Following his appointment as Norwich City head coach, Philippe Clement spoke to Canaries TV about his knowledge of the club, ambitions and message to the supporters.
Philippe, first of all, a very warm welcome from all of us at Norwich City. Can you summarise your feelings on becoming our newest head coach?
Thank you for your welcome; I'm really excited about this story, I've known the club a long time already.
I also know that we're not in the best situation at the moment, but I'm really excited to make things better together with the players and the staff, and everybody involved in the club.
What is it about Norwich City that convinced you to join?
I'll be honest, we only started conversations not so long ago and I didn't go into the first meeting with big expectations.
We were talking with a few clubs, abroad also from good leagues, but the people here convinced me, to be honest, when they talked about the club, about the ambitions and then later on meeting the owners, speaking with them, about the ambitions they have for now, for this season, the next seasons to come and the plan they have with the club.
So, that was the thing that made me curious and we had some good talks and at the end, I think the decision was made by the people I met.
During those talks with the owners, what did you tell them about the style of football that you'd like to bring to Norwich City?
I think they knew because it's not something new; in all the clubs that I have worked, it has always been based on playing attacking football with high intensity, with the team pressing, being aggressive and playing in a style to score goals.
Of course, it's important to also have structure, to not concede goals and that's what I've seen here; the team is conceding too many goals, so those are also points to work on, but I want to play in an offensive way of playing.
That's how I love football and that's been the case in all the clubs that I've been working.
You mentioned that the football club finds itself in a difficult position at the moment. In a demanding and challenging league, how ready for that challenge to turn that around do you feel?
Yeah, I feel totally ready for that, otherwise, I would not have made this decision.
I also see the potential in the club, in the group of players and also, I hear and I see that people are also, very, very convinced that they want to invest more in this club.
Now in the transfer window in January, but also in the years to come, so those were also important things to take in account.
Could you just share with us the value of some of your experiences that you've had in coaching so far?
I'm not a person who likes to talk too much about himself, because it's about the players, it's about the club, it's about a team.
But several times I've come into clubs where it was difficult; it was the case in Genk when I came in December, it was the case in Monaco, when I came in January.
I came in several times in clubs that were in a difficult place during a season and in all these clubs, the results became better that season and they ended in a better way than where they started that season, so that's what I want to get also here in Norwich, but it's not about me, it's about the club, it's about the players, it's about everybody together.
So, it's not a story about my CV or anything, it's about getting this club where it wants to be.
What is your knowledge of the players that you have at your disposal to try and achieve that objective this season and stay in the league?
Of course, you don't take this decision out of the blue.
You look a lot of games, so I saw almost all the games that we played this season, several players I knew already from the past because in previous clubs, we were interested in them and they came to Norwich, so, I know this squad well.
Of course, you don't know the people well, I just know the football players.
I know what I could see in videos of the games, it was maybe not the best impression that they could have given of themselves for the moment.
I see also at the moment, some lack of confidence from players where I have seen better things in the past.
So that's really interesting for me, together with all that stuff, to get the best out of everybody again. It's really interesting.
You've talked about your style of playing the way you play football, but what about your man management? How do you go about getting the best out of those players?
That's a key part of our job, of course; it's not only about making tactics and me making training sessions and to put the best 11 for that moment on the pitch.
No, it's about getting the best out of everybody and to find the key, for everybody to to get the best out of them.
So, you need some time for that, to get to know the people.
I know there's not much time now; in the next week we already have three games, so, it's about working really fast, getting to know everybody very fast, also to get to know the staff who's still there.
They will also give me a lot of very interesting information; talk about the football club and the ambitions for the football club.
What do you know about our fan base, our supporters and the people who follow the football club so loyally?
Yeah, I've seen also the numbers of fans who are still coming, I've also listened to the game, so, you hear even in a situation when you have six, seven games in a row that you don't win, the fans were supporting the team.
That's a very massive, important thing; that the players feel that the fans are behind them.
Of course, they need to perform on the pitch and to give their lives on the pitch to get a result and at the end, if the result is not there and there are people unhappy and showing that, it's normal after a series like that.
So, it's about us, the stuff together with the players, to change these results around in a better way, but if you have a full stadium, you have fans who are behind this club.
This is also a club in a region where it's almost the only club, so all the region is behind these players and I will make this clear to them so that they also understand this.
Finally, what assurance can you give the supporters about the difficult time so far this season that you are 'all in' and that they've got something to really look forward to now?
No, I'm totally all in and everybody who knows me knows that I always work day and night in a club to make things better, to get better results or to sustain the results.
I'm all in day and night, so they will not see me too much in a pub or in a restaurant or anything. No, I'm here to work.
I'm not here for the nice environment and I know Norwich is a nice part of the country, but I'm here to get results and to get the ambitions that the fans fund, the owners want and that I wanted and that's to go to the Premier League in the future.
I know it's still far away for the moment, there's still a lot of work that need to be done, but I'm very motivated to do that job together with everybody.