Job wanted, have Uefa ProLicence, will travel. Sam Allardyce, Alan Curbishley and Adrian Boothroyd are not the only ones scouring the vacancy pages. It says something about the extent of foreign influence on English football that a man such as Albert Ferrer, the former Chelsea defender, should be attempting to start his managerial career here.

Just as Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo, former team-mates of Ferrer at Stamford Bridge, have been given their first club jobs in England, at West Ham United and Milton Keynes Dons respectively, so Ferrer believes that the Coca-Cola Football League may offer more opportunities than looking in Spain.

Ferrer is too diplomatic to voice publicly what that says about the number, and quality, of English coaches coming through, although he hardly needs to. The failure to produce good English managers is the national game's greatest failing.

In recognition of that fact, the League Managers Association is pulling together new initiatives aimed at targeting players towards the end of their careers and pushing those who show talent into gaining their badges. But it will find competition from those such as Zola, Di Matteo and now Ferrer, who enjoyed their playing experiences so much in England that they want to manage in the Premier League and the lower leagues in their adopted country.

“I played in England for five years and I would love to start my coaching career here,” Ferrer said. “The lifestyle, the kind of football - there are a few advantages. I have spoken to Franco and Di Matteo and they also like the influence that a manager has here compared to other countries. I would love to start in the Championship, although I will consider lower divisions.”

Ferrer retired five years ago, initially working as a pundit in England and Spain. But he wanted to get back into the game and took his Uefa ProLicence in Madrid alongside Josep Guardiola, a former team-mate at Barcelona who is enjoying success as coach at the Nou Camp. Ferrer, the former Spain international who played in two World Cups, has been touring different clubs from Barcelona, where he lives, to MK Dons to gather knowledge.

“You need to find a club that is brave enough to give you a job with no experience,” he said. “But I have spoken to Guardiola, who had only one year in the Spanish third division before Barcelona, and he thinks it is more to do with the person you are than the experience you have.

“I am very confident in my ideas and how I can work, and I already know the people I would like alongside me. I had many years at Barcelona and then Chelsea, so I can combine the best of the passing game and the requirements of English football.”