Bosses tempted to take 'selfish' route

HAPPY Christmas? Not for Des Buckingham, sacked by boyhood club Oxford United just months after winning a fairytale promotion to the Championship.

- Chris Dunlavy

Not for Matt Taylor, either. Binned by Bristol Rovers on Monday, the 42-year-old spent last week attempting to explain why the club had hired ‘set-piece coach’ Lee Cattermole without his knowledge, only to discover that the former Sunderland man was actually being lined up to take interim charge.

Southampton’s 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Tottenham also left Russell Martin out of a job, while Wolves’ dismissal of Gary O’Neil means Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Kieran McKenna are now the only British managers plying their trade in the Premier League.

That figure is a historic low, but is it any surprise when promising young coaches like Buckingham are cut off at the knees?

Oxford can justify that decision in any way they wish but if anybody on the board genuinely thinks the U’s are underperforming against their budget and resources they are deluded.

For context, Bournemouth had the exact same number of points after 20 games in their first Championship season under Howe, and suffered ugly hammerings of 6-1 and 5-1 along the way.