Cardiff’s 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City on Sunday was Neil Warnock’s last act as manager of the Bluebirds, as he left the Welsh outfit on Monday night.
Warnock leaves Cardiff with the club in 14th place, with only one win in their last five games.
It comes after Cardiff began life back in the Championship strongly, going on a run of seven games unbeaten and close to the play-off spots.
Warnock took over at Cardiff three years ago and managed promotion in his first full season in charge and despite a respectable effort, couldn’t prevent Cardiff from going straight back down.
With Warnock gone, Cardiff are on the hunt for a new manager to help them return to the Premier League – We analyse the SkyBet odds for the new manager at the Cardiff City stadium.
Neil Harris punted for job
SkyBet make ex Millwall manager Neil Harris the favourite to take over from Warnock, with the 42-year-old now as short as 2/5 favourite to make a quick return to management following his resignation from The Den just over a month ago.
Harris has shown he has a knack for helping clubs reach promotion, albeit not from the Championship. In his first full season in charge of Millwall, he helped the club reach the League One play-off final and despite being beaten, they went one better the following season.
Harris spent two full seasons in charge of Millwall in the Championship, finishing an impressive 8th before finishing 21st last season.
Harris left Millwall last month after saying he had reached the time he needed to leave. He has proven he can get clubs promotion, as well as consolidation and finishing 8th in the Championship at the first time of asking, was a huge overachievement.
It would be a risk if Cardiff want to get back into the Premier League, but Harris is only 42 and has already shown his credentials.
Could Bowyer leave Charlton?
In at second favourite is current Charlton boss Lee Bowyer, who is a 13/2 shot to leave The Valley and make the switch to the Cardiff City.
Bowyer has been at Charlton over a yea, gaining promotion from League One in his first full season and Charlton having a strong enough start to the Championship this season.
Bowyer is still rather inexperienced but has already shown a knack for getting a team promoted but like Harris, that is just from League One.
Bowyer however just signed a new contract at Charlton in the summer and a move during at this stage of the season may be difficult to see with compensation and a deal for Harris who is out work, would make much more sense.
Who are the long shots?
With Harris being so short in the betting, there are some big prices on offer for alternatives.
Chris Hughton is 22/1 for his first managerial job since leaving Brighton at the end of the season.
The former Norwich boss has a proven track record of getting teams promoted from the Championship, achieving the feat with both Newcastle and Brighton, who he then consolidated in the Premier League.
Tony Pulis is also a 22/1 shot and like Hughton, has a proven track record in the Championship of achieving promotion. Pulis has been out of work since leaving Middlesbrough and that appointment too would make sense.
Despite these big odds, if you are to believe the betting, only one man is being considered for the job.
Next Cardiff manager odds
All odds have been taken from SkyBet and are subject to change.
- Neil Harris – 2/5
- Lee Bowyer – 13/2
- Michael Flynn – 7/1
- Sol Bamba – 9/1
- Craig Bellamy – 14/1
