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Managers' job security
With the 2018/19 Premier League season well under way, it’s unlikely to be long before pressure starts to build on one or two of the managers occupying top-flight hot seats. After all, Frank de Boer left Crystal Palace in mid-September last term, and another five bosses vacated their posts before Christmas.
It therefore wouldn’t be a huge surprise if one or more of these 20 managers were sacked in the coming weeks. Some are far safer than others, however, and that’s where our countdown begins: with the securest manager in the division...
20. Sean Dyche (Burnley)
Burnley didn’t panic when they were relegated to the Championship on a tiny budget in 2014/15, sticking with Dyche after demotion and trusting him to lead them back into the top tier. The ex-Watford boss did exactly that and then secured a 16th-place finish in the Premier League, before leading the Clarets into Europe last term.
Dyche could probably take Burnley down again and still keep his job, such is the trust placed in him by the club’s hierarchy. He’s also unlikely to be poached; bizarrely, no bigger side seems to want him.
19. Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
It isn’t an exaggeration to say that Manchester City’s appointment of Guardiola in 2016 was years in the making, and the club are duly determined to keep him around for as long as possible.
And why wouldn’t they be? Guardiola’s City produced arguably the greatest single season in Premier League history last time out, comfortably winning the title and breaking the division’s all-time points record by becoming the first team to reach the 100 mark. The Catalan appears happy in his role and should be part of English football for a while longer yet.
18. Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
A Champions League final and top-four finish in 2017/18 means Klopp has nothing to fear when it comes to job security. His jovial but passionate personality endears him to the players and supporters of any club he manages – and that’s particularly useful at Anfield, where managers are placed on a pedestal.
It would take more than a bad start to the campaign, such as the one which saw Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund sitting joint-bottom at the midway stage in 2014/15, for the Reds to let him go any time soon. Four wins from four suggest nothing of the sort will happen.
17. Eddie Howe (Bournemouth)
It’s not inconceivable that the Bournemouth board sack Howe if things are looking desperate, but it is very unlikely. For a start, the former Cherries player took over as a rookie manager in 2008 and guided them all the way up from League Two to the top flight – and he’s still only 40.
What’s more, Howe has kept them there. Bournemouth’s three seasons at the top table haven’t been without their sticky moments, but he’s consistently kept them clear of the bottom three. A poor start to 2017/18 didn’t faze the higher-ups, and neither would another poor half-season in 2018/19.
16. Unai Emery (Arsenal)
After 22 years at the helm, Arsene Wenger finally handed over the reins at Arsenal (albeit reluctantly) to a new man. If Emery matches his predecessor’s tenure, he won’t depart the Emirates until 2040, when the world is a barren desert and Joel Campbell is telling himself that this is his season.
That’s highly improbable, of course, but so too is an early exit. Arsenal have brought in 10 first-team players and sold 13 in the past year, so the ex-PSG boss will be afforded time to get an unfamiliar squad singing his tune.
15. Maurizio Sarri (Chelsea)
Antonio Conte’s inevitable exit was belatedly confirmed in mid-July, with former Napoli boss Sarri appointed in his stead. It may take time for the Chelsea squad to fully grasp the chain-smoking Italian’s methods, but even Roman Abramovich is unlikely to sack him after three months if results are a little iffy early on.
14. David Wagner (Huddersfield)
Huddersfield supporters will argue that Wagner’s position at the club is safer than this ranking of 14th suggests. Frankly, we agree, but a look at who’s gone before him in our list – four club heroes and two very recent appointments – should reassure Terriers fans there’s nothing to worry about.
Wagner is Huddersfield’s own club hero of recent years, and he doesn’t lack support from his bosses. They aren’t pushovers, mind, having hired him in November 2015 to replace The Nicest Man In Football™ (Chris Powell). A poor start could move the board’s finger closer to the trigger.
13. Nuno (Wolves)
The Portuguese gaffer deserved more credit for the job he did last term. Hindsight-happy critics and opposition fans say it was Jorge Mendes and his players who won the Championship title, and that Wolves’s promotion was simply inevitable, but how often have we seen a good squad fail to deliver?
Besides, in 2016/17, Walter Zenga and Paul Lambert had received a landing party of talent in Helder Costa, Ivan Cavaleiro and Romain Saiss, and Wolves finished 15th. Consequently, Nuno’s position looks pretty safe.
12. Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham)
While Tottenham’s fans would naturally like another trophy in the cabinet at their new stadium, Daniel Levy couldn’t realistically have asked for more from Pochettino after poaching him from Southampton in 2014.
Now, there’s a hint of potential strife. Pochettino extended his deal in May, yet a summer without a first-team arrival (or departure) raises concerns that Spurs look a little staid – and the Argentine knows he’s a man in demand. Pochettino and Levy aren’t inexorably headed for divorce, but they are eating their anniversary dinner in awkward silence.
11. Chris Hughton (Brighton)
Hughton has done a tremendous job on the south coast, dragging them out of the Championship relegation zone in 2014/15, winning promotion in 2016/17 and keeping them in the Premier League last time out.
Popular and entrusted with enough of a kitty to break Brighton’s transfer record twice in one summer, the ex-Newcastle boss need worry only about the possibility of impatience from above should his team start slowly.
10. Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace)
A local lad who inherited Crystal Palace during the worst start to a campaign in English football history and led them to 11th by the season’s end, Hodgson isn’t under too much scrutiny.
He’s 71 now, though, and stability isn’t a word which doesn’t appear in Palace’s dictionary – the Eagles have started and finished the season with the same manager in the dugout just twice since 2009. Notoriously slow starters, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the unsentimental Steve Parish will be looking for another new boss in the coming months.
9. Neil Warnock (Cardiff)
Another old-timer, Warnock enters his eighth decade in December and is still his same old self. His outspoken nature and Cardiff’s likely struggle in 2018/19 would seem to make him ripe for the chop, so he’s fifth-favourite in the sack race among most bookies.
However, Vincent Tan seems to have learned the lessons of 2013/14. Cardiff won’t be bringing in another rookie mid-season, as they did with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And if they want experience, there’s not much point in sacking Warnock. The 69-year-old looks set to be given a fair crack of the Premier League whip.
8. Slavisa Jokanovic (Fulham)
There’s no doubting Jokanovic’s ability or popularity at Craven Cottage, and Fulham would be mad to let him go. Bigger clubs have been sniffing around for some time, though, and the average length of the Serbian’s previous six jobs – in six different countries – was under nine months.
Jokanovic is now approaching three years in charge of Fulham, so maybe he’s finally settled down. His head has been turned by other clubs in the past, however, and more stellar work in west London this term will only increase his list of suitors.
7. Marco Silva (Everton)
Speaking of itinerant managers, Silva’s wanderlust – or impatience – is well documented: Everton are his sixth employer in just over four years. The Toffees, meanwhile, wasted no time in jettisoning an underperforming Ronald Koeman last season.
Still, Everton have started reasonably well with six points from their first four matches, and been patient with their managers in the past. That was Bill Kenwright, however, and this is Farhad Moshiri, so there’s a chance that the Merseysiders will be making another mid-season appointment in 2018/19. Sam Allardyce is available…
6. Javi Gracia (Watford)
We’re not saying Watford enjoy sacking managers. We’re just saying that the last Watford boss to take charge of 40 or more league games was Gianfranco Zola in 2013. And since then, Beppe Sannino, Oscar Garcia, Billy McKinlay, Slavisa Jokanovic, Quique Sanchez Flores, Walter Mazzarri and Marco Silva have all occupied the Premier League’s most scorching hot seat.
Taking an average from the Hornets’ past half-dozen appointments, he’s got until the end of October – but crikey, not at this rate. Four wins from four at the start of the season has swept a wave of optimism around Vicarage Road, and even incited references to 'doing a Leicester'. Steady on lads, this could still go very wrong yet.
5. Claude Puel (Leicester)
A series of capitulations late last term led to boos from Leicester’s fans and an admission of guilt from their manager, but Puel has improved his position in this list having been the bookies’ favourite to win the sack race this season.
The Frenchman was backed in the transfer market, Leicester bought big and bought well with their wallet bulging post-Riyad Mahrez, and have been rewarded with some encouraging early-season displays. They'll need to keep it up for Puel to avoid more scrutiny, however.
4. Rafael Benitez (Newcastle)
Although it’s easily forgotten that Newcastle did actually sign players in the summer – they brought in seven eventually, comfortably more than Spurs, Burnley and Crystal Palace – Mike Ashley is nonetheless walking a very thin tightrope.
It’s not the supporters’ trust that Ashley risks losing with his parsimony and disrespect, because that’s long gone. It’s the very real possibility that Benitez, among the few good things to happen to Newcastle in recent years, might decide he’s had enough. That would be disastrous for the Magpies, but it’s a distinct possibility.
3. Mark Hughes (Southampton)
Southampton’s revolving-door policy for managers isn’t entirely of their doing, seeing as Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman were both stolen away from them, but their own ruthlessness in dismissing Nigel Adkins, Claude Puel and Mauricio Pellegrino means they have a reputation for short-term thinking. Making Mark Hughes their first unadventurous appointment in years only added to this.
Hughes has his own reputation to rebuild, making his arrival in March a marriage of convenience. Such marriages don’t tend to last in football, and Southampton may be papering over the cracks with a summer outlay of £55m for a quartet of arguably uninspiring signings.
2. Jose Mourinho (Manchester United)
It’s safe to say Mourinho didn’t really enjoy pre-season. From scheduling gripes to complaints about his squad, the Portuguese hasn’t been a particularly happy bunny over the summer – and two wins and two defeats from United's first four matches points to why.
He’s also entering his third season at Old Trafford – and we all know what that means. United did finish second last term, though, and there are plenty of fantastic players within the ranks, but the relationship between Mourinho and the club seems to have soured significantly since the end of 2017/18.
1. Manuel Pellegrini (West Ham)
Four defeats from four at the beginning of the season quickly extinguished any optimism heading into a new season. Pellegrini arrived with a good CV and almost £100m was spent on new players, with the Chilean handed greater control over transfers.
Yet West Ham’s owners are unpredictable, often contradicting their own statements within 24 hours. You never know with Davids Gold and Sullivan, and Pellegrini could be in deep trouble if this slow start continues.
