Paul Clement reveals disappointment over England assistant role
Paul Clement has revealed how he was prevented from joining Sam Allardyce's England coaching staff ahead of their Goodison Park reunion.
Clement comes up against Allardyce in the Premier League tomorrow night when his Swansea side travel to Everton - but the two men almost ended up working together after England's Euro 2016 humiliation.
New England boss Allardyce wanted Clement, then Carlo Ancelotti's assistant at Bayern Munich, to join his coaching team at St George's Park before the German giants blocked the move.
"We were so close to working with each other, but Bayern said no," Clement said ahead of bottom-placed Swansea's trip to Merseyside.
"It was always only going to be a part-time role, I was not going to leave Bayern.
"I understood why Bayern said no. They wanted me to concentrate solely on Bayern and rightly so with a club of that size.
"But I was disappointed because it would have been a great honour to work with the national team.
"So Sam appointed Craig Shakespeare and now they are working together at Everton."
Allardyce's England reign was cut short after just 67 days.
"I was disappointed for Sam," Clement said.
"He made it clear throughout the years that England was a job that he really wanted.
"Then, to only have it for one game and for it to be pulled from underneath him - rightly or wrongly - was hard to see.
"But he is a manager who breeds confidence and that trickles down to the players.
"That's clearly helping Everton at the moment, as it has helped a lot of sides going through a really difficult time."
Clement actually got the better of Allardyce in his first Swansea game last January with a 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace.
It was the first home game of Allardyce's short, yet successful, Palace tenure and now Clement needs to mastermind another victory given Swansea's current predicament.
But the former Chelsea and Real Madrid number two has taken encouragement from the messages of support he received after last weekend's win against West Brom.
Clement has assisted Carlo Ancelotti and Guus Hiddink during his career and caught up with his two former Chelsea bosses, as well as Sir Alex Ferguson at a recent League Managers' Association dinner in London.
"When I was at Derby and lost my job I contacted Sir Alex and went to see him in his office and spent a couple of hours with him," Clement said.
"We've kept in contact since and have a really good relationship - the same with Carlo and Guus, they are all brilliant with me.
"They all sent a message after the West Brom result, it was nice."
