The football season is now entering its final phase and, as always, the pressure is continuing to be cranked up on beleaguered football managers the length and breadth of the country.
Chairmen and owners are desperate for their clubs to achieve their goals and that, of course, ensures that this is a difficult time of the year for gaffers. We have seen a couple of notable managers given the elbow over the last month while one or two more are continuing to feel the heat.
The highest profile sacking of the month came at the City Ground with Billy Davies booted out by Nottingham Forest on March 24. Davies was given his marching orders after Forest fell to a disastrous 5-0 defeat away to local rivals Derby County, which threatened to derail their promotion chances even further.
Forest are without a win since February 11 and, with their place in the Championship play-offs now far from certain as we approach the final few games of the season, Davies has paid the ultimate price for that.
Davies had started his second spell as Forest manager in great style and for much of the first part of the campaign, they looked like dead certs for at least a place in the playoffs. That has become less and less certain in recent weeks though, and Forest have now decided to act with games starting to run out.
Neil Warnock was expected to take over the hot-seat but those talks broke down, which has delayed the appointment of a successor to Davies. Gianfranco Zola and Glenn Hoddle have been mentioned as possible replacements at the City Ground and whoever takes the job will be expected to lead the club into the play-offs at the end of the season.
The other major managerial move during March also came in the Championship, with Chris Powell made to walk the plank as manager of Charlton Athletic. The former England international was sacked on March 11 as the Addicks find themselves deep in the middle of relegation battle.
It has been a difficult season for the club with some of their best players being sold in January and new owners now installed at the Valley. They were clearly keen to get their own man in and Powell paid the price for that.
Jose Riga is now occupying he hot-seat at the Championship club. Riga had been working as technical director for the AC Milan youth team but now finds himself in London looking to keep the Addicks in the Championship.
Fratton Park has been the scene for plenty of trouble in recent years and there was more of that this week when Richie Barker was given the sack from League Two club Portsmouth after just 20 games in charge. P
ompey have been on an awful run of late and find themselves slipping down the table at an alarming rate, with relegation out of the Football League now a real danger for a club who were playing AC Milan in the Europa League as recently as 2008!
Barker has paid the price for their terrible form over the past couple of months. Andy Awford and Neil Warnock have been linked with the club as they look to stave off what would be a disastrous relegation.
There have been no managerial movements in the Premier League recently but there has been no shortage of speculation on pressure at the top of the game. It is rare that Arsenal or Manchester United are the subject of gossip when it comes to their manager, but that has been the case for both famous clubs over the past few weeks.
David Moyes may have steered United into the last eight of the Champions League but their league form is still way below what is expected of them. United have been thrashed in no uncertain terms by rivals Liverpool and Manchester City over the last few weeks and the fans are now starting to question the appointment of the former Everton man.
As for Arsene Wenger, he is starting to come under increasing pressure following a disastrous away result at Stamford Bridge recently. The Gunners went down 6-0 against Chelsea in Wenger’s 1000th game as head coach to all but knock the London club out of the title race in the space of 90 minutes.
It had long been assumed that Wenger would sign an extension to his contract which runs out in the summer but there are now one or two rumours circulating that Frenchman could finally vacate the Gunners’ hot-seat. He and the fans will certainly want a strong end to the season with Champions League qualification and FA Cup success the bare minimum expected of Arsenal over the final few weeks of the campaign.
