FOOTBALL managers used to be one of Scotland’s primary exports to England. In recent times, however, the deluge of talent that used to pour over the border to take up high-level posts has slowed to a trickle. The Premier League marks its 25th anniversary next month and will open a season without a single Scot in charge at any of its clubs for the first time. In fact, had Alex Neil not been appointed at Preston North End recently, the top two divisions in England would be entirely bereft of a Scottish managerial presence.

It has been a fairly dramatic decline. When the Premier League was created amid much fanfare in time for season 1992/93, five Scottish managers were in the vanguard of English football’s revolution. Over the next few decades some of the names would change but the presence of a Caledonian – usually Glaswegian - accent in the dug-outs of many of the leading clubs would remain. The high-water mark came in 2011 when seven Scottish managers, including Glasgow-born Irish international Owen Coyle, were in situ, that statistic all the more remarkable given there were only five Englishmen in the division alongside them.

British and Irish representation has not improved since then. Only four English managers are in line to start the Season in charge of a Premier League club, alongside two Welshmen and an Irishman in Chris Hughton. The other 13 managers represent the growing globalisation of the self-styled “greatest league in the world”, an increasingly disparate spread of foreign owners preferring to plump for more glamorous names rather than take a chance a Scottish manager, regardless of their background and pedigree.

“It’s disappointing but it doesn’t really surprise me,” said Alex Smith, the doyen of the Scottish management scene and still part of Falkirk’s coaching set-up. “There is so much money down there, and so many people involved from other countries, who see the Premier League as the golden egg.

“It’s a league for multi-millionaires, and foreign businesses want to be a part of that, to make it their new favourite toy or hobby. Being attached to that gives them a profile and a platform.

“What these owners want is the circus manager, a guy who has done a bit and just stays forever on that roundabout. They want foreigners, ideally big names, who will come in and deliver success for them so these owners can bathe in the reflected glory. And that’s where the English game is now.

“It’s a conveyor belt. Often managers get maybe three to six months to prove themselves or they’re out. You’ll never get anyone else in that league getting the sort of time Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger enjoyed, to develop and build things.

“Not so long ago we had seven Scottish managers in the top division and all were doing well. Sir Alex was the leader and the one that set the trend for our managers to go down there who hadn’t played in England. And others followed that path. But lately some of our guys have gone in at big English clubs and been given next to no time at all. It’s an impossible task.”

Derek McInnes’ decision not to take up an offer from recently-relegated Sunderland was perhaps an acknowledgement of the near impossible working conditions for managers at sizeable English clubs.

“If you want to stay in the game in a consistent way and develop a club in the right way, a lot of our managers would be better off staying up here,” added Smith. “You’re restricted in terms of your budget but you can still develop players and be successful.

“There may be another chance for Derek at a club that’s more stable than Sunderland who have gone through so many different managers. Nobody wants a job like that, although you can become a millionaire just with the pay-offs even if you’ve achieved nothing. So it makes it more admirable that Derek has decided to turn that opportunity down.”

Smith, though, still remains optimistic that there will be Scots managing in England’s top flight again at some point in the future.

“If one of our younger ones up comes through at a smaller club then maybe goes to Rangers and does well, then that might catch the eye of clubs down south.

“Scottish managers tend to be very capable and well-rounded. They have that steel about them, the anger and also the humour, as well as all the other qualities that make a good manager. Their knowledge of the game is often very strong, too.

“We used to take great pride in having Scottish managers making such an impact in England and I really hope those days come back soon. Given the calibre of many of our coaches I’m sure they will.”