LIKE The Press columnists Tony Kelly and Keith Houchen, I would very much like to see an Englishman in charge of the national team.

But I believe the main reason why English professional football seems unable to produce such a manager, is that England does not have managers who are intelligent enough to compete at international level.

It is a fact that the great majority of English professional footballers are drawn from the lower socio- economic groups and are, in the main, not that intelligent.

Those that are quite intelligent - and of course, there are some - are not well educated.

Very few professional footballers even go on to A'-level standard.

It is from this group that our managers emerge and, while some of them are able to compete, up to a point, at the national level, they are completely out of their depth once in the international arena.

Steve McClaren was a perfect example of this.

Unfortunately, it will be many a long year before English football produces intelligent, cultured and most importantly, successful managers like Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and of course Fabio Capello.

Colin Robinson, Long Ridge Lane, Nether Poppleton, York