Lowest number of Scottish managers in Top Flight history

Even including interim Barry Ferguson, only 5 out of 12 roles are held by Scots

The number of Scottish managers in the Scottish top flight is at its lowest in history.

There has been a steady decline in Scottish managerial representation at the highest levels of British football – with only David Moyes currently in the English Premier League, compared to seven out of 20 in 2011. In fact, Scots have managed in England’s top two divisions every year for the past 132 years - a streak completely unbroken until a brief 14-day gap this season between Russell Martin’s sacking at Southampton and Alex Neil’s appointment at Millwall. But are we now witnessing a decline in Scottish leadership in our own Premiership?

Following Michael Wimmer’s appointment at Motherwell, only four Scots now hold permanent managerial positions across the twelve Premiership clubs - just 33% of available posts. Even when including Barry Ferguson, recently named Rangers’ interim manager, the total rises to only five, which is still a joint historic low. At the end of the 2018/19 season, there were similarly only five Scottish managers (42%) after the departures of Jack Ross (recruited by Sunderland from St Mirren) and Jim McIntyre (sacked by Dundee).

This record low however follows the close of last season, when as many as nine of the twelve managers were Scottish - a figure not bettered since 2010. However, this year that number has dropped to just four due to several changes:

• The summer appointment of Jimmy Thelin from Sweden at Aberdeen.

• Relegation and promotion leading to Davie Martindale being replaced by Irishman Jim Goodwin.

• Three Scots being replaced by non-Scots during the season: Craig Levein (replaced by Finnish Simo Valakari), Steven Naismith (replaced by Englishman Neil Critchley), and Stuart Kettlewell (replaced by Germany’s Michael Wimmer).

The last time there were more than ten Scots in the collective dugouts was in 2010, when the managers group featured eleven Scots and Neil Lennon. The league was entirely managed by Scots for the last time nearly 30 years ago in 1996, and in four of the ten seasons in the 1990s, every team was led by a Scottish manager.

A closer look at the history of each Premiership club makes for interesting reading, with this graphic listing each club’s total number of non-Scottish managers, as well as the first non-Scot and the last Scot to be employed by each club.