Di Canio clear favourite as Reading seem to prepare for Championship
Published:Reading’s chances of Premier League survival already looked slim and the sacking of Brian McDermott suggests that the club are already preparing for life back in the Championship.
McDermott may have lost five on the bounce, but after 12 years at the club it is hard not to feel that he has paid the price for his own success and it was a little more than a month ago that he scooped the Premier League manager of the month award.
Like Nigel Adkins earlier in the campaign at Southampton, the feeling is that both would still have a job if they had not gained promotion to the Premier League.
Paolo Di Canio is the clear favourite at 4/7 to take over and with Reading at Old Trafford next, it would certainly be ironic if the Italian was appointed, given this was the scene of one of his most memorable playing moments.
Wolves got rid of Mick McCarthy at a similar stage last season and failed to win a single game over the remainder of the campaign.
But Terry Connor was never a long-term appointment and the hope must be Reading already know McDermott’s successor.
By bringing in a new boss now with relegation all but confirmed, they have a sufficient number of games to assess the squad, bond with the players and start looking at where they need to improve in the next transfer window.
The key may be to give the new boss sufficient financial backing, which is something McDermott never truly had.
Southampton have spent big on Gaston Ramirez and Jay Rodriguez, while Harry Redknapp has brought in the likes of Loic Remy and Chris Samba to try to save QPR.
McDermott was never able to spend close to this sort of money and one or two cute signings in the mould of Gylfi Sigurdsson or Shane Long may have helped in their battle against the drop.
Elsewhere in the next Reading manager betting, Roberto Di Matteo is 5/2, with Adkins 5/1.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
