Paul Clement discusses Derby County sacking

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The former Rams head coach currently works as Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich assistant.

Former Derby County head coach Paul Clement has spoken about his sacking in an interview with Talksport on Thursday.

Clement was dismissed eight months into a three-year contract at the iPro Stadium, with the Rams fifth in the Championship table.

Afterwards, Derby chairman Mel Morris claimed the team, which had finished eighth under Steve McClaren the previous year, had “not made enough progress” under the former Chelsea and Real Madrid coach’s tutelage.

Now reunited with Carlo Ancelotti as Bayern Munich assistant boss, Clement has claimed he was let go for different reasons than those specified.

“I was very disappointed because as a new head coach I would have liked to have been given a little bit more time,” the 44-year-old told the Jim White show. “I can’t say we were really struggling. We didn’t start very well; five games, we had four draws and a loss, of course there was a bit of concern. But then we went on a really good; run 17 games, we lost one and we went to first position.

“After the Christmas period, we had some draws and some losses and we slipped to fifth position. But, with 16 games to go and five points off of first, I was confident that we would turn things around and we would be really contending up until the last day of the season. But I wasn’t given the opportunity to do that.

“I look back and some people will say it failed but for me it wasn’t a failure. The opportunity was cut short, for me. I look back now and still believe that I could have been very successful at that club. The club, the day after made very clear statements about what the reasons were (for his sacking). My own feeling about it is that I was fired because of a run of bad results.”

Clement’s replacement, academy manager Darren Wassall, was handed the role until the end of last season, with veteran former Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp overseeing him as director of football.

However, the pair were unable to spark a revival in fortunes, and Derby were eliminated from the Championship play-offs by eventual winners Hull City at the semi-final stage.

Now under the guidance of Nigel Pearson, who led Leicester City to the title in 2014, the Rams find themselves 18th in the standings with five matches played.