LeePhilpottsBaldSpot

Taking the top 10 on Odds checker, my order from most wanted to least would be 1. Pearson 2. Hassenhutl 3. Rowett 4. Robins 5. O'Neil 6. Carsley 7. Skubala 8. King 9. Sheehan 10. Martin Can't see McInnes anywhere - seems extremely unlikely we will pinch a manager currently in a job, and equally unlikely a manager would leave a team in 1st for our shambles mid-season!

There's going to be a lot of confirmation bias with anything we read or hear from him - as seems to be the case with anyone in authority these days. That said, his thinking seems oddly childlike. All evidence points to him being out of his depth - and these interviews will only add to that perception.

He's obviously doing well at Hearts, but at Bristol City he got fired after losing 7 games in a row - with the final straw being a 4-0 loss to Leicester. Reminds me of the tactical mastermind we hired after beating his QPR team 6-1 We need somebody who has experience walking into a crisis and turning it around. For me, that's a six-month contract for Pearson, Mowbray or Rowett.

D'oh! I had him in my XI then changed it to playing in England... then forgot to put him in the other list with all the foreign lads!

Be interesting to see where our ex- players would finish if playing together in 2026. Particularly as we broke the bank swapping them for absolute nonsense Still playing in England: Iversen Justin Fofana Maguire Castagne Barnes Tielemans KDH Schlupp Maddison Wood Not to mention those still playing abroad: Kante, Mahrez, Cags, Perez, Lookman, Ndidi, Nacho, Kasper, Kramaric... Kane

Haha, fair enough - terrible examples! Maybe I should have said Alex Ferguson at St Mirren I don't particularly want Rowett but friends who support both Oxford and Birmingham rated him. I liked him as a player for us as well, albeit he was only here briefly. I agree it's an underwhelming name but I feel like he'd be a pretty safe stabiliser, nowhere near as risky as most other names linked. And definitely an upgrade on Cifuentes...

Plenty of good managers got fired by small outfits. Eddie Howe at Burnley, Marco Silva at Hull, Claudio Ranieri at Greece... I live in Oxford now and know loads of Oxford United fans who really rate Rowett as a solid manager. Kept them up against all odds last year and kept them out the relegation zone all this season. They say he got fired for off pitch reasons - not much of a yes man, fell out with the owners who have this odd belief they should be a "top 30" club. Top half of the Championship and flirting with promotion. Most managers would fail with that objective! I think there are better candidates out there but also seems like Rowett has a lot of what we need.

Let's give Kamonthip Netthanomsak a chance first

Fingers crossed we didn't give them a favourable option to cancel the loan and lumber us with his wages again...

Pretty sure he was joking mate

We'll get somebody who is unemployed but relatively recently managed in the top two divisions in England. Guaranteed on the shortlist: Russell Martin, Ralph Hassenhutl, Gary Rowett Other contenders: Steven Gerrard, Vitor Pereira, Patrick Vieira Short termers: Nigel Pearson, Tony Mowbray, Sam Allardyce

My only solace is that people were equally underwhelmed with Martin O'Neill and Claudio Ranieri! Compared to how highly rated the likes of Peter Taylor and Ian Holloway were when we appointed them. In truth you never quite know how a manager is going to fit in - and a lot seems to be down to luck. (I still really don't want Russell Martin, though!)

I mean I agree, but did this really warrant a new topic? There's already a King Power Out thread with 200+ pages

A team with Tickle and Skipp in it, while Winks watches from the side. CBeebies FC

We'll beat Charlton next weekend now

Reckon he'll just wait for the Palace job in the summer. Saying that, they seem to be on the same post-winning FA Cup curse that has riddled us, Wigan and Portsmouth. Could be heading for the Championship...

I may be wrong but I think Winks was basically ever‑present under Maresca and Cooper. Clearly something happened under both RVN and Cifuentes. We don't know what, but we do know both Ruud and Marti were out of their depth and piss poor communicators / man managers. He may have just challenged them on their standards - admittedly there’s no evidence for that, but also none for the other narratives built around him! eg I’ve never understood why he gets blamed for a woman holding an “Enzo I Miss You” sign in a bar the whole squad was in. What we do know is he's a decent footballer. SofaScore has Winks ranked as our 3rd, 6th and 7th‑best player across his three seasons. If he’s still here, I’d use him over lumps like Hamza or Soumare - otherwise it feels like cutting your nose off to spite your face. People will disagree and that's fine, but for me everyone gets a clean slate under a new manager.

I'm all for selling bellends, but if we can't the manager's job is to get the most out of the talent in the squad. Nigel Pearson moved players on but also excellently man-managed talented players who have had bad off-field reputations. eg Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Simpson, Ben Marshall, Anthony Knockaert. Winks had a good work ethic the season we got promoted. A good manager could get that out of him again.

On talent alone he should obviously be in the squad / team. I'm all for selling bad apples but if we don't move him on, we have to manage him properly and get him playing. If he went to any other club in the Championship he would improve their team - bellend or not.

Why not? Look at the bounce Celtic got with O'Neill, Forest with Dyche, Sheffield United with Wilder...

Bit of a difference between giving an inexperienced manager a pre-season then play with KDH, Vardy and a load of new signings to the mid-season mess a new manager would inherit now... I think it's the time for an experienced head.

I live in Oxford and people at work think he did a great job. Kept them up last season and I believe they were out the bottom 3 when he got sacked. Apparently went because he was an arse to players and the board. Standing up to egos is not a quality we should be worried about.

Have any players noted his departure on social media yet? Usually you get some thanking the sacked manager, taking some of the blame, wishing them well etc. I guess 'they' might post things on Monday once the PR team is back in work...!

Seems he got appointed to his most recent job in December 2024 and fired in March 2025. Gerr'im in!