When Burnley sacked Sean Dyche in April, owners ALK Capital were accused of destabilising the club at a crucial point in the Premier League relegation battle.
Dyche was synonymous with Turf Moor, leaving with his coaching team after 10 years at the helm in a shock move that ended the reign of the man who had been the longest-serving current manager at one club in the Premier League.
Some assumed that Burnley would have a familiar name lined up to steady the ship, but interim manager Mike Jackson has done a job commendable enough to add fuel to rumours that Dyche’s departure was not entirely unpopular with his playing squad.
Several candidates, however, are more likely than Jackson to become the club’s next permanent manager, according to bookmakers. Let’s take a look at the favourites.
Vincent Kompany
Premier League great Kompany won the top flight four times with Manchester City between 2008 and 2019 before returning to the Belgian club where he started his senior career, Anderlecht.
The centre-back described his brief period as player-manager of the Belgian giants as “mad”. He retired from playing in August 2020 but agreed to continue as boss for four years, leading Anderlecht to third in the table this season and missing out on his first trophy as a manager in a Belgian Cup final defeat to Gent on penalties in April.
Odds on becoming the next Burnley manager (Skybet): 1/1 / +100
Joey Barton
Bad boy Barton was at the centre of Dyche’s side who won the Championship in the 2015/16 season. The midfielder returned to the club in 2017 but was soon banned from football by the FA for 18 months — later reduced on appeal — after admitting a charge in relation to betting.
That was one of a series of controversial incidents to have dogged Barton throughout his playing and later managerial career, which began with a spell of almost three years at modest Fleetwood Town that was impressive on the pitch.
Insanity on the final day of League Two.🤯
Bristol Rovers score SEVEN to snatch the final automatic promotion spot. They pip Northampton on goals scored to reach League One.⬆️
Fans also invaded the pitch forcing Joey Barton to grab a mic and beg them to let the game finish.🎙️ pic.twitter.com/b1WvV6LgAI
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 7, 2022
Barton was at the centre of one of the most extraordinary stories in English football in the 2021/22 season. At the end of his first full campaign in charge of fourth-tier Bristol Rovers, his side were promoted on goal difference courtesy of the 85th-minute final goal in a sensational 7-0 concluding home win.
Barton had to plead via a microphone with punters to leave the pitch as disbelieving fans caused bedlam in the closing stages of the epic finale.
Odds: 3/1 / +300
Chris Wilder
After a journeyman playing career as a dependable right-back, Wilder has rarely put a foot wrong in management since cutting his teeth in the lower echelons of the English football pyramid.
Among his numerous successes, the uncompromising Yorkshireman will always be a hero at boyhood club Sheffield United after leading them to promotion from the Championship and a hugely over-achieving ninth-place finish in the Premier League in 2019/20.
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Wilder won the LMA Manager of the Year award for that feat, although United were relegated the following season. He is currently at Championship Middlesbrough, narrowly failing to guide them to the playoffs in 2021/22.
Odds: 6/1 / +600
Wayne Rooney
A certainty alongside Kompany in any Premier League hall of fame, Rooney is the only player to have scored more than 250 goals for Manchester United, finishing on 253 from 559 appearances between 2004 and 2017.
Rooney is also England men’s record scorer with 53 international goals, which must seem a world away from his managerial baptism of fire at Derby County since 2020.
Taking over a relegation-threatened side, rookie Rooney appeared to steady the ship before Derby slumped badly in 2020/21 and only stayed in the Championship on the final day of the season.
The financially imperilled Rams had no chance of staying up during a subsequent season that saw them docked 21 points, making it hard to judge how well Rooney performed against intensely unusual circumstances.
Derby’s points tally would have seen them finish in the lower half of the table without those deductions, and talk suggests Rooney will stay at the club if new owners can be found to steer them out of their current crisis. He has also previously been linked with the Celtic and Everton managerial positions.
Odds: 9/1 / +900
Mike Jackson
ALK made Jackson the interim boss of a coaching team who were seen as having little of the experience Dyche offered in Burnley’s bid to retain their Premier League status.
His brief previous spells as manager of Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers made it all the more of a surprise when the former coach of Burnley’s Under-23s was swiftly named the Premier League Manager of the Month.
The award was justified by the three wins and a draw Burnley recorded in his opening games in charge, although an unexpected home defeat to Aston Villa and a contentious loss at Tottenham followed. They will face Newcastle United on May 22 knowing that a win will guarantee their top-flight survival.
Odds: 12/1 / +1200