D. Ray Morton, 29th April 2014.
After initially flirting with Tottenham, Louis van Gaal is likely to be the next Man Utd manager
With the season winding down, speculation is mounting amongst several Premier League clubs as to who will take charge next season. Many teams want drastic change and only a handful of clubs have their managers pinned down, their respective boards pleased with their level of performance: Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City and Roberto Martinez at Everton. Mark Hughes at Stoke, Steve Bruce at Hull City and Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace are also secure. At every other club, however, there could very easily be change.
Mauricio Pochettino could be just the man for Tottenham next season
Looking higher up the table, Tottenham, Manchester United for certain and even Arsenal could be looking to recruit. Spurs are very likely to replace Tim Sherwood and with Louis van Gaal now nearly certain to move to Old Trafford, the North London club will have to look at other targets. Southampton's Mauricio Pochettino or Ajax's Frank de Boer are two names linked to the job. United are very close to signing van Gaal but it should be interesting to see where Ryan Giggs fits into all of this. Arsene Wenger will probably stay on at Arsenal although it looked as if he might have left had they failed to secure a Champions League spot.
Frank de Boer is also in high demand but might hold out for a very high profile job e.g. Barcelona
Further down the table, the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United must really take a long, hard look at their current managers and ask if they're good enough. Newcastle have been on a miserable run having lost their last six league games and really ought to get rid of Alan Pardew who already humiliated himself by attempting to headbutt David Meyler earlier on in the season to earn himself a lengthy touchline ban. Paul Lambert is struggling at Villa Park and it appears as if he's at a loss when it comes to finding a way to improve their form.
Paul Lambert seems completely out of ideas at Aston Villa
The relegation dog-fight will mean chopping and changing managers as three teams will have to face a step down to the Championship. It's hard to imagine Pepe Mel sticking around at West Brom, Felix Magath remaining at Fulham or even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being at Cardiff City next season seeing as they're as practically relegated now.
The average Premier League managerial reign is about 18 months these days so this constant replacing of managers is something we have to get used to. The days of stability are gone and three year contracts are the style of the time now. Short-term projects with precise goals seem to be the way forward. The farce that was Manchester United and David Moyes' season should act as a warning for clubs not to tie untested managers down to long-term deals. May the merry-go-round continue.
