Brexit denies a coach a dream move, and English football is the poorer for it

It is a story so romantic it could be a reverse Ted Lasso – a young, unknown English football coach, plying his trade in the third tier, plucked from relative obscurity to sit in the dugout of Europe’s most glamorous club.

That was what so nearly happened this week when Andy Mangan, a coach at League One Stockport County, was approached by Spanish giants Real Madrid to join their coaching staff. Mangan was apparently highly recommended to manager Carlo Ancelotti by his son Davide, with whom the Englishman did his coaching course. Davide is the assistant manager at Real and Ancelotti, one of the most successful and influential coaches of his generation, had specified a desire to add a coach with experience of the English Football League to his staff.

Mangan had signed a contract, started to learn Spanish and travelled to Madrid to start looking at potential schools for his children. And then… Brexit intervened. Mangan was denied a visa and, rather than preparing for an away trip to Real Sociedad this weekend, he’ll be on the bench at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium. While there is the possibility of an appeal, it is unlikely, and would take at least nine months anyway.

His story is not the first example of Brexit rules complicating footballing matters in Spain. Both Jude Bellingham, himself a Madrid player, and Conor Gallagher, a recent signing for capital rivals Atlético Madrid, applied for and received Irish passports in order to bypass rules that limit La Liga teams to a total of five non-EU players in their squad and three on match days. Earlier this year the former England international Steven Caulker was forced to resign from his role as player-manager at FC Malaga City after running out of patience with a lengthy wait for a visa.

As third-country nationals, Brits are now only able to stay up to 90 days out of 180 in Spain, meaning that if you want to be able to live there any longer than three months, you need to have a work visa or residency card. But as Mangan discovered, getting a work permit in Spain is now tough, especially for the young, who need to prove they are highly skilled while employers must demonstrate there are no other suitable candidates.

Having a British coach on the bench should have been a matter of pride. For all the constant talk of inventing the game, taking it to the world, 1966 and all that, there are no British managers working in Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga or Italy’s Serie A. Two coach in France’s Ligue 1, but one of those, RC Lens’ Will Still, is Belgian-born and has worked exclusively overseas. The world is not clamouring for our expertise.

“This devastating news is just the latest example of Brexit regulations denying Brits the opportunities that once would have been available to them,” says Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain. “There are stories like this emerging everyday and the Government must do something about it. Whether it’s our amazing touring musicians, those wanting to study abroad or even highly paid sportspeople, too many Brits are having their wings clipped.”

She’s right. Until relatively recently there would have been no hitch. With freedom of movement Mangan could simply have taken the job, moved to Madrid, given his children that international education. As it is he will be at Crawley this weekend, and English football is all the poorer for it.