Dead Men Walking... Which Premier League Bosses Feature In This Season's Sack Race?

We landed the 1-2-3 in last season's Sack Race as Chris Hughton (Newcastle United), Roy Hodgson (Liverpool) and Avram Grant (West Ham) all got their P45's - read our predictions here.

And 12 months on little has changed. Premier League managers still have an average life expectancy measured in months rather than years.

Blackburn fans continue to protest against Steve Kean's position

Nobody's gone yet this season... but it won't be long before the country's unemployment figures start to rise.

Who will be first to go?

Steve Kean (Blackburn Rovers) heads the list at 11/8. And deservedly so.

Taking over from Sam Allardyce, Kean is faced with a poor team, a shortage of transfer funds and a serious lack of 'pulling power' in attracting players to the beleagured club.

Seemingly distant and delusional foreign owners (after bizarre efforts to buy Ronaldinho, Raul, Beckham etc) will surely push the panic button sooner rather than later.

Kean, quite simply, is a dead man walking. It's purely a matter of time before Blackburn try to save their Premier League status... but who would want the job? That's the only thing which is keeping Kean amongst the paid ranks.

Others may well follow Rovers boss

It's inevitable that more heads will roll as the season progresses.

Next in the bookies list come Steve Bruce (Sunderland) at 7/4, Mick McCarthy (Wolves) at 10/1 and Owen Coyle (Bolton) at 16/1.

Reasons for all to go... but maybe not as soon as the market leader.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce needs to see his new players gel soon

Bruce has effected a total overhaul of the Sunderland team. Not, as yet, to any great success. But the jury is still out and his board/chairman seem more patient than most... he hopes!

McCarthy and Coyle. Different again. Both, arguably, are managers who you could see staying with their club even if they (a) were struggling or (b) went down. And it this respect their relationship with the players, board and crucially the fans explains much bigger prices at a time when both teams are struggling.

What about the bigger priced managers?

It's a big leap after the quartet of Kean, Bruce, McCarthy and Coyle. It's 25/1 bar.

Some do look bombproof here... barring an absolute footballing catastrophe or unforeseen personal meltdown.

Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Roberto Mancini (Manchester City), Andre Villa-Boas (Chelsea), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) and Harry Redknapp (Spurs) should all make it safely through to May. Hard to see their clubs not competing all season long and that's enough to ensure their safety.

Others like Brendan Rodgers (Swansea City), Paul Lambert (Norwich City), Roberto Martinez (Wigan Athletic) are all better managers than their clubs could replace them with. The first two are newly promoted and Martinez turned down a move last Summer to stay loyal to chairman Dave Whelan.

Hard also to see any of Martin Jol (Fulham), Roy Hodgson (West Brom) and Tony Pulis (Stoke) getting the chop. All three clubs should enjoy solid domestic campaigns.

A few names to consider...

There are several interesting managers, however, who do merit a second glance.

David Moyes (Everton) at 25/1, Neil Warnock (QPR) at 25/1, Alex McLeish (Aston Villa) 33/1, Alan Pardew (Newcastle) at 40/1 and even Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool) at 66/1.

One of these guys could very well get the 'early bath' this season.

A lack of money, shortage of success, too much pressure, not enough silverware... any number of different reasons could come into play. But one them, or maybe more, could well find themselves on a TV pundits chair (aka available for work) before the year is out.

And at the prices, there could just be a bit of value in keeping tabs on these bosses... they often go when you least expect it!

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