Why Swansea and Newcastle bosses should worry this Christmas
Published:
The festive period is uncharacteristically bleak for Premier League managers, with sackings historically an unavoidable part of Christmas.
In the last five seasons, eight bosses have found themselves unemployed in December, with 12 leaving between the end of November and the middle of January.
The 2013/14 campaign was particularly grim as Martin Jol, Steve Clarke, Andre Villas-Boas and Malky Mackay were all shown the door, with the first three mentioned seeing in Christmas jobless.
This record is surely a cause for concern for under-pressure gaffers, with Steve McClaren and Garry Monk currently leading the sack race.
The former England manager is favourite to be shown the door first, coming in at 10/11 compared to the Swansea man’s 5/4.
Looking at how his first few months in the Newcastle dugout have gone, it’s understandable to see why the 54-year-old is the frontrunner in the sack race.
The Magpies have only won twice all season and find themselves in 19th place, two points off local rivals Sunderland in 17th.
Their form in November puts McClaren in even greater contention of continuing the festive firing tradition, with his team losing two of their three games.
To make matters worse, they conceded eight goals in that run and only managed to find the net twice, with a 5-1 demolition at the hands of Crystal Palace consigning the Toon to their current position.
The situation for Monk is slightly less clear, with rumours of his departure from Swansea seemingly coming out of nowhere and rumbling for most of the season.
Bottom placed Aston Villa are the only team the Swans have beaten in their last 11 games across all competitions, with the Welsh side losing seven of those games, and they are now only four points clear of relegation.
This poor form is unlikely to be alleviated in their next three games, with home ties against Leicester City and West Ham coming either side of a trip to Manchester City, the rumoured Monk departure may finally come to fruition before Christmas Day.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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