- Clement transformed a broken squad sitting 23rd into potential play-off contenders.
- Success in Belgium proved he could win quickly with high-potential young players.
- Tactical flexibility from Monaco and Rangers’ chaos prepared him for Carrow Road.
We’ve talked at huge length about the impact Philippe Clement has had on Norwich City, and will continue to do so. It’s a story for ages, and one that has yet (we hope) to run anything like its full course.
But a question that rarely gets asked is ‘how?’ How the hell did this big old bloke from Belgium, who no one was particularly excited about when he was introduced to us on November 18, manage to achieve what felt like the impossible?
When he was appointed, as we all know, we were sitting 23rd in the table with zero home points and a squad that looked physically and psychologically finished under Liam Manning.
Four months later, we’re even having daft notions about sneaking into the playoffs. Fanciful and very unlikely, but the fact we are even having that conversation tells its own story.
But, again, how? And why?
Why did a career, across Belgium, France and Scotland, produce exactly the coach Norwich required at their lowest point?
Belgium: The habit of immediate wins
Clement won three consecutive Belgian Pro League titles with two different clubs, first at KRC Genk in 2018/19 and then back-to-back at Club Brugge in 2019-20 and 2020-21. His win rate across those three seasons hovered around 55-57%, built on organised defending, positional discipline, and squads that played above their individual talent level.
That matters at City because, as we well know, the squad Ben Knapper has assembled is designed around potential, not finished articles. Players from overseas are recruited to develop and be sold on. Clement’s Belgian years proved he could take groups like that and make them competitive quickly, without needing a fat chequebook to fix every problem.
He arrived at Carrow Road, and the goals-per-game average quickly jumped from 0.9 under Manning to 1.6. Goals conceded dropped. The shape tightened. Standards were upped.
Monaco: Learning to flex
At AS Monaco, Clement spent 18 months coaching against Ligue 1’s elite, including a 3-1 win over PSG and a Europa League victory over Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
What it taught him about tactical flexibility is the point here.
Norwich under Manning played patient, short-passing football that created almost nothing. Clement’s City operates from a 4-2-3-1 base that can morph into a 2-3-5 in possession, with full-backs pushing high and a mixed build-up that can go long when the press demands it.
He is not wedded, unlike JHT and Manning (we think, although it was hard to tell), to one way of playing, and that adaptability was sharpened at a club where second place was considered a crisis.
Rangers: A PhD in chaos
If Belgium gave Clement his coaching identity and Monaco refined his tactical knowledge, Rangers taught him something Norwich needed: how to function when everything else around you is on fire.
Clement left Ibrox in February 2025 with an 11-point gap behind Celtic and, by his own account, “total chaos” in the boardroom. The CEO and chairman both departed during his tenure. He described his exit as leaving “frustrated and disappointed.”
But that experience meant he eventually walked into a Norwich job where the sporting director was facing a fan petition for his removal, the squad was riddled with injuries, and supporter trust was at rock bottom, and none of it fazed him. He had seen worse.
Rangers did not teach him tactics. Rangers taught him crisis management.
The sum of the parts
Knapper identified two reasons for hiring Clement: his “methodical approach” and his expertise in preparation (both physical and mental).
He has delivered both. But the real value is even harder to quantify.
City needed a coach who could win now, adapt tactically, develop young players, and cope with internal and external pressure without flinching. And he didn’t. Not once.
His previous clubs won’t thank us for saying it, but, for us, it feels like all of the above has been one big dress rehearsal for his Norwich City rescue mission.
Four countries and dozens of conflicting pressures. All of which have come together to deliver Norwich City a head coach for the ages. Potentially, one of the greats.
Mad, really, isn’t it.
