5 under the radar managers who swapped British football for adventures abroad

Owen Coyle became the latest face familiar to British fans to win silverware abroad this month, when he led Indian Super League side Jamshedpur FC to the Indian Super League (ISL) League Winners' Shield.

The club, which was only founded in 2017, finished top of the regular league table after 20 games, five points clear of their nearest challengers.

Despite falling short in the four-team play-offs, former St Johnstone, Burnley, Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn boss Coyle has still been rightly praised for the job he has done.

His success has not gone unnoticed either, with reports in the last few days claiming Scottish League One team Queen of the South are ready to lure Coyle - who was born in Scotland but picked up one cap for the Republic of Ireland as a player - back to Britain.

Here, Mirror Sport looks at five bosses who have also ventured abroad to far-flung destinations as managers - with varying degrees of success.

Stuart Baxter

Even at the age of 69, Baxter is still going strong.

Despite being born in Wolverhampton, Baxter enjoyed a short playing career in England before setting off on his globe-trotting career.

He played in Australia, Sweden and the United States before moving into management in 1985. He has managed clubs in Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Japan, South Africa, Turkey and India, as well as undertaking international roles with South Africa, Finland and England's under-19s.

Last year he returned to one of his former clubs, Kaizer Chiefs, and led them to a first-ever CAF Champions League final which they lost 3-0 to Al Ahly.

Neill Collins

Collins was a defender in his playing days, most notably for Wolves, Sunderland and Sheffield United.

He finished his career out in the States with Tampa Bay Rowdies and upon retiring in 2018, he was made head coach of the Florida club.

And he has certainly made a success of the job.

Collins has lead the Rowdies to back-to-back Eastern Conference titles.

The quest now is to seal the club's first USL Championship (won via play-offs) after finishing runners-up last year and seeing the 2020 showpiece finale, which they also reached, cancelled due to the pandemic.

Collins was recently joined by a former Sheffield United teammate in the shape of former forward Jon Stead, who will work as an assistant coach.

John Gregory

Gregory was a well-known name in English football thanks to spells in charge of Derby, Aston Villa and QPR.

So when, in 2009, he decided to take up a job at Israeli side Maccabi Ahi Nazareth it led to many eyebrows being raised.

The job wasn't a success and the club were relegated in Gregory's first campaign. That didn't put Gregory off though, and he landed another job in Israel and then Kazakhstan. A two-year spell back in England, with Crawley, followed before he was lured abroad in 2017.

This time he went to India as boss of Chennaiyin - who he would lead to the Indian Super League title in 2018.

That gong was the second of his career, after winning the Intertoto Cup with Villa in 2001. He left Chennaiyin in 2019.

Adrian Heath

Former Everton, Man City and Burnley forward Heath is managing in the States, with Minnesota United.

The 61-year-old has been in his current post for five years and has been in the US since 2008.

He was at Orlando City for five years prior to them being admitted into the MLS.

He then moved to Minnesota and oversaw their progression into the top tier. After three games so far in the 2022 season, Heath's side are seventh in the 14-team standings.

He became a viral hit in 2020 for a blunt but entertaining post-match interview in which he provided a 20-second response on his summary of a match.

Steve Kean

Kean's appointment as Blackburn Rovers manager back in 2010 remains one of the strangest in Premier League history.

Despite a solid background as a first-team coach, he had no managerial experience prior to replacing Sam Allardyce in the Rovers' hotseat.

He kept them up that season but relegation followed in 2011-12. Kean resigned from the post early into the following campaign.

Speaking to Sky Sports about the pressure of the Rovers job, Kean said last year: "It was only when I came out of it that I realise.

"It was almost like the pressure cooker lid comes off and you decompress.

"You realise that mentally you are a bit battered by it. It took a few months for me to get my energy back, just mentally."

Once his batteries were recharged Kean would make a left-field move and joined Brunei team DPMM. He spent four years there and won the Singapore Premier League and a League Cup.

He also had a spell as Brunei national team coach before working as caretaker at Australian side Melbourne Victory.

Last November the Scot was appointed Academy Director of Hibernian.