10 Lesser-Known British Coaches Currently Working Abroad
British fans and media were full of praise for David Moyes after the Scot took the Real Sociedad job last week.
The 51-year-old's decision was bold and courageous. He now has a great opportunity to expand his horizons, learn a language and become a better manager.
He is not, however, the only British coach currently working abroad. Many of Moyes' compatriots are also employed overseas. Managers from these shores have jobs in Rwanda and South Korea, the Philippines and Guam.
In no particular order, here is a collection of 10 lesser-known British managers currently working abroad. The likes of Steve Kean and Ray Wilkins are not included as they are already well-recognised names in Britain.
Colin Clarke, USA
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Colin Clarke is one of only two men on this list to have played international football. The former Southampton and Portsmouth striker won 38 caps for Northern Ireland between 1986 and 1993.
It is across the Atlantic where he has made his name as a manager, though.
Clarke began with short spells at Richmond Kickers and San Diego Flash, but it was at FC Dallas where he first tasted prolonged success. The club won the Western Conference in 2006, playing some excellent football. A cruel play-off defeat on penalties brought about Clarke's dismissal, however.
In 2007, the Ulsterman moved to Puerto Rico. Club side Puerto Rico Islanders hired Clarke in the midst of their worst-ever season. He oversaw a remarkable turnaround, and the side only missed out on the North American Soccer League play-off final on penalties.
A year later, Clarke also took on the role of manager of the Puerto Rico national team. His three years at the helm were very successful. The 2008 win over the Dominican Republic was Puerto Rico's first victory in 14 years. Draws with Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago were also highly commendable.
Clarke departed in 2011 to take over Carolina RailHawks. The club competes in the North American Soccer League, the tier below MLS. Clarke’s outfit topped the league in his first season but lost in the play-off semi-finals. In 2012, they again fell short at the semi-final stage.
With no promotion or relegation to MLS, the best Clarke can hope for is topping the table and winning either the Spring or Fall Championship in the league's revamped format.
Stephen Constantine, Rwanda
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Born in England to Cypriot parents, Stephen Constantine today lives in East Africa and manages the Rwanda national team. He is still in his early 50s but has already worked in four different continents.
Constantine's first coaching role came in the USA after injury cut short his playing career aged 26.
Cyprus' Achilleas FC gave him his first first-team role in 1994. After a remarkable cup run which saw fourth-division Achilleas defeat sides from the first and second tiers, he moved across the island to APEP. Following promotion in 1998, Cypriot football writers voted Constantine Manager of the Year.
Constantine's first national team job came in 1999 with Nepal. The Gorkhalis defeated Pakistan and the Maldives to win a silver medal at the South Asian Games of that year. The achievement was unprecedented.
India, Malawi and Sudan were Constantine's next steps. His blueprint with national teams is now well-established. The Londoner likes to promote young players and encourage positive, attacking football.
It is an approach that Constantine has adopted with Rwanda. The Wasps were unlucky not to make the final stage of qualifying for January's Africa Cup of Nations. A 3-0 aggregate defeat of Libya pitted Rwanda against Congo over two legs. Constantine's side won on penalties but were disqualified after fielding an ineligible player.
Congo have reached the tournament proper in Equatorial Guinea, taking advantage of an underperforming Nigeria side in their qualifying group. Rwanda and Constantine will rue an opportunity missed.
John Allen, Finland
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Born in northwest England in 1964, John Allen has become synonymous with Finnish football.
Having made 81 appearances for Chester and Mansfield, Allen signed for Huima in Finland in 1985. He spent the rest of his career in Scandinavia. He played 13 times for Malmo FF and Vastra Frolunda in Sweden but spent the majority of his time in Finland's lower leagues.
In 2003, Turun Palloseura made Allen their assistant manager. He became caretaker boss when the club sacked Martti Kuusela in 2008. Two years later, he got his first full-time managerial job, taking over the reins at Rovaniemen Palloseura. Allen guided the northerners to the top flight but departed after a match-fixing scandal engulfed the club.
The 50-year-old former midfielder agreed to join FC Jazz in Finland's second division last month. The harsh Finnish winter means Allen will have to wait until April for his first competitive game.
Terry Fenwick, Belgium
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Terry Fenwick struggled in his first managerial job with Portsmouth. A three-year spell was underwhelming at best, with Pompey rock bottom of the second tier when he was sacked in 1998.
Seven games at Northampton Town did little to improve his reputation. After two years out of the game, Fenwick headed to the Caribbean to rebuild his managerial career.
The former Tottenham defender enjoyed great success in two spells with San Juan Jabloteh in Trinidad and Tobago. Fenwick lifted the league title twice and the domestic cup once. He also led fellow Trinidadian outfit Central FC to runners-up spot in 2013-14.
Fenwick is now back in Europe with Cercle Sportif Vise in the Belgian third division. Four of his players from Trinidad have also made the move across the Atlantic.
Fenwick has enjoyed his time abroad with more freedom to work.
"I'm not sure whether I’d want to move back to English football," he admitted in an interview in September. "The pressure is so immense and most managers don't deserve the treatment they get."
Ashley Westwood, India
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Unlike many of the names on this list, Ashley Westwood did not play football abroad. His playing career was spent largely in the English lower leagues. Westwood turned out for clubs such as Crewe Alexandra, Sheffield Wednesday and Kettering Town.
It is therefore difficult to understand how he has come to manage Bengaluru FC in the Indian I-League. When Westwood first heard of the opportunity, he was sceptical.
"I'd been working in the Championship [as Blackburn's assistant manager]," he told the British Coaches Abroad Association. "Was India a backwards move? Was it bad for my career?"
In the end, Westwood took the plunge. He has not looked back since. Bengaluru won the league last season. At just 37, Westwood became the youngest man to have ever won a title abroad.
Indian football has been in the spotlight recently, the glamorous Super League attracting some big European stars of yesteryear. Indian football looks to be on the rise. If Westwood's Bengaluru retain the championship in 2015, he could become one of the nation's most highly rated coaches.
Dave Booth, Laos
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In Britain, Dave Booth is a name that only Barnsley and Grimsby fans may recognise.
Having played 364 times for the two northern clubs, Booth embarked on a career in coaching. Since landing a job in Malaysia in 1996, Booth's occupation has given him an excellent chance to tour Asia.
Since the mid-1990s, Booth has been employed in Thailand, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Maldives. The longest he has ever spent in a single role is three seasons.
Booth is currently boss of Lao Toyota in Laos and the same country's national team. Laos have never qualified for an Asian or World Cup. In fact, their first appearance in a continental tournament came earlier this year, at the AFC Challenge Cup.
Booth guided Laos to an impressive 0-0 draw with Afghanistan, but heavy defeats to Turkmenistan and the Philippines saw Laos finish bottom of their group.
Martin Rennie, South Korea
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Martin Rennie used to work in sales and marketing for a software supplier. He is now manager of Seoul E-Land in South Korea's second division.
Rennie was born in Scotland in 1975. An injury to his cruciate ligament ended his fledgling playing career before it had really got started.
Even when selling software, Rennie saw his future in football, as he detailed in a feature on Football 365. He saved most of his salary until he had enough money to take a coaching course. Within a few years, Rennie had attained his UEFA A Licence.
The Scot then spent eight years in North America, taking charge of Cascade Surge, Cleveland City Stars, Carolina Railhawks and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Rennie led the Surge in their best-ever season in 2005. At the Cleveland City Stars, he lost just one match all campaign. The Railhawks—who had only ever made the play-offs once in their history—missed out on the 2009 league title by two points under Rennie's guidance.
In his first full season in charge of the Whitecaps, Rennie led the side into the MLS play-offs.
The Whitecaps harshly fired Rennie in 2013 after they failed to make the play-offs. However, the newly formed Seoul E-Land, impressed with his track record, hired Rennie in July. He will lead the team in the K League Challenge next year.
Simon McMenemy, Philippines
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Not everyone has heard of Loyola Meralco Sparks, but Simon McMenemy will not mind. As head coach of the second-best team in the Filipino top division, the Scot's name is well-known in the Far East.
McMenemy is still just 36 but already has a wealth of experience under his belt. His first coaching job came with Haywards Heath in the Sussex County League. Since then, he has gone on to manage in the Maldives, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
His first job abroad was with the Filipino national team. McMenemy was surprised to land the role, which was initially on a two-month temporary basis, telling football365.com:
"I took the call in the office, and he said: 'We'd like to offer you the post, please fly out to Manila.' I put the phone down, and sat at my desk for 15 minutes, not speaking to anyone. I just stared out of the window thinking: 'My good God.'
"
Having impressed in that short spell, the Football Association offered him a one-year extension. McMenemy led the Philippines to their first-ever Suzuki Cup semi-final before departing in 2011.
Vietnam was his next stop, but the man from Aberdeen lasted just a few months at Dong Tam Long An. Spells at Mitra Kukar, Pelita Bandung Raya (both Indonesia) and New Radiant (Maldives) followed before Loyola hired McMenemy earlier this year.
Stuart Baxter, South Africa
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Stuart Baxter has had some career. The 61-year-old's nomadic existence has seen him take charge of 10 clubs in Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Japan. He has also managed the national teams of Finland, South Africa and England under-19s.
Baxter is currently boss of South African giants Kaizer Chiefs. The Johannesburg-based outfit are top of the Premier League with nine wins from 10 and an 11-point cushion over second-placed Chippa United. Baxter looks set to add a fourth trophy to his name as Kaizer Chiefs manager.
Baxter's previous employment with Finland did not go so well. The Scandinavians sank from 33rd to 86th in the FIFA rankings under his stewardship.
However, Baxter has generally had great success since he moved into coaching in 1985. He calmly guided Halmstads BK back to the Swedish top flight in 1988 following their surprise relegation the year before. He then won Sweden’s league championship with AIK a decade later.
In between, he led Vissel Kobe to the J-League for the first time in their history. That achievement was in spite of the difficulties caused by the major earthquake that destroyed much of the city in 1997. Baxter was forced to spend two weeks living in a caravan in the car park of the club's stadium according to his Wikipedia page.
Gary White, Guam
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Gary White's journey from Bognor Regis to Guam via the British Virgin Islands is not your ordinary managerial path.
"I remember lying on the grass as a kid watching planes fly overhead, wondering where they were going," the 40-year-old told John Duerden in the Guardian.
White's first taste of the unknown came in Australia in 1994. Freemantle City gave the Southampton-born man a two-year playing contract. When that deal ended, White hung up his boots. He was committed to becoming a coach and wanted to get a head start.
The British Virgin Islands flourished with 25-year-old White as manager. They leapt 28 places up the FIFA World Rankings and secured impressive wins against Montserrat and Puerto Rico.
The Bahamas clearly noticed White's good work and employed him as their head coach in 1999. Over nine years, the Englishman lifted the Baha Boyz 55 places in the FIFA rankings. More importantly, White implemented a football philosophy and culture of professionalism that remains to this day.
Following a spell in the United States, Guam approached White in 2012. Recent wins over Chinese Taipei and Cambodia and a draw with Laos are phenomenal achievements.
Guam are currently listed as the 162nd best national team in the world. They are above much larger countries such as Pakistan and Thailand, and are just a couple of wins away from overtaking India and Indonesia.
White is held in high-regard by the English FA. He is one of just 16 coaches to have been handpicked for the FA Level 5 Pro Licence, an elite programme that is the highest award an English coach can get. His unusual journey has certainly not precluded recognition back home.
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