Graham Potter was the latest managerial casualty after he was shown the door at Stamford Bridge. AFP Photo

Paul Kennedy

Roll up, roll up, the managerial merry-go-round is about to begin. Sit back, strap in, and keep your hands in the carriage at all times.

Well, it’s finally started. In the past few weeks we’ve seen Antonio Conte leave Tottenham, Julian Nagelsmann part company with Bayern Munich, and more recently, Brenden Rogers has gone at Leicester and Graham Potter shown the door at Chelsea.

And don’t expect the axe to stop swinging anytime soon.

David Moyes is on thin ice at West Ham, more so after the Londoners were thumped at home earlier this week by Newcastle United, and I think Nottingham Forest’s Steve Cooper could also find himself out of work in the very near future if things don’t buck up pretty quickly.

Obviously, it’s not nice when someone loses their job. But don’t have too much sympathy for those sacked in recent days. They’ve all, I’m sure, been given a decent wedge of cash to soften the blow.

So the big question now is who will go where, and when?

Chelsea have already appointed their former midfielder Frank Lampard as interim manager until the end of the season.

Sure, he knows his way around Stamford Bridge better than most, but let’s not forget, he was sacked as manager of Chelsea in 2021.

Unless he performs miracles between now and May, I can’t see him staying on next season and I genuinely believe this is a temporary appointment, but it's still in my mind a bizarre decision.

Tottenham and Leicester are immediately in the market for a new coach. And someone may already have been appointed by the time you read this column.

Rafa Benitez’s name has cropped up, as it so often does, particularly in relation to the Leicester job. And fresh from his dismissal at Chelsea, Potter too has been mooted to take over from Brendan Rogers.

Northern Irishman Rogers was once part of the Chelsea backroom team, managing their reserves, but I don’t for one minute expect him back at Stamford Bridge.

German Nagelsmann is on Tottenham’s radar, and possibly Chelsea’s too, and remember that Mauricio Pochettino, former coach at PSG, is also in search of a new job.

Steven Gerrard, sacked last year by Aston Villa, will surely be watching what’s going on right now, but I don’t think he will be receiving that many phone calls over the next few weeks.

Whatever does happen in the days, and weeks, to come, I’m excited. New managers bring new ideas, new styles of play and can energise a previously poor performing team and give them lift, especially in the relegation fight.

These sackings, and new appointments, whatever they might be, have certainly lit the touch paper for a rip-roaring end to the season. VNS