ALEX Neil, the only Scottish manager currently employed in the top two divisions in England, told Herald Sport last night that he had no interest in replacing Gordon Strachan as national team manager. Instead of the current Preston North End manager, Neil believes one of his predecessors in that role should be uppermost in Stewart Regan’s thoughts as he and the rest of the SFA board search for the man who can guide us to the Euro 2022 finals. Quite simply, the 36-year-old believes that the association would be mad if they didn’t want to talk to David Moyes, in whose footsteps he is following at Deepdale, about the Mount Florida vacancy.

“I’ll be honest, I still have so much to learn down here,” said the former Hamilton Accies and Norwich City manager. “I’ve learned so much the last few years - managing in the Premier League, fighting for promotion, fighting against relegation, things like that - that to be honest an international job for me is a bit part time-ish, You don’t get a lot of time to spend with the players. I see my day to day workings being on the training ground with the players day in, day out. That is what I enjoy. So I don’t think I am anywhere near the stage of my career where I would even consider going into international management. I think it is a job which is more suited to someone else.

“If I am being honest, looking at it the favourite is probably David Moyes,” added Neil. “He has got a lot of experience, he has been at Manchester United, he was at Everton for a good few years, he has managed in Europe. It is logical that he would be the front runner, the outstanding candidate, while you have also got guys like Malky Mackay and Paul Lambert.

“David comes to quite a lot of our home games, I have met him on a couple of occasions, and he doesn’t live far from me either. I saw that he has said he would be happy to discuss the job with the SFA, and if that is the case I think the SFA would be mad not to talk to him. If they are going to do a proper further search he is one that they should certainly speak to.”

Neil is making a pretty good fist of things when it comes to following the Moyes blueprint. This grand old club sat sixth in the Championship table, on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run, as they got the train down to London for today’s big match at Craven Cottage against Fulham. While hope springs eternal that this unheralded, no name Preston side could be this year’s Huddersfield, it is noticeable that – while he relied on players like Steven Naismith, Graham Dorrans, Steven Whittaker, and Russell Martin at Norwich - Neil these days has just one Scot in his ranks, in the form of the experienced Paul Gallagher, and even he doesn’t play each week, with Stevie May was one who was allowed to leave the club this summer too.

Neil doesn’t so much put that down as a criticism of Scottish players, just the fact that he knows the English game better, not to mention the kind of player who he knows can make an impact. Instead of the seven-hour round trip from East Anglia to scout players in the Midlands now the whole of the crowded North West football landscape is effectively on his doorstep.

“It’s true, I don’t think there’s the amount of Scottish players that there used to be down here,” he said. “One thing I would say about the squad I have got down here is that the average age is about 22.5 so we have a lot of young players who have started the last five or six games. I added a couple of players to the squad when I came in this summer but I know the English game better now having spent time down here,” he added. “I know the players better and one of the big plus points about being located in Preston, instead of Norwich, is that I can get to games regularly. It is perfect for getting out to see players and getting out to see opposition.

“I have been watching the Scotland thing with interest though because I am a Scotland fan, I always want Scotland to do well. And I think we have actually got a really good batch of players at the moment. I think our batch of players just now and probably just underneath that coming through is probably as good as we have had in the last ten years.

“So I think whoever does take that task on has a lot to work with. Gordon was very, very unfortunate that they didn’t qualify. They literally lost on goal difference, I am sure everybody thinks we could have done a bit better, but if everybody had done that little bit better then we would have qualified. I think Gordon gave it a really good go, I think he did well in his time there, but obviously they come up a little bit short. I am sure he will be disappointed and frustrated about that, as will all the players.”

Considering in August 2011, there were seven Scots managing in the top flight, is it a lonely place to be the only one in the top two divisions. “It feels very different obviously, because when I came down at first there were a lot of Scottish managers around at that stage,” he said. “But these things come in cycles and I am sure there will be new ones coming down again. There are a lot of up and coming young coaches in Scotland and I am sure they are hoping they will be given an opportunity like I was to go and show what they can do. What you have to to do is take that chance. “