Albion boss Chris Hughton says English and British managers are being under-valued.

And he fears the foreign trend in the Premier League will filter down to the Championship.

Elder statesman Hughton, 56, has voiced his concerns as he prepares to go toe-to-toe with a leading English rival for the second game running.

Gary Rowett, 41, brings Birmingham to the Amex on Saturday having revived their fortunes.

Sean Dyche, 44, has done a fine job too at Burnley, where Albion drew on Sunday, but their names are rarely linked with higher profile posts.

Hughton told The Argus: "I think there is a frustration. There are some exceptionally good English and British managers in the game and some very good young ones.

"But we are in a period of our game where the dynamics have changed. The ownership of clubs has changed and there is certainly more foreign ownership than before.

"At times, within that type of ownership, they will look at what they know best and experiences they have.

"It's a trend. We are now perhaps seeing more foreign coaches and managers outside of the Premier League - at one time it was very much in the Premier League.

"And of course now it has been a case in the Championship. Unfortunately, we have some very good English and British managers and it is very much under-estimated the quality they've got."

In the Premier League the current top nine clubs are all managed by foreigners. Only five out of 20 are Englishmen - Alan Pardew, Garry Monk, Steve McClaren, Sam Allardyce and Eddie Howe.

The imbalance was worse until Allardyce replaced Dutchman Dick Advocaat at Sunderland last month and Monk's position is now under scrutiny at Swansea.

The number swells to eight British managers with the addition of Welshmen Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis, together with Scotsman Alex Neill, but Remi Garde at Aston Villa has just become the 12th overseas chief in the top flight.

In the Championship, five of the current top six, including Albion, are managed by Englishmen. The exception is Spaniard Aitor Karanka at Middlesbrough.

In total throughout the division 14 Englishmen are in charge, five Scots, one Irishman and four foreigners.

Albion had Gus Poyet, Oscar Garcia and Sami Hyypia before turning to Hughton and three of the more recent appointments in the Championship have been from overseas.

Sheffield Wednesday, steered by Portugal's Carlos Carvalhal, defeated Huddersfield in German David Wagner's first match in charge on Saturday.

Charlton, who visit the Amex a week after Birmingham, have Karel Fraeye as interim boss after sacking Guy Luzon.

In total, across the top two divisions of English football, just 43 per cent of the clubs are managed by Englishmen.

Hughton, who was born in London but qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland through his mother, said: "It's a worry. What we have tended to see is trends. All we can hope is there is a trend that begins to appreciate what we have here.

"We went through a period of managers losing their jobs quite early in campaigns, then we had a steadying period a season or a couple of seasons ago.

"At this moment eight Championship managers have gone before November so I think it does go in trends. I hope it reverses so what we have here is appreciated more than it is."