Former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich assistant coach Paul Clement has put his hand up for the manager's job with the Republic of Ireland.
In recent weeks John O'Shea has been put in charge of Ireland in a caretaker role as the Federation seeks a permanent replacement for former coach, Stephen Kenny. And Clement says he'd be open to a return to the Republic of Ireland where he previously worked as a coach for the under 21s. This time the position would be as manager of the senior team, a role Don Givens and he had for a short spell in 2008 (although he was the assistant).
Put to him by Tribalfootball.com's Jacob Hansen about the job, Clement admits he loved his previous time with the national team.
He said: “I had a really good time when I was working with Ireland, I was with the under 21s and Don Gibbons was the head coach and he was a former teammate of my father so we had a fantastic relationship.
“I had three years with the under 21s and in that period, I stepped up for the senior team for three games whilst they were going through a process of finding a new manager.
“So, I worked with the senior team, and I had some really good players at that time. There was Robbie Keane, Damian Duff, Shay Given.
“I enjoyed not only working with Republic, but also international football was exciting, we played Brazil in one game - it was amazing, a full house in Ireland."
And Clement didn't rule out the possibility of his next adventure being in international football, saying: “I think that would be an experience and what an honour that would be to lead a nation in a European Championship or World Cup, something I would really like to do at some point."
The big question is, what is next for Clement if it isn't down the route of international football? Could it be where the money is in Saudi? Or possibly a country he has yet to explore like Italy? The Englishman recently signed with Italian agent, Nicola Giuliani.
“Italy, other parts of Europe, middle east, far east, United states - I would be open to all those things because I think they would be great experiences," Clement also told Tribalfootball.com.
“Obviously I am an English coach, but I also see myself very much as an international coach. I think I am one of quite a few English coaches who have spent a significant amount of time abroad – having worked now in Belgium, Germany France, and Spain as well.
“And I've always thought I'd like to look back on my career and say I've had these different experiences in the world of football. It's taken to me to different places, I've seen different things, different people, different nationalities different styles of football.
“I don't want to just be an English coach that always worked in England. That's not an ambition of mine, my ambition is to see different styles of football and look back on my career and hopefully there is a long time to go on that and say yeah, I've had an amazing football career and worked in all different parts of the world."
