Clem sets his sights on historic promotion treble

Neil Clement is determined to become the Club's first player to achieve three promotions in the famous blue and white stripes after a season ravished by injury. The former Chelsea man even revealed his injury frustrations left him contemplating his playing career after a knee problem kept him out the game for 18 months. Now back to full fitness, 'Clem' is focused on gaining promotion on the eve of Watford visiting The Hawthorns.

"At the moment I couldn't be happier," Clement commented.

"I'm enjoying myself thoroughly one day at a time.

"I'm enjoying training and it's nice to be back here amongst friends and playing for a club that means so much to me.

"I'm proud to have been at the club for so long.

"My dad spent a long time playing at QPR, so maybe it's a family thing.

"It's been a tough time though.

"I've had 18 months of frustration really.

"It was a bad injury that I had and it took a long time for it to heal.

"Listening to my family, staying positive and having the determination to come back made me keep going.

"I did think: 'Is this it for me?'

"But I stuck with it and the medical team here were great with me.

"It took time for the cartilage in my knee to harden up again.

"It's not something that can be rushed.

"It's not like a cruciate injury where you repair it and you're back in eight months.

"My injury took 18 months to two years to really mature.

"I had good people around me and good mates around me like Paul Robinson and Darren Moore, who's no longer here, who were great for me.

"I'm now determined to do well.

"When I was at Hull I had this thing in my mind that I wanted to show people back here that I'm still good enough.

"The loan to Hull gave me a lot of confidence in myself but also with the injury I had.

"People doubted whether two games in a week would be a problem for me and I went up there and played three in a week and came out of it fine.

"That was great for me.

"I'm hungrier than ever at the moment.

"I had days when I was questioning whether it was the end for me because I had some really painful days.

"I know what I need to do now to keep myself strong and in shape.

"As far as I'm concerned the injury thing is behind me and it's now about capping it off with a promotion.

"Everyone wants to play in the Premier League and I'm no different.

"Winning a third promotion with Albion would mean everything, especially after my injury."

Since joining from Chelsea back in March 2000, Clement has enjoyed winning automatic promotion to the Premiership in both 2002 and 2004 and believes Albion are now in an ideal as the season comes to a close.

"Being top of the table is where you want to be with five games to go," the centre-half added.

"I doubt very much if Watford will be as bad as they were on Wednesday when they lost 3-0 to Barnsley.

"The game is live on TV and, with both sides going for promotion, I think it will be a lot tighter than it was the other night.

"Having said that we'll be in front of our own fans on a good pitch and we're all hungry to perform on the day.

"If we did win, five points would be a big gap between us and them at this stage.

"We'll see where we are after the game."