Every season buckets of money are wheeled out and thrown in the
direction of the bookies, bets staked on who will be the first
manager sacked. Over the last few years, however, it's been the
bookies splashing out on posh lobster dinners and fizzy wines, as
the bumbling likes of Sammy Lee and Chris Hutchings have outlasted
devious smoothies like Jose Mourinho. Curbishley is the unlucky
favourite this year, but in preparation for a big shock, we provide
you with our pick of the sack race contenders.
Alan Curbishley
» West Ham's last two managers - Glenn Roeder and Alan Pardew -
were both sacked in the first half of the season.
» Glenn Roeder was sacked after just two games in his third season
in charge in 2003. This will be Curbishley's third season at West
Ham.
» However, West Ham have only had eleven full-time managers in
their 113-year history - no other Premier League club has had
fewer.
» Three managers have left West Ham while they were a Premier
League club - Billy Bonds, Harry Redknapp and Alan Pardew - but of
those only Pardew was removed in the middle of a season.
Kevin Keegan
» All seven full-time Newcastle managers during their time in the
Premier League have left in the middle of the season.
» Newcastle have ridiculously sacked three managers in August over
the last past ten years - Dalglish, Gullit and Robson - winning the
sack race on each occasion.
Keegan has a track record for resigning mid-campaign. He left
the England job in the middle of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup
and he left both Newcastle and Man City mid-season.
» But Keegan has never spent less than a year at a club, which
would mean staying on until January 16. By that point last season
eight managers had left their club.
Gary Megson
» Megson is the only of the five candidates to have been sacked in
the middle of a Premier League season before when West Brom
dismissed him in October 2004.
» Bolton have changed manager during the last two seasons and were
runners-up to Chelsea in last season's Sack Race.
» Bryan Robson (West Brom), Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth) and Alan
Curbishley (West Ham) have all helped their clubs avoid relegation
over the past three seasons and on each occasion the manager has
kept his job throughout the next season.
» However, the last five clubs to finish 16th - Aston Villa, Man
City, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Fulham - have all replaced their
manager within twelve months of that season finishing.
Rafa Benitez
» Liverpool have never in the history of the Premier League been
the first team to sack their manager.
» In only two of the last seven seasons has the first manager to
leave their club come from outside the UK.
But the last four, and six of the last seven, managers to leave
their club first were in their 40s, which is quite surprising
considering the average age of current Premier League managers is
50.45.
» Benitez has resigned from his last three clubs - Extremadura,
Tenerife and Valencia - and cited disagreements with the board as
his reason for quitting Valencia.
Luiz Felipe Scolari
» Chelsea were the first club to replace their manager last season,
with Jose Mourinho leaving on the 20th September.
» Two of Chelsea's last four managers - Gianluca Vialli and
Mourinho - were sacked in September - with three of the last five
leaving in mid-season.
» The last time Scolari managed a foreign club side - Japanese team
Jubilo Iwata - he left after just 11 games.
» Avram Grant became the shortest-serving coach of Roman
Abramovich's tenure last season but even he lasted eight
months.
