Paul Clement has revealed how former Swansea City boss, Brendan Rodgers text him to wish him the best on his new job and in his quest to help Swansea avoid the drop.

A phone call from Rodgers

Clement's next opportunity to lead Swansea to a victory is against the club Rodgers left the Swans for, Liverpool, who Rodgers guided to within touching distance of a Premier League title, something that the club is once again attempting to accomplish; making this a very tough test for Clement's side.

Rodgers was the man in charge when Swansea were promoted to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs and is highly regarded by those in the terraces at the Liberty Stadium and someone who Clement knows well personally. Both men worked together during the start of their coaching careers at Chelsea where they were part of the youth and academy set ups and have stayed in contact ever since, and Rodgers offered his experiences and spoke positively about his own time with the club.

Positivity from the former boss

Rodgers told Clement that he would "enjoy it" at Swansea but offered "no advice" and Clement stressed it was simply a friend "wishing him all the best" and "hoping to goes well for me." But Clement was very adamant that things will only go well if they manage to "win football games" and that is the only way.

Clement's career followed Rodgers during their early days at Chelsea, when he first joined the coaching team, "Brendan was the under-18 coach" whilst he was the under 16's coach, then they both progressed with Rodgers the reserve coach and Clement taking his vacant position, before eventually taking the reserve role when Rodgers moved to Watford.

Now Clement finds himself in a seat previously owned by Rodgers once again and he will be hoping to have the same levels of success as the current Celtic boss during his time in Wales.

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About the author
Matthew Wilkinson
Huddersfield University in Sports Journalism. Twitter- MC_Wilkinson1