Johnny Phillips: Championship managers’ lifespan seems to be getting shorter

It is a mad state of affairs and is perhaps indicative of the pressures to succeed in England’s second tier, which remains one of the most competitive leagues in Europe.

Neil Warnock was first to go. Despite pulling off the great escape at Huddersfield Town last season and signing a one-year contract in the summer, the West Yorkshire club had an internal overhaul early in the season and decided to make the change in late September.

The 74-year-old moved on with the Terriers sitting 16th in the table after the opening seven games, but they have since slumped to 20th, just one point above the relegation zone.

It was no surprise to see Xisco Munoz move on from the Sheffield Wednesday post early the next month after a poor star at Hillsborough, with Danny Rohl coming in to his first job in England. At 34 years old, he is the youngest manager in the league.

The Owls are joint-bottom of the table on just 13 points from 21 games and there is plenty of work for Rohl to do between now and May.

The most controversial departure saw John Eustace replaced at Birmingham City, with the team sitting in the top six.

Replacement Wayne Rooney has had a torrid time and Blues fans are now looking over their shoulders, with Wednesday night’s win at Cardiff City just the second victory since the former England striker took over.

Gary Rowett did a brilliant job over four years at Millwall, consistently making the Londoners competitive on a limited budget.

His style of play did not win over everybody, though, and he was replaced by former Chelsea coach Joe Edwards, who has been instructed to bring in a more progressive style of football at The Den.

Across the capital, Gareth Ainsworth returned to Queens Park Rangers – the club he served so well as a player – towards the end of last season after 12 years at Wycombe Wanderers. But his time at Loftus Road never really got going and after just scraping survival last season he was unable to turn the tide this time around, with Marti Cifuentes taking on what is fast becoming a poisoned chalice at the end of October.

A day after Ainsworth left his post, a Championship stalwart – Nigel Pearson – left his role at Bristol City.

The 60-year-old was well respected at Ashton Gate, but in keeping with appointments made elsewhere, the Robins’ board turned to a younger candidate and handed the reins to former MK Dons and Oxford United boss Liam Manning.

Matt Taylor broke the yo-yo cycle of Rotherham United being promoted and relegated between League One and the Championship when he kept the Millers up last season. On that basis it was surprising to see him sacked in mid-November.

There was clearly no strategy in place for the next step as Rotherham waited almost a month before replacing Taylor, with the impressive Leam Richardson finally taking over at the beginning of this week.

Another surprising dismissal saw Michael Duff leave Swansea City earlier this month, so soon after being head-hunted from Barnsley in the summer. Fourteen signings were made during the summer months but the team never gelled under Duff and the Swans suffered their longest winless start to a campaign in 32 years. At the time of writing, the club is yet to make a permanent appointment to replace the outgoing manager.

Tony Mowbray’s departure from Sunderland raised a few eyebrows, with the Black Cats well placed in the promotion fight, but it was a run of two wins in nine games that appeared to cause the Sunderland board to lose their nerve.

Play-off semi-finalists last season, Mowbray’s track record suggested he could keep Sunderland in the hunt, but clearly not all those above him agreed.

Manager number 10 – Alex Neil – was put out of his misery at Stoke City this week.

Since the club’s relegation from the Premier League in 2017/18, nobody has made a success of the job.

Among the contenders being considered is the former Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who left his last posting in Saudi Arabia earlier this season.

By the time you read this, more might have changed in a division that is renowned for being one of the toughest tests on the pitch, where patience is often in short supply and where supporters have learned to take nothing for granted.

Who’d be a manager in the Championship?