Opinion: Why isn't the Newcastle board looking for the next David Moyes to manage their club?

How many managers from the lower leagues have been linked with the two top managerial jobs that came up in the Premier League in the last week?

Don't spend too long thinking about the answer: it's none. A big fat zero.

Top flight clubs just aren't interested in appointing managers from the Championship and below.

Yes, Paul Ince graduated from MK Dons to Blackburn this summer, but the leap he made from the League Two champions to the top flight marks him out as no ordinary lower league manager.

The last boss to be genuinely rewarded for his exploits in the Championship was Everton's David Moyes.

After an unremarkable playing career, he took over at Preston and saved them from relegation to the league's bottom tier. Three seasons later, Moyes took them to the brink of the Premier League and earned himself a call from Goodison Park. And Toffees fans will surely agree that it was a good move for all concerned.

That was in 2002. Now when a job comes up in the Premier League, the names mentioned all seem to be foreign or high profile former players with little or no managerial experience (Alan Shearer anyone?).

Championship managers have all but accepted that if they want their shot at the top flight they are going to have to take a team up.

Gary Megson and Steve Bruce have both shown that if you do a good job with a promoted side, even if it is not enough to stave off relegation, it can bring you a second chance with another club.

But that yo-yo cycle of promotion and relegation can leave a manager tarnished - and if he fails to conjure an instant return he can quickly be forgotten.

And the pressure on Championship bosses to make sure their team is one of the chosen few to get a season picking up Premier League cash is huge, a fact reflected in the extraordinarily high attrition rate.

According to calculations earlier this year the average reign of a Championship manager stands at just 11 months - hardly conducive to establishing your credentials as a top boss.

With the current crop of Championship managers caught between the fad for foreign talent and the high profile former player, they will surely have to do something truly outstanding to be invited to join a Premier League club.

And at the moment, with too many tainted by the stain of relegation, there are no stand out contenders. Gary Johnson took newly-promoted Bristol all the way to the play-off final and has done well at previous clubs - but those clubs are Yeovil and Cambridge.

Ipswich's Jim Magilton could be one to watch, though. Young, dynamic and encouraging his team to play football 'the right way' with two seasons under his belt.

If he can keep building on that, he could get his chance - but realistically, he'll get there a whole lot quicker if he can get his team promoted.

Click here to read the rest of Ann Gripper's new column - and check back every Thursday for more of her thoughts on the Coca Cola Championship and beyond.