It’s a while since Paul Lambert set foot in the dugout but he’s in no rush to get back to it – because he’s quite happy travelling the world and sweeping floors in the meantime.
Celtic legend Lambert is one of few players who can literally say they’ve won the lot at club level. He lifted the Champions League at Borussia Dortmund, before returning to Scotland in 1997 and conquering all with the Hoops. Later he would successfully transition into management, winning promotion to the Premier League at Norwich City, before three years in the Aston Villa hotseat.
But he hasn’t had a top job since leaving Ipswich in 2021. Nowadays, he’s quite happy just to travel the world and doing what needs done to help out at all levels of football – even if that means sweeping floors at a little known club in Australia.
Lambert told the Scottish Sun: “I enjoy what I do just now. I’ve been travelling all round the world. I’ve been doing things in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.
“I’ve played with Dortmund Legends in Hong Kong and all over the place. It’s been different but it’s been really good. I never, ever saw myself going to Asia or Australia – never. But I’ve loved it. Meeting different people has been great.
“You don’t have the craziness of management. I’m quite content with what I do at the minute. There’s no pressure. It’s just fun. Football has been my life. Now it’s maybe time to try to give something back.
“I was over in Australia not that long ago at this little football club. The floor was dirty but I found a brush and shovel and was sweeping the floor and getting the stuff off it. A guy came and asked, ‘Why are you doing that?’.
“I told him it was normal. You have to make sure the facilities are clean. He said, ‘But you’ve won the Champions League’. I said, ‘And that’s why I did win it. By doing things like this’. I’m not aloof.”