Time for a Change?

Following the change of managers at Bolton, Blackburn and Ipswich Town along with the appointment of Ian Holloway by Crystal Palace FC, let's have a look at the top 3 possible current BPL managers who might be looking for a new club in the near future. I'm not an advocate of managerial changes, but sometimes it is necessary to invigorate team and improve results in a way that the incumbent cannot.


3rd most likely: Roberto Mancini

taken from: soccerfanbase.com

After such an exciting end to the season culminating in his team winning the league title, some might say that it is impossible for Mancini to be sacked. Unfortunately, it is not so easy being a manager of a club with rich owners looking for instant success and the team's poor performances this season will be harmful to his chances of staying on. This is especially true in the Champion's League, with the draw with Ajax dealing a fatal blow to their chances of progressing to the next stage. The performances have also dropped in the league, with their goalscoring ability of last season abandoning them and they only avoided losing to West Ham through a wrong call by the linesmen. Rumours that Pep Guardiola is considering a return to management will be of no consolation to him as his owners look to becoming the champions of the world as soon as possible.

2nd: Martin O'Neill

taken from: viewfromablue.com

 With the team winning just 1 game and having the worst scoring record in the league with 6 goals, it is no wonder that Sunderland's fans are angry. Seeing their fierce rivals riding high last season, they would have wanted their team to start catching up this season but they are instead languishing just above the relegation spots. Of course, such a scenario was unexpected after Martin O'Neill's first few games in charge of Sunderland last season, bringing them out of relegation trouble. However, the team has been really void of creativity, with the main protagonists of last season, James McClean and Stephane Sessegnon, under-performing massively this season. O'Neill has already come out to proclaim that he understands the fans' frustrations and he needs to tweak the team to start scoring and win games or he might not be around much longer to try and please the fans even given how patient the Sunderland board has normally been with their managers.

1st: Mark Hughes

taken from: telegraph.co.uk

Joint bottom of the league. Winless in 10 games. Yet Mark Hughes should have no excuses at all. After narrowly escaping relegation last season, Tony Fernandes decided to stick with Hughes. With the transfer window and sufficient funds to shape the team in his image and a full pre-season to work
with, QPR was not expected to end up in a relegation battle. Despite some shrewd buys in Granero and Park Ji Sung, Hughes has not managed to make the team work as one and his tactics seem to always lead to the team conceding and losing. For now, QPR plays with a horrid lack of enthusiasm which even the boisterous crowd at Loftus Road is unable to change. Fernandes has constantly come out to voice his support for Hughes but it seems likely that Hughes will have maximum till the January transfer window to change the fortunes of the club before another manager is brought in to manage this undoubtedly talented but underachieving team.