Wednesday 17 December 2014 15:37, UK
Gordon Strachan says Premier League clubs should not be scared to appoint young British managers.
And according to the Scotland manager, one leading candidate for a top job is Eddie Howe, manager of Bournemouth who welcome Liverpool to the Goldsands Stadium on Wednesday for a Capital One Cup quarter-final.
The 37-year-old has been in management since 2009, starting out with the Cherries, then moving to Burnley for 20 months, before returning to the south coast just over two years ago.
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, Strachan said: “He went to Burnley and that didn’t work well for him but he came back to Bournemouth. He took a blow at Burnley but he came back and put this fantastic team together.
“He got on with it without trying to be a celebrity. You very rarely see him and he does his job wonderfully well. The job he’s done with Bournemouth is wonderful and it would be great to have a young manager in the Premiership.”
“The more young British managers in the Premiership, the better. I think we go over the top with foreign coaches because we’ve got real talent in this country. I’m not saying that foreign coaches who come in aren’t very good but there’s talent here to do it.”
Of his role in charge of the national side, former Celtic boss Strachan said it was an opportunity he simply 'could not turn down'.
“When the job was available life was good for me because I worked in television and I got to see my family and kids and grandchildren and mess about," said the 57-year-old.
“I thought please don’t ask me, life’s good at the moment and I know I would go back into the life of pressure. But when I was asked I just said ‘yes’, because that’s what you do if you’re Scottish and someone asks you to do the national job.
We go over the top with foreign coaches because we’ve got real talent in this country.
“Since then with the work of the players and coaching staff, we’ve managed to put some good performances together.
“As you can tell in football right now, if your performances are good then life is alright. If it is not very good then life’s not too great but that’s the world we live in.
“The thing about being the national manager you have the ability to make a nation happy and the players have done that.
“We have given ourselves a chance to qualify for Euro 2016. The performances have been more than acceptable but where it goes after that I don’t know. But all I can ask from my players is to perform. I’ve got players who like to attack, so use them, use your strengths.
“When we played Georgia I thought we played terrifically. I expected us to win but I didn’t expect us to play that well.”
Watch Wednesday’s Capital One Cup quarter-final between Bournemouth and Liverpool live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7:45pm
