New Delhi: Erik Ten Hag was dismissed from the Manchester United job earlier in the week after leading the club to it’s worst ever start to a season. After much speculation over the Dutchman’s future towards the end of last season, the FA Cup final win over Manchester City earned him another opportunity to prove himself from INEOS but the sacking always seemed inevitable.
He left Manchester United reeling in the 14th-position on the Premier League table after only two wins from their first nine league games. Moreover, the club’s goalscoring woes were so bad under him that they’re the second lowest scoring team in the division with both Ipswich and Wolves, who sit in the relegation zone, outscoring the Red Devils. However, a report from Sportscasting.com suggests that Ten Hag’s sacking is just the beginning.
According to Sportscasting.com, the Premier League witnesses a whopping eight managerial changes during a league season. Collated from data ranging from the first Premier League season i.e. the 1992/93 season to the 2023/24 season, there have been 7.8 managerial sackings in England’s top-division on an average. While the number of sacking was low in the early 90s, the more recent data has shown the owners to be a lot more trigger happy.
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BREAKING: Manchester United have sacked Erik ten Hag with immediate effect. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/oq1Nyx5nHD
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 28, 2024
Since the 2005/06 season, clubs in the Premier League have gone through eight to eleven managerial changes with the exception of the 2019/20 season which was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The months of November and December are the most crucial ones for a manager to pass as clubs tend to make the most changes during this time. The fixture congestion is at it’s highest during these months and with the winter transfer window looming in January, it allows the club to fix their problems with a new manager at the helm.
While Erik Ten Hag was the first one to be axed from the 2024/25 Premier League season, he won’t certainly be the last one. Going purely by data, he is set to be joined by at least six more managers on the list by the time the season comes to a close in May.
Who could be the next one sacked in the Premier League?
The Premier League is arguably the toughest league in world football and surviving in the league for anyone is no easy task. That doesn’t only apply to the players competing on the pitch but also to the ones standing on the sidelines and taking responsibility of the results. Till the last matchday, there were four teams that were still winless in the season with Crystal Palace only picking up their first of the season on Monday night.
Two of the three managers that have overseen the winless start to the season of their clubs are amongst the favourites to get sacked by the bookies. According to the betting market, Southampton boss Russell Martin will join Ten Hag on the sacked list the first as he’s the bookies’ favourite to be the next one sacked. The former Norwich City man has the Saints sitting bottom of the table with just one point having scored the joint-lowest goals in the league. Next up on the bookies list are Wolves boss Gary O’Neil and West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui.
O’Neil is also winless till now in the league and has Wolves sitting 19th in the table. His side haven’t looked great for the majority of the games and could be heading towards relegation if changes aren’t made soon. Lopetegui hasn’t had such a bad start as the other two but given the heavy investments done in the summer window, the Hammers have been extremely poor and are struggling in the mid-table mediocrity, leading to calls for Lopetegui to be sacked by the Hammers faithful.
