Bosses on short notice in quest for promotion
With tens of millions at stake in promotion chase, clubs are becoming ever more ruthless, as sackings of Berg and O'Driscoll showed
Henning Berg, sacked by Blackburn after just 57 days, and Sean O'Driscoll, dismissed by Nottingham Forest just six months into his reign, have become the latest managers to discover patience is an increasingly rare quality among chairmen chasing the dream of a lucrative place in the Premier League.
Owen Coyle, booted out by Bolton in October after a slow start to the season, and Paul Jewell, fired by Ipswich with a relegation battle looming, had already lost in the Championship's managerial musical chairs.
There have been eight bosses on the move with only half the season gone and more casualties are certain to follow in the new year. And, as ever in modern-day football, money is the root cause of the bloodletting.
The rewards of promotion are estimated at around £90 million (HK$1.12 billion), but the cost is even greater for the managers who fall short of that goal.
The prospect of buying a sleeping giant and turning it into a cash cow has convinced a series of investors from across the world to pitch up at second-tier clubs with a wad of cash and promises of instant success. But when that seductive talk of promotion falters on the pitch, there is no apology from the owners for spreading false hope. Instead it is the managers who are made the scapegoats.
Nowhere is that more apparent than at Blackburn, where Indian owners Venky's are searching for their third manager of the season following the brutal dismissal of Berg on Thursday.
