Stephen Clemence

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Stephen Clemence
Pictured in 2004 pre-season
Personal information
Full name Stephen Neal Clemence[1]
Date of birth (1978-03-31) 31 March 1978 (age 46)[1]
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Gillingham (head coach)
Youth career
1994–1997 Tottenham Hotspur
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Tottenham Hotspur 91 (2)
2003–2007 Birmingham City 121 (8)
2007–2010 Leicester City 31 (2)
Total 243 (12)
International career
1995–1996 England U18 7 (2)
1998 England U21 1 (0)
Managerial career
2019 Sheffield Wednesday (caretaker)
2023– Gillingham
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen Neal Clemence (born 31 March 1978) is an English football coach and former player, who made nearly 250 appearances in the Premier League and Football League playing as a midfielder and was appointed as head coach of Gillingham in November 2023.

Clemence began his career with

Birmingham City in 2003, where he was chosen player of the 2006–07 season, at the end of which he signed for Leicester City. An injury prone player, Clemence was well known for his passion, drive, leadership and commitment on the pitch.[3]

After retirement Clemence joined the coaching staff at

West Bromwich Albion
as first-team coach or assistant manager.

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

The first team Clemence played for was Tottenham Hotspur, for whom he made his debut against

1999 Football League Cup Final he made three appearances during their victorious League Cup campaign.[7]

Clemence's injury woes started when he suffered a torn medial ligament in his left knee, following a collision with

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Garry Flitcroft in a match at Ewood Park in August 2001. His injury required surgery and was thought he would be out for three months.[8] However, despite clocking up a few hours of football in the reserves,[9] he played only three first-team matches at the end of the 2001–02 season.[10][11] Further injuries prevented his returning to training until October 2002.[12][13] In what turned out to be his last season at Tottenham, Clemence played only once, in a 2–1 League Cup defeat to Burnley on 6 November 2002, in which he picked up a calf injury.[14]

Birmingham City

Manchester United
on 25 March 2006.

When Clemence recovered from the calf injury,

Luton Town manager Joe Kinnear had expressed interest in signing him on loan,[15] but when the transfer window opened in January 2003, Premier League newcomers Birmingham City agreed a fee, believed to be in the region of £1.3 million, for a permanent transfer.[16] The move was completed, for a fee reported by the BBC as £900,000, on 10 January; Clemence signed a three-and-a-half-year contract.[17] He made his debut two days later in a 4–0 defeat to Arsenal at St Andrew's.[18]

In July 2003, Birmingham City participated in the Premier League Asia Trophy in Kuala Lumpur; they failed to reach the final, but Clemence scored the third goal as they beat the Malaysian national team 4–0 to secure third place.[19] Injury struck again in the 2003–04 season, meaning that once again he had to sit several games out. He also found himself competing with David Dunn and Robbie Savage for a central midfield spot.[20] Nonetheless, he finished the season by making his 50th appearance for the club.

In the 2004–05 season, Clemence's first team chances were again in the balance when the club signed

Bolton Wanderers, sidelining him for the remainder of the season as Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League.[25][26]

He contemplated leaving the club after being dropped twice in 2006–07,

Preston North End on 6 May 2007, missing out on the Championship title.[29]

In July 2007, Bruce confirmed that Clemence would be leaving the club because he could not guarantee him first-team football.[30] He was linked with a £500,000 move to Charlton Athletic,[31] Southampton were also believed to be monitoring him,[32] while Leicester City were seeking a double signing with teammate DJ Campbell.[30]

Leicester City

Matthew Oakley
playing for Leicester City on 23 February 2008.

On 9 July,

2007–08 season.[36] Clemence later admitted that "when [manager] Martin Allen was here, we didn't have a settled team and we were not sure if our jobs were safe."[37]

He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to

Championship.[43][44]
It proved to be the final competitive match of his career.

Clemence underwent an operation in April and was expected to recover in time for pre-season training. However, he suffered complications following surgery on his

League One.[46][47] He had a second operation in October 2008, in which "the surgeon had to take the Achilles off the heel-bone, clear out the rubbish and then sew it back on. He also had to shave some of the bone off the heel."[37] As of July 2009, Clemence was yet to recover from his heel injury, an ordeal he considered "tough to deal with mentally because this is the longest time I've had out of the game."[48]

He marked his return to action in a 3–1 win over Derby County reserves on 8 September 2009, playing for 30 minutes as a substitute.[49] He played his first full game in a 1–0 win over Barwell reserves on 13 October, and scored the match-winning penalty.[50] Manager Nigel Pearson, however, said on 26 November that Clemence would not be rushed back into the first team, adding he wanted him to be "absolutely spot on" before returning.[51] He returned to training intermittently with the squad in early December.[52] On Easter Monday 2010 however, Clemence announced his retirement from football after failing to fully recover from his heel injury,[53] and he was released by Leicester at the end of the season.[54]

Coaching career

Having coached youth sides during his playing career, Clemence joined Steve Bruce's staff at Sunderland as a development coach with the reserve team in the summer of 2010 having played for him at Birmingham City.[55]

On 2 July 2012, it was announced that Clemence had been appointed head coach of the under-21s at Hull City, before later being promoted to first-team coach under Bruce.[56]

As assistant head coach at Hull City, Clemence would later achieve a second promotion to the Premier League in 2016 before departing after more than 200 matches at the club.

In October 2016, Clemence left Hull City and reunited with Bruce again, this time as

Aston Villa's first-team coach.[57]

Clemence helped the Villains reach the Championship play-off final in 2018 having achieved a fourth-place domestic finish, in addition to helping develop talent such as Jack Grealish.

Jack Grealish spoke of Clemence’s impact by saying: ““I asked Stephen if he could help me and make me a better player. I am really close with him, he is the closest I have been out of all the assistant managers I have had. We go through all of my clips and discuss where I am going right or wrong. I am glad to have someone like Stephen taking the time out to help me and improve.” [58]

On 3 October 2018, Bruce, Colin Calderwood, Steve Agnew, Gary Walsh and Clemence himself, left the club.[59]

On 2 January 2019,

Sheffield Wednesday announced the appointment of Steve Bruce as the club's head coach from 1 February 2019, while Clemence and Agnew would be in charge of the team until his arrival from which point Clemence functioned as first-team coach.[60][61]

Clemence resigned on 15 July to accept the position of assistant head coach of Premier League club

Newcastle United under Bruce where he would form a part of the coaching staff for 100 games before departing two years later.[62][63][64][65]

Bruce was named manager of

West Bromwich Albion in February 2022, and Clemence and Agnew became his assistants.[66][67] When Bruce departed eight months later, his staff left with him.[68]

After leaving West Bromwich Albion Clemence declared he was looking for his first managerial role.[69]

Managerial career

On 1 November 2023, Clemence was appointed head coach of League Two side Gillingham in his first managerial appointment.[70]

International career

Clemence was capped by the

Sweden on 4 September 1998.[72] He was eligible to play for Northern Ireland through his Northern Ireland-born grandmother.[73] Clemence rejected the chance to represent the country in both May and July 2004, a decision which manager Lawrie Sanchez said he would respect.[74] Sanchez did ask Clemence to reconsider in October 2006,[75]
but he never represented a national team at senior level.

Personal life

Clemence was born in

Brookside actress Suzanne Collins in June 2017.[79]

Clemence is the brother-in-law of former footballer Dougie Freedman, married to his sister Sarah, and of golfer Brian Davis, married to Julie.[80]

On 21 November 2004, Clemence and Birmingham City teammate Dwight Yorke had two Blackburn Rovers supporters arrested by police for racist abuse during a match at Ewood Park, before pressing charges against them.[81]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tottenham Hotspur 1997–98[82] Premier League 17 0 2 1 2 0 – 21 1
1998–99[7] Premier League 17 0 1 0 3 0 – 21 0
1999–2000[83] Premier League 20 1 1 0 0 0 3[a] 0 24 1
2000–01[84] Premier League 29 1 4 0 2 0 – 35 1
2001–02[11] Premier League 6 0 0 0 0 0 – 6 0
2002–03[85] Premier League 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 0
Total 89 2 8 1 8 0 3 0 108 3
Birmingham City 2002–03[85] Premier League 15 2 – – – 15 2
2003–04[86] Premier League 35 2 2 1 1 0 – 38 3
2004–05[87] Premier League 22 0 2 0 2 0 – 26 0
2005–06[88] Premier League 15 0 4 0 2 0 – 21 0
2006–07[89] Championship 34 4 0 0 1 0 – 35 4
Total 121 8 8 1 6 0 – 135 9
Leicester City 2007–08[40] Championship 31 2 0 0 3 1 – 34 3
2008–09[47]
League One
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2009–10[90] Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 31 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 34 3
Career total 241 12 16 2 17 1 3 0 277 15
  1. UEFA Cup

Managerial statistics

As of 27 April 2024
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Gillingham 1 November 2023 Present 34 12 9 13 035.29

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

Birmingham City

Individual

References

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