Earlier this week Carlisle’s Greg Abbot became the first Football League manager this season to lose his job. With three Premier League games gone already, the first top-flight departure can’t be too far behind, can it? Let’s have a look at the bookies’ favourites…
Paolo Di Canio (7/4)
The winnable games passed by un-won and with
a nasty looking run of fixtures on the horizon, Sunderland seem most likely to be cast adrift after the 8 or 9 game mark, the period where chairmen are generally at their twitchiest. Having said that, expectations won’t be too high against the big teams and as long as morale-sapping thrashings can be avoided, this might be the ideal time for Di Canio to gel his summer signings in to a cohesive unit. With the sheer volume of new faces at the Stadium of Light, any managerial replacement would be faced with the same set of problems as the incumbent. He’s by no means secure, but I’d be surprised if he was gone before Christmas.
Alan Pardew (11/2)
The win against Fulham would have settled a few nerves and for all the problems at St James’, you’d imagine Newcastle will have enough about them to steer clear of the bottom three. They won’t be bothering the Champions League places of course, but after a summer of inactivity in the transfer market, mid-table is the realistic and likely ambition. Off-field matters are less straightforward though, and these odds have more to do with the relationship between Pardew, Joe Kinnear and Mike Ashley than anything the Magpies will or won’t do on the pitch. Personally, I think Pardew will be the first to go.
Steve Clarke (7/1)
Surprised he's so short. Granted, they’ve not had the best of starts, but with the budget West Brom operate on, 4th bottom should be viewed a success. On the other hand, Clarke may be the victim of his own success after guiding them to 8th place last season. Though on the other other hand, their form since the turn of the year has been pretty awful…
Still think they’ve got enough to move away from trouble though, and maybe even score a goal at some point. Not sure Victor Anichebe is the man to do it, mind.
Martin Jol (10/1)
New-owner-odds, these. Is Shahid Khan expecting the impossible?
His moustache is pretty eccentric. If he were clean-shaven, Jol would be at least 12/1…
Fulham will probably have another season of mid-table anonymity, and Jol is probably safe.
Ian Holloway (14/1)
Behave. He performed a miracle in getting them up in the first place. They’ll take the parachute payments and run.
Who do you think will be first to go?