Your dreamy world of pre-season friendlies and new signings is sure to set your team up for their greatest ever Premier League season. Right? Wrong. Soon your bubble of ambition and hope will burst as the reality of the league season begins, and the man in the dugout will likely take the brunt of the blame for poor performances.
But which Premier League bosses are likely to come under early pressure this term? After a record 14 in-season departures last term, we’ve taken a look at some of the likely candidates to win the sack race.
Julen Lopetegui - Wolves
All is not well at Molineux. Wolves are in financial difficulty and manager Julen Lopetegui isn’t best pleased. “It’s a tough thing to deal with and I’m sure you wouldn’t choose to lose your top striker you have had at the club for five years to Fulham, you wouldn’t choose to do that,” he said after the sale of Raul Jiminez.
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Wolves have also lost Conor Coady, Ruben Neves and Nathan Collins this term which leaves them weaker than they were last season. They’ve got a fine manager at the helm, but if this unhappiness continues it will no doubt lead to poor form on the pitch. Wolves are unlikely to sack him, they might not be able to afford that, but Lopetegui could walk out the door.
Steve Cooper - Nottingham Forest
A left-field choice perhaps? Cooper was massively backed last summer and the fans practically saved his job after a poor start to the season. He signed a new deal until 2025 last term but with further expectation after survival at Forest comes added pressure. If the Tricky Trees are languishing in the bottom three a few months into the season, the owner could well run out of patience. It's a big IF however.
Marco Silva - Fulham
Another manager who enjoyed a hugely successful 22-23 is Marco Silva. Fulham secured a top-half finish and impressively even finished above local rivals Chelsea, despite it being their first season back in the Premier League. Now looking to go again, there’s a slight worry that Fulham could suffer from second season syndrome.
Silva has added Jiminez to his squad, but Mitrovic’s future is still uncertain. If they lose their talisman they could have goalscoring trouble next term, and if they were to slide further down the table, Silva will come under pressure. It’s not a sacking that would go down well at Craven Cottage, but it could well happen.
David Moyes - West Ham United
Having won the Europa Conference League, David Moyes busted out his great dance moves in Prague. He was on top of the world having clinched West Ham’s first trophy since 1980, and it was far removed from the pressures he was facing at the start of the season. If West Ham are struggling, with a lack of new signings, the goodwill Moyes has from last term will quickly evaporate. They don’t want to be in another relegation battle, and their performance in the Europa League will go a long way to deciding Moyes’ fate.
Eddie Howe - Newcastle United
Surely not. Howe is currently seen as the saviour in the north-east having led the Geordies back to the Champions League. He’s going to take them on their first European campaign in 16 years, and St James’ Park will be rocking on those European nights. However, they’ve done well again in the summer market and the expectations have gone up still further.
Imagine that they’ve gone out in the UCL group stages and are outside the top half in the Premier League. The pressure Howe will be under will be huge. And it’s unlikely that the Newcastle hierarchy will show much patience given the major investment they have put in.
This is a massive outside shout and it’s likely Howe will last the season, but if it all goes wrong - don’t say we didn’t tell you so.
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