Scott Gemmill is being tipped to follow in Gareth Southgate's shoes with the former Nottingham Forest midfielder among the favourites to step up from being Scotland Under-21 boss and succeed Alex McLeish after he left his role at Hampden Park earlier this week.
As a piece in The Scotsman this weekend points out, both Gemmill and Southgate are the same age and 'both are educated and articulate individuals who fit the identikit picture of a modern-day coach,' although it does point out that Gemmill lacks any experience of club management.
The wider point, from an England point of view, is that after many years of searching for a solution to our underachievement at international level and looking longingly at the likes of France's Clarefontaine academy or Germany's root-and-branch reform of coaching, other countries are now looking at the system the FA has put in place and which is reaping rewards at all age groups.