DO you know what the problem is with the oft-parroted idea that managers who don't know Scottish football will fail?

The existence of all the managers who 'know Scottish football' and don't succeed.

It's a suggestion that has been levelled at Dundee United in recent days as they seek to appoint Micky Mellon as Robbie Neilson's successor. The argument goes: Mellon may be Scottish but what does he really know about the game up here?

At the weekend, John Collins and Derek Ferguson told the BBC there are a number of other Scottish coaches who could do the job. And yet, the counter argument is that some of the same names that are perennially linked to positions such as the vacant seat at Tannadice tend to self-perpetuate. In other words, these same people have demonstrated themselves incapable of achieving anything other than par despite 'knowing Scottish football'.

Before anyone starts getting defensive that's not just an assessment of the respective talents of the managers available it is also a mathematical reality: not everyone is going to win things.

Reticence among United fans is understandable. They remember the failed Ivan Golac experience. The Croat arrived on Tayside – the surprise choice to replace the legendary Jim McLean – in the summer of 1993 as a fledgling manager with a year's experience at Partizan Belgrade and a handful of games at lowly Torquay United.

It was believed he could provide some continental nous and for the first season, at least, when a Scottish Cup victory was secured following a memorable 1-0 over Rangers, he appeared to be the man for the job. However, a season later he was culpable for relegation during a miserable campaign in which United won just nine of their 36 matches. The memory still makes United fans shudder.

But they will also remember how Jackie McNamara and Mixu Paatelainen, two men who had plenty of knowledge of Scottish football, combined to take United down in 2016.

The main observation is that arriving as a novice is no barrier to success. There are countless examples from global football. Sir Alex Ferguson seemed to do all right in England without previously knowing the league, so too did Jose Mourinho during two spells at Chelsea and at Inter Milan. Ditto Steve McClaren, who last week turned United down, at Twente Enschede where he won the Eredivisie.

Closer to home, the recent examples at Kilmarnock and Hearts demonstrate the benefit of going for a safe option but for every Daniel Stendel or Angelo Alessio there is a counterpoint. Kenny Shiels didn't know the league when he arrived at Kilmarnock in 2011 and subsequently won a League Cup, following a memorable win over Celtic, in his first season.

His subsequent time in charge was less spectacular but he gave supporters of the Rugby Park club an afternoon at Hampden some would have only experienced once before and some young fans not at all. Brendan Rodgers wasn't exactly a devotee of Scottish football, either, but he seemed to do okay for himself at Celtic and therein is the rub: you can make the argument fit either way because, in reality, the success of an appointment comes down to a number of factors, the most important of which is the same for any business: you have to appoint the right person.

No, Mellon hasn't been around the Scottish game since working on the ground staff at Hearts as a teenager but he understands how to win football matches and does know England's lower leagues – which has become something of the supermarket of choice for Scottish Premiership teams.

Take Motherwell, third in the season just ended, the bulk of Stephen Robinson's starting XI were signed from clubs in either Skybet League 1 or 2. The Northern Irishman himself had no previous experience of Scottish football, furthermore he has not even had a modicum of the admittedly relative success that Mellon has enjoyed.

There are cliches that sometimes attach themselves to football that have no grounding in reality but one that is time served holds the very essence to the secret of being a successful manager: good communication. If you can identity with players from the off then the chances are that you will prosper.

Gareth McAuley once told me that he knew Pepe Mel's days at West Bromwich Albion were numbered after five minutes of the Spaniard being introduced to the squad. Mel, appointed in January 2014 at The Hawthorns, stood up before his new players and said 'hello' before handing over to a translator who laid out Mel's vision for the team. McAuley said he lost the dressing room the minute he sat down and passed his authority over to someone else. In the end, Mel lasted just 123 days in charge.

In contrast, Mellon's biggest asset is his motivational and man-management skills, so he should be fine on that score. Those who have worked with him also attest that he is an excellent coach who has a history of improving players, notably Jamie Vardy, whom he signed for Fleetwood Town in 2011, and sold to Leicester City for £1.7m. He also has a habit of improving the teams he is in charge of. At Fleetwood, he earned the club two promotions in three seasons from Conference North and then the National League.

He achieved similar success at Shrewsbury Town, securing their return to League 1 at the first attempt while guiding the club into the fourth round of the League Cup and fifth round of the FA Cup. While the club he is set to leave, Tranmere Rovers, were relegated on the points-per-game method last month it was harsh to say the least and, while they were clearly at the wrong end of the table, it was a blemish against Mellon's name that would probably not have been there but for COVID-19. More's the pity since it halted a successful run with the Merseyside club that brought back-to-back promotions.

No, Mellon might not be particularly au fait with, for example, the inner-workings of Ross County's new management structure or the camber of the Fir Park pitch but then he doesn't need to be.

One look at the cast of thousands serving roles at Tannadice – where you will find a sporting director, a head of recruitment, a head of talent ID and recruitment, a head of player pathway and loans, a head of tactical performance, a head of technical performance and a head of performance data and analysis – tells you that.

Rather than not having one iota of what is going on in Scottish football, Mellon's bigger challenge might be filtering out information overload.