CakePHP - the SQL log shows a working query which returns a row, but results variable is NULL?

So, here's my controller code:

public function admin_index(){
    $clients = $this->paginate();
    $this->set(compact('clients'));
}

And here's the relevant query from my SQL dump for this page:

SELECT `Client`.`id`, `Client`.`user_id`, `Client`.`first_name`, `Client`.`last_name`, `Client`.`company`, `Client`.`phone`, `Client`.`created`, `Client`.`modified`, (IF(LENGTH(company) > 0,company,CONCAT(first_name," ",last_name))) AS `Client__name` FROM `clients` AS `Client` WHERE 1 = 1 LIMIT 20  

This query returns 1 r开发者_高级运维ow (under Num rows, 1 is displayed, just to be clear :).

In the view (or the controller), var_dump($clients) gives NULL

I can't understand why that is happening!

In the controller change:

$this->set(compact('clients'));

for

$this->set('clients', compact('clients'));

Because if not the variable in the view has no name, so you can't access it.

Well, I feel like a bit of a chump...

The offending code was actually in the model file, client.php.

public function afterFind(){
    //todo
}

I was planning on writing some code here, but neglected to. afterFind needs to return an array of results. I wasn't doing so, hence all calls to Client::find (ie via ClientsController::paginate) were returning NULL, not even an empty array.