Two former Middlesbrough captains among the early contenders as Championship rival sack boss
Two former Middlesbrough captains have been named by bookies among the early candidates to take the reins at Cardiff City after they sacked manager Erol Bulut.
The Bluebirds have picked up only one point from their opening six games - including a defeat to Boro in South Wales - and sit bottom of the Championship table. As such, owner Vincent Tan made the decision to sack Bulut, with Cardiff now looking for their seventh manager since Neil Warnock's departure in November 2019.
The former Boro boss, who announced his latest retirement from management after his ill-fated spell at Aberdeen and instead took an advisory role at Torquay, does feature on BetVictor's list of candidates to be next Cardiff boss. However, he features well down it at 25-1, with Mark Hughes overtaking current Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones the current favourite with the bookmaker.
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But better priced than Warnock are two former Boro favourites, Nigel Pearson and Tony Mowbray. The pair are both out of work currently having had their last jobs in the Championship. Pearson, 61, left Bristol City last October after two-and-a-half years in charge.
Mowbray, meanwhile, was forced to step away after a short stint at Birmingham City due to a need to receive treatment on a unknown illness. The popular Teessider has since been a guest at numerous former clubs this season, including at Boro on the opening day of the season.
On a recent return to St Andrew's he noted how well he was feeling and that he had one more treatment left to complete. After that, he planned on taking a family holiday, playing a few rounds of golf but then reiterated his desire to return to management later in the season. Whether or not a Cardiff opportunity comes a little too early for his timeline remains to be seen.
BetVictor's next Cardiff City manager odds
Mark Hughes - 4/1
Nathan Jones - 5/1
Freyr Alexandersson - 8/1
Alex Neil, Omer Riza - 10/1
Nigel Pearson, Steven Schumacher - 12/1
Ryan Lowe, Rob Page - 14/1
Sam Allardyce, Bryan Barry Murphy, James Rowberry - 16/1
Tony Mowbray, Cameron Toshak - 20/1