Newcastle's Howe flies flag for outnumbered English coaches

LONDON : Newcastle United's League Cup final triumph over Liverpool was not only a landmark moment for the club, it was also a throwback to a time when English managers regularly stocked up the trophy cabinets of the country's top clubs.

Eddie Howe still has a long way to go to emulate the likes of Bob Paisley, Brian Clough, Howard Kendall and Bobby Robson, and remains something of an anomaly in the Premier League where only two of the 20 current managers are English.

But in becoming the first home coach to win one of England's top domestic honours since 2008, Howe's feat is a shot in the arm for English coaches plying their trade in the lower leagues.

Londoner Harry Redknapp, who won the 2008 FA Cup for Portsmouth and took Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League for the first time, hopes Howe's rise changes perceptions but laments the lack of home-grown managers.

"It's sad that there's only two English managers in the Premier League," 78-year-old told reporters at Charlton Athletic's Valley during the launch of the inaugural North versus South game in which he will return to the touchline.

"It's sad that they don't get the opportunities. The only way you tend to get there now is to take a team up. In (Howe's) case, it was different."

By his own admission, the 47-year-old Howe's playing career was unremarkable. He came through the ranks at Bournemouth where Redknapp was cutting his teeth as a manager, and made nearly 300 appearances in the lower rungs of the Football League before injury forced his retirement in 2007.

A year later, with Bournemouth in financial turmoil and heading out of the Football League, Howe became manager, led them to safety and then to promotion the following season.

After a short spell at Burnley,