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Football Betting
Bet on the Next Premiership Managers to be Sacked
Judging by the odds on offer, you can be forgiven for thinking that three or four English Premiership managers will be sacked by the end of the month.
Hmm. I wouldn't bet on it.
For all the speculation of the last few days, every Premier League club is still using the same manager they had at the start of the season.
The rumour has been swirling around four teams Charlton, West Ham, Newcastle, and Manchester City. However none of them have showed any real signs that the coach's job is at risk.
The safest of the lot is Man City manager Stuart Pearce. Monday's 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough apart, Manchester City's start isn't much worse than indifferent.
Bet on Premiership soccer managers at William Hill Bookies.
While they've been atrocious away from home -- only one point from five Man City have yet to concede a single goal at home, and Pearce's high popularity with the supporters and the board -- plus recognition that he hasn't had much cash to spend -- will keep him in his posiion.
And Stuart Pearce knows that.
"I have had no pressure internally," he said after Monday's victory (Man City lost on Saturday too, 1-0 at Charlton).
"Not even once have I heard any disenchantment from the fans or the chairman or anyone else connected with the team. It comes from the outside and is good media coverage.
"It's me this week, it was Iain Dowie (of Charlton) last week and (West Ham's Alan) Pardew the week earlier, and it just wears a little thin"
Pardew was also pleased by three points this weekend as veteran player Teddy Sheringham came back to the club and the score sheet against Blackburn Rovers.
The product was a big relief after the shame of losing to Chesterfield in the Carling Cup, but the supporters had backed Pardew throughout.
The coach who steered them to the FA Cup final in their first year back in the Premiership is still a hero in East London, and the only threat to his posistion right now is the continued takeover rumours at Upton Park.
That came to the fore this week, much to Pardew's dissatisfaction.
"The uncertainty of the takeover means my job is under question and every player's position is also," he said.
"The sooner it ends, the better it will be for everyone."
At Charlton, where manager Iain Dowie has got just two wins in his first 11 English Premier League matches in charge, the players remain behind the coach.
Though it was not sufficient to lift them off the bottom of the table, Saturday's 1-0 victory over Man City represents one of the better achievements of the season, and Danish winger Dennis Rommedahl sees reason for optimism.
"The coach is trying to start us playing good football, and trying to get the most out of us that is all he can do," he said. "And we are playing better soccer than in the two past years I have been here.
"We feel we are close to getting things right.
"And that is why the manager mustn't change his ideas. I think that, under pressure, you should keep doing the things you believe in that is the only way you will get through the difficult times."
Charlton have never been a team to make rash decisions, and Iain Dowie will be given time to improve a side that is still short of quality.
When it comes to resources for such a undertaking, Dowie will doubtless be jealous of the cash that Glenn Roeder was permitted to spend at Newcastle this summer.
Of all the managers in trouble, Glenn Roeder perhaps has the most to worry about. After spending £10 million on Obafemi Martins and £5 million on Damien Duff, 19th spot is simply not good enough regardless or any injury crisis.
But even Newcastle's trigger-happy chairman Freddy Shepherd seems satisfied to sit this one out for the moment.
He sacked Graeme Souness in just this job last season, but it had little effect, so maybe he has realized that a long-term outlook is the best solution. Regardless, he was supporting Roeder this week, dismissing a link with ex-England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson by simply stating "we already have a manager".
Not that any of this will stop the ongoing managerial witch-hunt in the media.
As soon as the final whistle blew on Monday night, radio call-in shows -- maybe disappointed Pearce hadn't lost -- rapidly started speculating as to whether Gareth Southgate had the skill to coach Middlesbrough. Who would have thought?
