I was ready to welcome the journalists to the training ground today as usual but it seems none have turned up. With Leicester City vs. Burnley in what could be a relegation decider and Chelsea vs. Manchester United on tap, it’s no shock really.
In this time, I’ll take a look at some of the jobs on offer and see who is currently close to receiving the sack.
The first job available is at Gelsenkirchen, Schalke 04 to me and you. Gelsenkirchen were expected to be fourth in the Bundesliga but find themselves down in fourteenth and have dispensed with two managers already. Domenico Tedesco started the season, he was sacked in January and replaced a week later by Roger Schmidt, who now has also bit the bullet. Favourite for the job is former Leverkusen, Stuttgart and Hamburg manager Bruno Labbadia.
Labbadia is also favourite for the Stuttgart gig, potentially returning him to the Neckarstadion in a strange similarity as he was at Hamburg twice. Hannes Wolf has been dispensed with, although harshly in my mind considering the club are seventeenth exactly where the media predicted them to be.
Mainz are rock bottom of the Bundesliga and in need of a new boss now that Sandro Schwartz has left the club. The leading candidate is Mirko Slomka.
Closer to home, Southend United were relegated from League One on goal difference alone after amassing 50 points, the same as Bradford City. Phil Brown left the club at the end of September, then Stevie Crawford couldn’t help them survive. I should say at this point that the League One play-offs look tasty. Gillingham lead 1 – 0 from the first leg against Blackburn Rovers, while Wigan held Portsmouth at Fratton Park to a 1 – 1 draw.
Fulham ended the Championship campaign in a disappointing ninth place but did win five of their last six. The Championship is a long old slog and Slavisa Jokanovic did as much as he could I suspect. Favourite to make the move to Craven Cottage is Sean Dyche and with Burnley on the verge of relegation, which might be a smart move if he’s going to get sacked anyway.
Listed as very insecure are Gerardo Martino at Everton, the team we defeated in the FA Cup semi-final and Simone Inzaghi at Lazio. Sean Dyche is ‘insecure’, as is some bloke called Carlos Carvalhal at Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest’s Karl Robinson after they finished bottom of the Championship.
This weekend’s game is on Sunday, as all the final day fixtures are, join us tomorrow for a game preview, while you can also catch up on other recent team and player updates.