James Richard Clapham (born 7 December 1975) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and current head coach of Loughborough Students. He played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

from 1994 to 2011, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. He has also played for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

, Lincoln City and

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

. He began his coaching career with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Playing career

Tottenham Hotspur

Clapham was born in

Lincoln, Lincolnshire Lincoln () is a cathedral city, a non-metropolitan district, and the county town of Lincolnshire, England. In the 2021 Census, the Lincoln district had a population of 103,813. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, including North H ...

. His career started at

with Clapham playing for the Spurs' first XI in the

1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the first edition of the tournament administered by the UEFA. It saw Strasbourg and Bordeaux win their semi-finals to advance to the UEFA Cup, the latter eventually finishing runners-up. It also saw English repre ...

. Subsequently, he made one first-team league appearance for Spurs, a 2–1 defeat to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on 11 May 1997. Clapham had loan spells at

(six games between 29 January and 22 February 1997) and

(five games between 27 March and 26 April the same year).

Ipswich Town

The next season saw him loaned to

for two months between 9 January and 12 March 1998, the move then becoming permanent for a fee of £300,000. He made a total of 175 full and 20 substitute appearances in the league for Ipswich and scored eight goals, the most notable coming from his left-footed free kicks. In 1999, he was voted Ipswich Town's Player of the Year. He also tasted European action with the club, playing 12 games in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in two successive campaigns, 2001–02 and 2002–03. Ipswich Town's relegation in 2002 led to the club going into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

and created a need to sell players. Clapham was one such player as he was sold.

Birmingham City

He joined

club

for £1.3 million in 2003 after four years at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internatio ...

. He settled into the team and was a virtual ever-present until a hamstring injury forced him out in December 2003. His recovery was hampered when he suffered

shingles Shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. ...

during February 2004, and he was unable to return until April. In the following two seasons, he remained a squad player with competition for his slot from a number of players, such as

Stan Lazaridis Stan Lazaridis (born 16 August 1972) is an Australian former footballer. He was predominantly a left winger though he had been known to perform at left back. He last played for his home-town club Perth Glory and made 58 official appearances for ...

and

Julian Gray Julian Raymond Marvin Gray (born 21 September 1979) is an English former professional footballer who last played for Walsall. He previously played in the Football League and Premier League for Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City, Birmingham ...

, limiting his appearances. In May 2006, he was released by the club as they slipped from the top flight. In all, he played 84 league games over three seasons and scored once, against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in December 2005.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

In July 2006, Clapham had a trial with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and played 75 minutes of a pre-season clash with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. He also received interest from Ipswich Town before choosing to sign for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

in August 2006 on a two-year deal. He played in just 26 league games during the 2006–07 season, without scoring, and was put on the transfer list at the end of it. However, there were no takers for the defender in the close season and he began the 2007–08 campaign still at Molineux.

Leeds United (loan)

He was loaned out to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

in August 2007 and remained at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

for three months, becoming Leeds first choice left back, the club was given a 15-point deduction at the start of that season and Clapham was instrumental at playing a part in Leeds' impressive early season form.

Leicester City

He failed to break back into Wolves' first team after his return and was released to join

on 31 January 2008. Clapham was released in May 2008.

Notts County

After a period in July training with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, managed by former Ipswich teammate

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

, he joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on trial but was not offered a contract. After two weeks' training with

, he signed a short-term deal with the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club in September 2008, then in January 2009, he signed an 18-month contract extension to keep him at the club until May 2010. He and seven other players were released at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Lincoln City

He signed a one-year contract with League Two club Lincoln City in July 2010. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 win over

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

on 9 October, and scored again in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

defeat to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. He was not offered a new contract after a mass clearout of players after Lincoln's relegation from the Football League.

Kettering Town

In August 2011 he signed for

after a trial. A month later, after manager Morell Maison was replaced by

Mark Stimson Mark Nicholas Stimson (born 27 December 1967) is an English former footballer and is currently manager of Hornchurch. He signed his first professional contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1985, but was unable to gain a regular place in the team. I ...

, Clapham left the club.

Coaching career

appointed Clapham to a coaching role in Championship club

's academy after

Steve Agnew Stephen Mark Agnew (born 9 November 1965) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, he is interim assistant manager of Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1983 to 2002, notably in t ...

left for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in 2012. Clapham managed the club's under-21 team, and assisted new manager

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Segunda División club Granada. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka ...

with the first team from November 2013 to March 2014. In June 2015, he rejoined Mowbray on the coaching staff at

. In September 2016,

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

manager

Paul Heckingbottom Paul Heckingbottom (born 17 July 1977) is an English football coach and former player who is currently manager of Championship side Sheffield United. Heckingbottom played as a defender for several English clubs, including Sunderland, Scarboro ...

brought Clapham into the club as first-team coach on a short-term deal. A few weeks later, his tenure was extended to the end of the season, and extended again in July 2017. Heckingbottom was appointed head coach of

on 6 February 2018, and took Clapham with him as his assistant. When Heckingbottom was dismissed at the end of the season, Clapham also left the club. On 17 May 2021, Clapham was announced as the new head coach of Loughborough Students.

Personal life

Clapham's father, Graham Clapham, and grandfather, Bert Wilkinson, were also professional footballers.

Career statistics

Honours

Ipswich Town * Football League First Division play-offs:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Notts County *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

: 2009–10 Individual *

Ipswich Town F.C. Player of the Year The Ipswich Town Player of the Year award is voted for annually by Ipswich Town's supporters in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football Football is a family of team sports that involve, t ...

: 1998–99

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clapham, Jamie 1975 births Sportspeople from Lincoln, England Living people Association football fullbacks English footballers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Coventry City F.C. non-playing staff Barnsley F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff