that is not necessarily a quality that will translate perfectly when he is a manager, especially as he is likely to take a role at smaller clubs than PSG and Real, where the demands on the manager are more varied.
Nevertheless, you could hardly ask for a better apprenticeship than the one Clement has enjoyed. The task now is for him to pick the right managerial opportunity for him, the place where the playing squad and the potential around the club aligns to give him the best opportunity to succeed.
It is in that decision that many of those previously in the same situation have erred, although they have perhaps not had Clement’s luxury of being fairly sure another approach will come down the road in due course.
By rejecting QPR, despite the emotional pull, Clement has indicated he has the right perspective and discipline to make that decision with the right factors in mind.
If Real Madrid win the league this season, then we could well see the Englishman finally make himself available to managerial posts—at that point, it will be about which club can offer him the most attractive project.
