Burnley boss Scott Parker says the Championship’s Golden Generation managers have ‘football in the blood’ ahead of showdown with Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough

There are no former England internationals managing in the Premier League and you have to go way back to 1996 for one of them to win a major honour with an English club – one-cap wonder Brian Little leading Aston Villa to the League Cup.

But below the top flight there is a stirring of interest. Though wealthy enough not to need the strains of football management, five players who wore the Three Lions are in the hot seat at Championship clubs.

The two leading lights in terms of league positions, Scott Parker and Michael Carrick, face each other on Friday night with their teams Burnley and Middlesbrough both in the top five.

Below them, Wayne Rooney is fighting near the bottom at Plymouth, Frank Lampard has just started at Coventry City and Tom Cleverley is making a good fist of his first managerial job at Watford.

In contrast, 44-year-old Parker is an old hand at this and has two promotions up to the Premier League on his CV at Fulham and Bournemouth.

He’s a thoughtful man who played for some big clubs like Chelsea, Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham. But like his fellow big-name managers, he’s passionate enough about the game to work at a less elevated level to stay involved, whilst of course remaining ambitious.

Trying to explain why it seems members of the Golden Generation era are choosing management rather than a less pressurised life in the media studio or on the golf course, he says: ‘I think it is probably in your blood a little bit.

‘I can’t speak for other people but from my point of view, I left home at 14 to pursue a career playing football.

‘I was fortunate and blessed and so lucky I got that opportunity. I had 20 years of regiment, routine, being around the game.

‘And then you come out of it at such a young age and that is all you really know. I wanted to stay in it. I wanted to give my experiences. It was something I was very keen on.

‘There are times when you sit as a manager and understand the stresses and demands of what it is and that we are in a professional sport where it can be unreasonable and not always in context, and you can get swallowed up with that a little bit.

‘But for me it is something I absolutely adore doing and that is the main driver really. I enjoy it, I have been successful at it and part of it is it’s all I know really. We will keep going.’

Lampard and Rooney were genuine superstars who provide their clubs with a certain x-factor but it doesn’t protect them from poor results. Both have been sacked and have decided to try and go again.

At 35 and the youngest of the quintet, Cleverley has exceeded expectations by getting Watford to mount a promotion challenge.

Carrick might turn out to be the most interesting one of all. He impressed as an interim at Manchester United and has built solid foundations at Middlesbrough in the same under-rated manner he excelled as a player.

‘I know Michael pretty well really from our playing days,’ says Parker.

‘We were in international camps together from a young age; England under-16, 18s, 21s. He was one I probably did think would go through the coaching route.

‘I’ve not come up against one of his teams as a manager but you can see the work he’s done at Middlesbrough. He’s been there a couple of years and the evidence is there he is building a structure. I’m looking forward to meeting him again.

‘For former players, even if you were at the top level, you need to go through processes and get badges and that takes huge commitment.

‘It depends whether you are willing to do that and then you need the opportunity. And when you get the opportunity, you need to grab it.

‘All these people we are mentioning in the Championship have the opportunity and it’s up to them if they decide to carry on.

‘I have been in it for five years and certainly want to stay in. Maybe there are younger ones who after a year might have a different thought about it!’

Parker’s record of promotions made him a good choice to replace Vincent Kompany at Turf Moor and he hasn’t disappointed so far.

The Clarets will go top of the table if they beat Boro with their success built on the midfield axis of Josh Brownhill and Josh Cullen, exciting wing play of Lucas Koleosho and a mean defence marshalled by England under-21s goalkeeper James Trafford.

Parker and Carrick will embrace each other before kick off – then be best of enemies for 90 minutes. And for one of them, no matter what they have in the bank, it can’t replace the magical feeling of victory when the final whistle blows.