Surprisingly the bookies are not convinced that Mark Hughes will be the next manager to be out of a job, find out who is the favourite for the chop.

Mark Hughes is being held off the top spot on the bookies list of next manager to leave his job in the Premier League by Slavisa Jokanovic of Fulham, the Cottagers defeat at Huddersfield has seen his odds shorted significantly and keep Saints manager Hughes firmly in second.

The best odds for Hughes are 11/4 with most companies drifting out to 3/1 on the Welshman departing St Mary's, in third place is Jose Mourinho at 10/1, even Neil Warnock can't get in the top 3 at the moment.

Jokanovic looks to be a better bet in that his Fulham side go to Anfield at the weekend and don't look likely to get anything other than well beaten there whereas Hughes has a decent chance of a win against a Watford side who are erratic despite their league position.

In truth Saints should not be judged too harshly for the defeat at City, prior to the Saints game City had averaged 3.5 goals a game in their 5 straight home wins and had conceded only 2, it was always going to be tough.

Now Hughes has to try and win a game at St Mary's and take a big step forward in not only Saints season but in saving his job, with the next two games being Watford at home followed by a trip to Fulham there is still time for him to turn things round and perhaps the bookies realise that.

Photo: Action Images

saintlee added 19:54 - Nov 6 Maybe he's not favourite but he bloody well should be. 3 wins since joining the club. You can dress it up as much as you want but that is a shocking return !!
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legod7 added 21:43 - Nov 6 I think the only thing stopping him being sacked is that he is on a 3 year contract. That is probably why he isn’t favourite
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SanMarco added 23:23 - Nov 6 We are at Fulham on the 24th - if both managers are still in place one will probably be gone at the end of that. I think MH needs all 6 points from these next two. The days of "we never lose in December" are long gone and the fixtures look pretty horrific.
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HythePeer added 10:12 - Nov 7 So he can't even win the Sack Race!
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highfield49 added 10:48 - Nov 7 And just a few short months ago the Fulham manager was being touted for the job at St Marys. The next twist will be Saints winning three on the trot and Fat Sam unpacking his suitcase. Funny old game.....
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underweststand added 11:05 - Nov 7 Of course one good question may be will Thierry Henry get the sack before Hughes does? I scarecely believed the result that Monaco were beaten 4-0 at home in the CL. Apparantly Monaco have had a run of defeats since he took over, but a defeat of that magnitude doesn't auger well for him if they can't even hold their form in the League. The idea that former players make good managers was defunked 50 years ago when several of the England World Cup winners tried their hand at management - and failed. Bally was the only one who persisted at the task , but without any positive result. Most of the successful managers since that time had quite humble careers compared to those who had been top class/trophy winning players. Few exceptions come to mind ; Cloughie did, Zidane of course, and Guardiola. Wenger played very low level football in France, and even Alex Ferguson was only ever a "world class player" - in Scotland. Mark Hughes is just one of the many whose "greatest success" was finishing mid-table, or at least staving off relegation for a season or two. IF Hughes does go - my real fear is not ...yet ANOTHER new manager, but that person might be " a foreign import " who is purely defensively-minded and has a poor command of the English language. Nowadays it's not those who pay to sit in the stands who dictate managerial change, but those "overpaid ones " who sit in the dressing room.

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saint66 added 12:17 - Nov 7 If Sparky is shown the door ,his replacement will bound to a manager of foreign origin who we will not understand and will be a yes man for the board of non footballing directors. I ask one question , what has Les Reed ever achieved in the world of football?.
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trampslykeus added 12:21 - Nov 7 Whilst I agree with a lot of the post by underweststand, Jack Charlton did pretty well as a manager who won the World Cup in 1966.
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BaselSaint added 12:41 - Nov 7 I cant believe that (despite all thet Stoke Saint has told us) Sparky AND the team have been so p1ss poor. We have really really bad luck or is it just no investment in etter players and failing management, us being left with the likes of Reed and Black?
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BoondockSaint added 15:03 - Nov 7 Fred Shero, the great NHL coach explained that he and others were successful because they were average players. Star players have God-given talent that makes them better than everyone else. They can't teach that to others. It's something that comes naturally. Also, because of their talent, they are never on the bench, they are out on the ice all the time. Average players like Shero have to practice and train more just to try to keep up. They have to learn the little tactics and positioning they need to help them negate an opponents talent or speed. Later, in their coaching careers, they are able to teach all this to young players. Also, since they are on the bench so much, they are listening to their coaches talk strategy and tactics throughout the game. The ones that go on to successful coaching careers are smart enough to pay attention and learn. Star players may make a big publicity splash when signed, but it always ends badly.

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underweststand added 16:08 - Nov 7 NOTE to trampslykeus Yes I did say successful players were in the minority as successful managers, and I realised after I posted that I had forgotten Jack C. However, much of his managerial career was spent with lower league sides and even Middlesboro struggled after he got them promoted to the top level. I best recall his efforts to save struggling Sheffield Wed. in their Third Division days, although many remember his 10 years as manager for the Irish national side, but he never managed a successful club at the highest League level. He was the sort of manager who was able to get the best out of the players he had, but unfortunately he can't help Saints at the moment. Last count he was over 80 years old.

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underweststand added 16:21 - Nov 7 NOTE to BoondockSaint. Interesting storyline about Fred Shero, that I hadn't heard before. Goes along with a similar tale I heard from a knowledgable and successful industrialist many years ago. He said ..when you meet someone who is an expert, don't spend time talking about your successes -but shut up, listen to them - and learn. Your last line is very true to form for Saints...with very rare exception : our big star players / record signings have often been a catastrophe and very costly to the club in the end. A list of our top goal scorers - over many decades - shows that many cost very little and occasionally - nothing to sign.The big names have been big disappointments. YES .. Ron Davies (1966) was the exception, but there were very few like him.

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aceofthebase added 22:20 - Nov 7 So Man City put six past Shakhtar tonight. Will they be sacking their manager?
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aceofthebase added 22:20 - Nov 7 So Man City put six past Shakhtar tonight. Will they be sacking their manager?
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LoisDeem added 14:43 - Nov 8 Wonder if the satchel swingers will Reed anything into our latest development?
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