STEVEN Pressley was back in Scotland this week, catching up with friends on a break north with his family during the Easter school holidays.

But there are few, if any, managerial jobs north of the border which would entice him to return on a permanent basis.

When his severance package from an eye-opening spell at League One side Coventry City comes through in the next few days - it involved endless off-field wrangling, and an at one-stage nomadic existence away from the Ricoh Arena - the 41-year-old will finally be free to resume his career in coaching. But in an ideal world, that career path would continue in England or even abroad, rather than Scotland. Having earned his corn thus far implementing cost savings and developing youngsters at both Falkirk and Coventry, it would also be nice if he finally earned the chance to work at a club which offers a genuine opportunity to build some long-term success.

"Ideally, I am looking to stay in England or even go abroad," Pressley told the Sunday Herald. "That is what I would like to do, although you never say never to anything. I have been a manager for five years now and a huge part of it has been reducing costs, making clubs sustainable again, and developing young players to achieve that. While that has been very rewarding in many respects, it is also very challenging.

"It is something I have thoroughly enjoyed doing but I don't want to spend my entire career as a football manager fire-fighting," he added. "My next step is seriously important and I would want to go somewhere that the next step is not just about reducing costs, somewhere - initially at first - where there is the ability to build. I feel like I have done my preparation and I am now at a stage where I want to go somewhere that gives me a real chance to be a success."

The lengthy legal argument over his pay-out - Pressley signed a new four-year deal at the club just months before he was sacked and replaced by Tony Mowbray - has prevented him from making any active moves to get back into the game, but he has hardly been inactive. Last weekend for instance, Easter weekend, Pressley took in no fewer than five matches in person. For the record they were Port Vale v Colchester and Derby County v Watford on the Friday, Swindon v MK Dons and Reading v Cardiff on the Saturday, then Burnley v Tottenham on the Sunday.

"One of my weaknesses when arriving in England was my knowledge of the lower league player," said Pressley. "But I have spent my time since parting company with Coventry very much taking in games - all through the divisions. I have watched Premier League games, Championship, League One, League Two and Conference games. Last weekend I took in five games over Easter weekend and this is the first week probably that I haven't visited any game or club and it has been a good week. But I am already looking to get back to more games on Sunday."

The game in question is perhaps not the one you might expect. He has rebuffed an offer from Robbie Neilson to take in the Edinburgh derby in favour of stopping off on his way down the M74 at Palmerston Park to watch his old team Falkirk take on Queen of the South.

He might not be in attendance today but Pressley is an expert witness when it comes to Neilson and the abilities he has demonstrated by taking Hearts to the Championship title this season. Having worked with him at Falkirk, things might have been very different had Coventry come up with a funding package to entice his former Hearts and Scotland team-mate to join him in the Midlands two years ago. Coventry's loss has been the Tynecastle side's gain.

"I was speaking to Robbie this week actually," said Pressley. "The great thing for him in his first job was that he was able to go into a club that because of the circumstances had great stability. They were building a new structure and it allowed him to go in and very much work from a stable base and concentrate on what head coaches have to do, which is developing the team on the park. He has been really successful at that, but during John McGlynn's time and Gary Locke's time a lot of the foundations were put in place.

"Robbie is very much a workaholic," he added. "He spends many, many hours within the football club. But he is only one year into the job. He still has to encounter difficult periods and prove himself through them but everything he has had to do he has handled so far."

Today's derby is the fourth and final meeting this season, with Hearts having won the first 2-1, with the next two being drawn 1-1. Whether the equation is altered now that the Tynecastle side are champions remains to be seen. "The one thing you have to guard against, and many teams have suffered this in the past, is that when you win the league a little bit of edge is taken away from the performance," said Pressley. "Derby games, though, usually still have that edge. I think that Hibs under Alan Stubbs, although they are going through a little bit of an indifferent period, have the ideology of how the club wants to grow, they themselves are moving on to the Hearts model. They have had to make many sacrifices to get themselves into a position where they can now grow."

As much credit as Neilson deserves, the power behind the throne at Hearts is director of football Craig Levein. While brand Levein was undoubtedly damaged by 4-6-0-gate and his period at the Scotland national team in general, Pressley is correct to point out how often his meticulous approach bears fruit, even if he isn't always around to accept the plaudits himself. While the likes of Ikechi Anya have become synonymous with Gordon Strachan's Scotland, it is often forgotten that it was Levein's broadening of the scouting network which had them in the system in the first place.

"If you look at Craig and his history as a manager he has very much fulfilled that role in a different way in all the clubs he has been at," said Pressley. "Even back to Leicester - they are successful right now and Craig was a big part of that. He works exceptionally hard at structuring a football club. It was the same at Dundee United, a big part of their success is down to the foundations he has put in place. He has brought stability at Hearts, growing the club, and they will very much enjoy the fruits of that for years to come. He is a very strategic thinker. Maybe at times during his managerial experiences he hasn't always seen the fruits of everything he has done but everywhere he has been in my opinion he has left a legacy."

Save for Pressley's rather unfortunate fall from grace, these are good times for so-called Riccarton three. While Paul Hartley guides Dundee into the top half of the division, Craig Gordon's journey from the depths of despair to an unlikely player of the year candidate has been one of the stories of the season. "It is a great story," said Pressley. "He has shown a real desire to continue being a football player. That is hugely important. Unfortunately sometimes in the modern game that is missing, that mentality, and desire to work exceptionally hard to make that your living. I am sure Craig with his time down south, would have found himself in a comfortable financial position so to have the drive to come back is a real testament to him. He tried many many methods to come back from it but he broke down through them all. It was almost last chance saloon for him. To be fair he has gone through a really difficult rehabilitation, not just physically and mentally, but he deserves all the success he is experiencing right now."

Pressley's own time in purgatory is also approaching an end. Some club, sooner or later, whether it is England, abroad, or nearer home, will take advantage of that track record in working with young players and budgetary constraints and offer him a fresh start. Who knows, a certain club in Govan might require that particular skill set this summer.