Next managerial casualty of note?

In the shark infested waters of professional football, managers of under-performing teams last as long today as ice cream on a hot day. I have been awaiting the sacking of one of several managers and am surprised they are still hanging on.

Paul Hart at Pompey has been my prime candidate since the season started. Seemingly doomed by an impending financial meltdown, he has clung on as the club has gone into new ownership although results on the pitch have certainly not helped him. Six straight league defeats is as bad as it gets,although he was handed a lifeline with a League Cup win at Carlisle on Tuesday. They face Everton at home in the early televised game on Saturday and I fear it could be Hart's farewell if the Toffees do what they did at Hull last night (won 4-0).

That brings me neatly on to head-in-the-noose number two in Phil Brown at Hull City. Phil was skating on thin managerial ice last season at times. His man-management skills were publicly called into question after leaving his team out on the pitch at half-time after a public rollicking for their first half display. Agree with that or not,r immediately depressing set of results which followed saw they plummet into the relegation race and the Hull publics' love affair with Brown was being questioned. City have managed four points this season but they are joint second bottom of the Premier League and they took that spanking last night at home. They will find it very hard at Anfield on Saturday and another heavy defeat to Scouse opposition might leave brown Phil under unbearable pressure to beat Wigan in their home game that follows.

Outside the top flight, the finger points at Paul Sturrock and John Barnes. Sturrock may get a sympathy vote at Argyle for his previous good work and the fact that he is suffering from a long term illness, but Plymouth are stuck fast at the bottom of the table and he has to get a result at home to lowly Forest on Monday evening.

That leaves John Barnes who appears to have had an immediately negative influence at Tranmere Rovers. They have lost seven of the eight league matches he has overseen and will need a result against Colchester United at Prenton Park on Saturday. The financial commitment to getting Barnes and side-kick Jason McAteer may mean that Rovers need to persevere but they have been getting booed off the field in recent weeks and something has to give.

It's really good to be writing this piece eight games in without having to mention Phil Parkinson. If we had lost Bailey and Shelvey in pre-season I suspect that may have been the case. Perhaps we will have something to thank the unsuccessful takeover consortia at the end of the season.

Finally, we will have to hope that the match report from Steve Tanner at Carrow Road is not too damning on any of the Addick players following a fracas in the tunnel at half-time. It happened shortly after a very bad Bailey tackle on Grant Holt which smacked of retribution for a straight arm across the throat which Bailey was given moments earlier. As I reported after the game, I was amazed Bailey escaped with only a word from Tanner as I would have expected a red card for a Charlton opponent in reverse circumstances. The visible fury of the Norwich bench on the touchline would suggest that they were the aggressors in the tunnel but the FA may also want to even it up by punishing Bailey as Steve Tanner failed to do so on the pitch.