We have appointed Alex Clapham as our new first-team coach.
Boasting an impressive CV which includes senior coaching roles in academies in the UK and overseas, as well as a recent spell as head coach at Swedish side Ytterhogdals IK, Clapham will lead our approach to set pieces and contribute to opposition analysis.
He will support Ian Burchnall and Michael Doyle with individual player development plans and coaching, while also providing tactical and technical advice on matchdays.
Clapham cut his coaching teeth in Spain where he attained UEFA’s highest coaching qualification, the Pro Licence, and Burchnall is delighted to add him to his backroom team.
“In Alex we have found someone who’s dedicated themselves to analysing and coaching set pieces, which isn’t easy as specialised coaching remains a relatively new thing in football – especially at our level,” said the head coach.
“The fantastic infrastructure we've got at the club means we have access to a mass of data surrounding opponents and set pieces and, working closely alongside our head of performance analysis Joao Alves, Alex will be using his analytical skills to drill into the numbers before devising and delivering coaching strategies to the players.
“We were fortunate to interview several strong candidates for this role but Alex really impressed us with the depth of detail he went into and his ideas about how we can get better.
“It’s important to stress that we won’t see overnight improvements and that Alex is very much part of the wider coaching team – we share responsibility for all aspects of the team’s performance.
“But we do feel he will be a huge help to us in an area where, while being a long way off the worst in the league, we were behind many of our direct competitors last season.”
An interview with Alex will follow in due course.