By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
Along with
Martin Jol’s dismissal from his post at Premier League club Fulham on Sunday,
five other managers in the Football League have lost their jobs in the past
week which highlights the growing pressure to survive in the respective
divisions.
On Sunday
evening, Dave Jones became the second casualty in the Championship in 24 hours.
A simple statement on the Owls website read: “Dave Jones has been relieved of his duties as first team manager with
immediate effect. The club would like to thank Dave for all of his hard work
and wish him well for the future.”
Jones (pictured) leaves
the club perilously close to the bottom position in the table. Saturday’s 2-0
defeat at Blackpool was the third consecutive loss for the club who have won
just one game all season in the league. The former Stockport County and
Southampton boss was appointed in March 2012 and guided the club out of League
One and into the second tier of English football. They finished 18th
last term but have yet to keep a clean sheet in any match this season which
highlights they major problems in defence.
The club have
stated they will not be commenting any further on a new manager but bookmakers
favourites currently are former England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce, Molde
FK boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ian Holloway who left Crystal Palace last
month.
Yorkshire
rivals Barnsley have shown the door to David Flitcroft. The Tykes are now bottom in the Championship and haven't won in the division since
beating Middlesbrough on 19 October. Flitcroft though was only appointed
permanently as manager of the club in May after successfully guiding them to survival last season – which is the target every season for a club of
Barnsley’s resources. Unlike Jones, the departure of Flitcroft has come as a
surprise. Danny Wilson is currently tipped for a shock return to Oakwell.
Wilson was Barnsley’s most successful boss of recent times having taken the
club into the Premier League in 1997. Former player Neil Redfearn, Sir Alex
Ferguson’s former assistant Mike Phelan and ex-Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton
are other leading contenders.
Speaking of
Portsmouth and Guy Whittingham can count himself very unfortunate to have lost
his job last week. Pompey were craving stability given their perilous financial
situation over the past five years and there is no doubt that their former
goalscoring ace was giving that to them. Whittingham was working on a
shoestring budget, so for him to lose his position is disappointing to see. Pompey
were languishing in 18th in League Two after four straight defeats
but a season of stability was badly required. A change in management seems like
a hasty decision. Richie Barker has become a leading contender after his
departure from Crawley Town last week. However, Portsmouth have made an
approach for the Oxford United manager Chris Wilder this weekend and it remains
to be seen whether Wilder will be given permission to speak to the south coast
outfit.
Another
manager who is now down at the job centre is Barker after Crawley dispensed
with his services in midweek. Barker’s record is excellent after a successful
previous stint in charge of Bury and he kept Crawley comfortably in mid-table
of League One for the past 18 months. Like Whittingham, Barker was experiencing
a tough run with the Red Devils without a win in seven matches but four of
those were draws. Goalscoring was more of a problem with four blanks in a row.
If he ends up at Portsmouth, it will be a good move and a real loss to Crawley.
Gary Alexander, Steve Cotterill and Steve Coppell are among the leading
contenders to take over in this role.
Sean O’Driscoll
got plenty of sympathy last Boxing Day when he was fired by Nottingham Forest
but not so much in midweek when he parted company with Bristol City. Despite
only being in the job at Ashton Gate for 10 months, things were not great
between the manager and the board. They were relegated with a whimper from the
Championship in April and languish second from bottom in League One despite
just one defeat in their last seven games. In his stewardship, O’Driscoll had
guided the Robins to a woeful run of 22 games in a row without a win, so his
departure isn’t so unexpected as those of Barker and Whittingham. Cotterill and
Appleton, along with ex-Wolves boss Dean Saunders have been linked with the
vacancy.
16 managers
have already been sacked or parted company with their clubs this season in
England’s top four divisions and there are plenty more under pressure to
survive being next for the chop. The likes of Chris Hughton at Norwich City, Lee Clark at
Birmingham City, Millwall manager Steve Lomas, Ronnie Moore of Tranmere Rovers
and MK Dons boss Karl Robinson have had their futures questioned in recent weeks – all need results and quickly or they will
be among the favourites to have their futures being seriously considered by top
hierarchy at their clubs.
It once again states that time is a precious commodity in today's game.
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