Debate over next England manager's nationality highlights the cupboard is not as full as we would like - Stuart Rayner comment

It might seem disrespectful to someone who has done excellent service for his country, but it is probably no bad thing.

If Southgate stays in charge until the next European Championship, just over 18 months away – and I hope he does – there is every chance he will leave after it, and as a footballing nation we will need to be clear what to do next.

Picking an individual is slightly futile until we know when the job will become vacant, the more important debate now is over nationality. It has been raging quite fiercely in certain quarters this week.

Just having it highlights how much more needs to be done to produce elite English coaches.

Some people feel the next manager has to be English, some think he (be honest, a she seems almost impossible just yet) must be British, some just want the best candidate.

First, the easy one: Saying the England manager has to be British is a nonsense. Either nationality is important to you or it is not. If it is they have to be English. Broadening it to countries with their own footballing identities just so you can have Brendan Rodgers or Steve Cooper in charge is ridiculous.

The argument some have put that England not having someone English is "cheating" is overblown but the principle is more open to debate.

All eight Qatar quarter-finalists were coached by someone from that country, as every men's World Cup-winning manager has been.

The argument goes that for teams to represent countries, they should be managed by people from there.

You can see where it is coming from. Maybe I have not understood the rules of this debate, but I do not think everyone who shares that view must be racist.

How far does the argument go? Must the assistant be English?

Were England "cheating" having a Welsh goalkeeping coach – former Huddersfield Town player Martyn Margeston? Must the kitman be English?

Does it apply to all countries? Should Qatar, with its shortage of native experience, be forced to have a Qatari coach? Must Gibraltar have a Gibraltan?

If not where do you draw the line and on what basis? Bank balance? World Cups won?

I have not watched the England cricket Test team over the last nine months and wished New Zealander Brendon McCullum was not the coach. I do not consider the Lionesses' European Championship tainted because Sarina Wiegman is Dutch, or that England's 2019 rugby union World Cup finalists were breaking the rules by having Australian Eddie Jones in charge, or that Great Britain's Olympic rowing medals did not count when German Jurgen Grobler was the coach.

It does not bother me that Jude Bellingham has flourished since moving to Germany, or that Phil Foden has probably learnt most about the game from listening to Pep Guardiola and watching David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne.

There is a word for English people who refuse to learn from people not from their own country: idiots.

I do agree, though, it would be better if we produced the quality of coach that meant the best person for the job was English.

And whilst St George's Park has done a brilliant job since it opened 10 years ago of producing high-quality, intelligent and technically-gifted footballers – Bellingham, Foden and countless youth-team trophies back that up – it is not yet churning out the calibre of elite coaches we would like. At this stage, the betting odds for the next England manager are no more than a guide to the flavour of the month but fewer of the top 15 are English than not.

Of those that are, Steve Holland is the assistant manager and Lee Carsley the Under-21 coach, both light on senior management experience.

Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney are great former players – a popular route at international level – but it feels too early for them. For Eddie Howe and Graham Potter, it could be the right job at the wrong time given where they are in their club careers.

The reluctance of some Premier League clubs to think English when they want a new manager is not an excuse. England has a proud history of exporting coaches and former Ostersunds coach Potter and Canada's County Durham-born coach John Herdman show if we churn the talent out, someone will use it. The continuing growth of the Women's Super League provides more platforms in this country too.

Whilst it still does not show in stars above the badge, it does feel like English football is starting to move in the right direction. But deepening the talent pool to pick an English England manager from is the next step.

If we could just do that, debates about nationality would become irrelevant.