They say the bookies rarely get it wrong, if that is the case then Southampton supporters might not be too happy with the current favourite to take over from Will Still at St Mary's. Here we take a look at all the early runners.
Betting site Oddschecker makes interesting reading this morning after last nights news that Will Still was no longer Saints manager.
Ex Saints manager Russell Martin is the current favourite with odds of 6/4, he had started the betting way down the list, but a flurry of money placed on him has made his odds shorten and he overtook another Ex Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl who was the leading contender according to the bookies when they opened last night.
Ralph is down to 10/1 now and is in 4th place, Michael Carrick is in 2nd place at 5/1 and there are certainly many Saints supporters who would not be unhappy to see him arrive, Brendon Rodgers is 3rd at 8/1 and then Gary O'Neil & Lee Carsley at 10/1.
These last two perhaps show that the book for a next manager is a fun bet, O'Neil is perhaps best known for his time as a Portsmouth player and that alone would be enough for a fair chunk of the St Mary's faithful to discount him.
However he does have a small but good track record having taken Bournemouth to promotion in 2022/23, but then being sacked shortly after, he then joined Wolves and led them to 14th place in his first season, but he was sacked in the December of 2024 with the club hovering around the relegation zone.
Lee Carsley would perhaps be a wild card, he has little coaching experience at League level, having spent the last 5 years in the England set up as first U20 and then U21 coach as well as a spell as caretaker manager of the full squad.
There are some interesting names further down the list, although I feel that most of them are just there to make up the numbers.
So in the next week we will find out whether the sacking of Will Still has been a knee jerk reaction based on the last few weeks or whether Johannes Spors has always made sure he has a plan B in place should he have to sack him.