Last November was the busiest month of the year for top flight managerial movement, with three Premier League bosses collecting their P45s (Chris Hutchings, Steve Bruce and Billy Davies). November 2008 probably will not be as busy, but there are several candidates for a mid-season departure - Mark Hughes is feeling hot under the collar after receiving the managerial kiss of death, Gianfranco Zola can’t hide behind that huge grin for much longer and the bookies are shortening their odds on Gary Megson.
At the less troublesome end of the table, Arsene Wenger appears to have temporarily staved off the angry Arsenal fans calling for his head, while the lure of Real Madrid may be difficult for someone like Rafa Benitez to resist if they offload Bernd Schuster.
So, who will be next to go*? Votes and comments below please…
*We’re not counting Joe Kinnear in this one, as he is supposed to be departing this month anyway.
After Slaven Bilic, Brian Laudrup and Roberto Donadoni pulled out of the race to manage West Ham, it was all down to ex-Chelsea free kick specialist Gianfranco Zola to take the reigns. The Italian is expected to be unveiled at a press conference today, and many Hammers fans are delighted by the prospect of exciting attacking football.
Yet there are some concerns that Zola’s lack of experience as a manager will hit him hard when he mixes it up with the big boys, and also that he’s far too small to break up fights between Matthew Upson and Craig Bellamy.
So what do you think? On the scale of players who try their hand at management, will he be closer to Mark Hughes, or the defensively disappointing Ossie Ardiles?
The Italian isn’t a fan of Dennis Wise’s sense of humour
It’s widely reported that Gianfranco Zola will be announced as West Ham’s new manager within 48 hours despite his former Chelsea teammate Dennis Wise supposedly showing an interest in taking him to Newcastle.
Some reports suggest that Zola would prefer to live in London than Newcastle while others claim that the Italian is looking forward to working with compatriot Gianluca Nani.
However, the latest extract of Wise’s autobiography, which is being serialised on The Spoiler, exposes the real reason: Zola wasn’t very impressed by Wise’s practical jokes:
