The first foreign manager in English football was South African Peter Hauser, who managed Chester City from 1963 to 1968. In his playing days Hauser was considered a decent player who applied his trade in the now defunct wing-half position.
Hauser began his playing career at Blackpool before becoming player-manger of Chester in 1963. He enjoyed a successful tenure at Chester City before he left the club in 1968 and returned to South Africa to resume his previous job as an underground surveyor.
The first foreign football manager of an English top flight club was Czech Dr Jozef Venglos who managed Aston Villa in the 1990/91 season. Venglos departed after just one season in charge with Villa, with the team finishing just two places above the relegation zone - but then went on to have a long and distinguished managerial career: Managing teams in various countries and eventually taking charge of the Slovakian national team in 1993. He returned to the British Isles to take charge of Celtic from 1998-99, before retiring from management altogether in 2002.