Despite talk of a foreign takeover, British managers account for three quarters of all managerial appointments in English leagues over the last six seasons.

However, the supposed plight of poor British managers has been in the news once again recently.

When Claude Puel was appointed as the new Leicester City manager, it prompted beIn Sport’s Richard Keys to tweet “RIP British coaching.”

Sam Allardyce believes British managers are not getting a fair chance in the English game.
Sam Allardyce believes British managers are not getting a fair chance in the English game.

The Qatar-based presenter then had Sam Allardyce on his show who gave us his own take on the issue: “I think you are almost deemed as second class because it is your country.

“It is a real shame that we are highly-educated, highly-talented coaches now with nowhere to go.”

Quite a statement, particularly when it was made in Qatar, a country with an indentured workforce who quite literally have nowhere to go.

Phil Neville then joined in on the second-class bandwagon: “From an English coach’s perspective, we are not getting opportunities.

“We are seen as second-class citizens at the moment, and that has got to change.”

But do they have a point or are they talking a load of old twaddle?

Well, given the fact Allardyce had the top job in English football just a year ago and is now one of the two favourites for the Everton job along with fellow British manager Sean Dyche you’d be inclined to say it’s the latter.

Burnley FC boss Sean Dyche is one of the hottest properties in the English game at the moment.
Burnley FC boss Sean Dyche is one of the hottest properties in the English game at the moment.

The numbers would also seem to suggest that’s the case too.

There have been 330 different managerial appointments across the top four divisions of English football over the last six seasons, excluding caretaker roles.

Three quarters of those, 249, have been of British managers while only a quarter, 81, were of foreign coaches.

Things do change as you go up the divisions though.

Just 42% (27) of the managerial appointments made in the Premier League over the last six seasons were of British coaches.

Division: % British managers appointed

Premier League: 42%

Championship: 70%

League One: 90%

League Two: 95%

That might not be the most encouraging of figures for ambitious British managers, but they have had opportunities at the clubs who finished in the top six last season though.

Brendan Rodgers, David Moyes and Tim Sherwood were given chances at Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

Sir Alex Ferguson - the greatest British football manager of all time.
Sir Alex Ferguson - the greatest British football manager of all time.

That works out as 21% of all the appointments at the “big six” clubs - go a little further back and you could add Mark Hughes at Manchester City to that list and, of course, Sir Alex Ferguson.

In the globally popular self-styled “Best League in the World” is it really surprising that the biggest clubs simply go for the best, most successful managers regardless of where they come from?

Perhaps if British coaches feel that the routes to success are closed to them in this country they should try their luck abroad.

It certainly didn’t do Steve McClaren any harm - Newcastle United saw to that.