Riposte to Football365...
Interesting read on football 365 this morning and I thought I would post a response, not in defence of English coaches but in explanation of what are unique circumstances that deter English coaches from plying their trade abroad.
Following on from my analysis on the lack of candidates, creditable or otherwise, for the England job, let's examine the reasons why English managers do not go abroad to build up the reputation and experience that Daniel Storey feels they need to be viable options for the big one, the sainted role of England manager.
Whether foreign experience is ideal for an England manager is another discussion, but the inherent strength of English club football makes it very difficult for English managers to escape their native land. A never-ending circle keeps them contained within domestic football.
Everyone knows about the bestest league in the world ever!! but the strength of English football is not an inverted, top heavy pyramid, with all the money and power dominated by those fortunately to be in the top league. Okay it is, but the Championship is a top 5 league in terms of attendance, as strong as many top leagues in Europe, and no second division anywhere in the world can match the old Division Two for prestige, quality, finance or support.
No one outside of Germany cares about the Second Bundesliga, no one outside of Italy cares about Serie B (unless they have stopped fixing matches), and the less said about the Segunda division in Spain the better. Teams struggle to get attendances that match League Two teams, while the Championship sells its television rights as far as Brazil!
What does this mean for managers? Working in the Championship will bring higher wages than a bottom half team in Serie A or Ligue 1, domestically it will bring more recognition and a bigger spotlight than mid table obscurity in Portugal or Belgium, and unless you have big success abroad you will not get into the Premiership - look how long it took Hodgson to have a crack in the Premier League despite success in Sweden and with the Swiss national team. Paul Lambert has achieved that with two successive promotions with Norwich.
Teams in the championship can challenge famous teams in Europe. Birmingham, with financial issues demanding their star players are sold off, finished only one point behind Braga, a top four team in Portugal, and Club Brugge. A fallen giant in the championship gives an English manager better career prospects than a gamble abroad.
Steve McClaren moved to Twente and won a league title in his first season. But did that impress back home? Sure, his reputation was in dire need of repair, but he could only find employment in the Championship when he decided to return home (and it will take a minor miracle for him to get another chance in England's top two divisions).
There is another question that needs to be asked: is England the anomaly? Other countries employ a majority of native managers but England was quicker to import players into its league. As such this made foreign managers more acceptable, and the likes of Roberto Martinez or even Roberto Mancini have played in England before managing. If more English players went abroad, would more managers naturally do the same?
With fewer top flight English managers, and foreign leagues only employing a small amount of foreign managers, its unlikely English managers could get a decent job abroad even if they wanted one. It's a vicious circle - more domestic jobs are given to foreigners, reducing the opportunities for English managers to show they have the skill to get a job abroad.
There might also be a kind of reverse-nepotism. If John Smith succeeded in Italy, then questions would ask why he did not succeed in England first. There would always be a fear he would struggle back in his homeland.
When you examine the people who have gone abroad - Hodgson, Richard Money, Peter Taylor, John Gregory, Tony Adams - all of them bar the current West Brom manager went to small clubs or nations in obscure lands on the outskirts of the footballing radar, and even then Hodgson was not a great success at Internazionale.
Ultimately the reason why English managers do not try their luck abroad is because they do not have the reputation on the continent to get a big job. Until English managers start winning big domestic and European titles, build up a reputation as a player (like David Platt at Sampdoria) or take advantage of an influx of English talent into a foreign league, their career prospects are better served fighting their way through the domestic scene, hoping for the chance to break into the big league.
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