Gary Bowyer has left Salford City via mutual consent following the Ammies’ failure to reach the play-offs in the 2021/22 campaign, leaving the club looking for their fourth manager in two years.
The 50-year-old Mancunian managed to win just 21 of his 52 matches in charge at the Peninsula Stadium, resulting in an underwhelming 10th place finish.
Michael Appleton is the early bookmakers’ favourite to be appointed as manager of Salford City.
The 46-year-old has had previous managerial experiences at the likes of Portsmouth and Blackpool in turbulent situations for both clubs, as well as at Blackburn between January and March of 2013 where he oversaw 15 games in charge, winning just four of them.
Since then, Appleton has had a decent career, managing to win 78 of 173 matches in charge of Oxford United in a three-year spell between July 2014 till June 2017, where he managed to earn promotion to League One in his second season at the club.
After this spell at Oxford, Appleton joined Premier League outfit Leicester City to be Craig Shakespeare’s assistant manager, before the latter was sacked, meaning that he had two games as caretaker manager of the Foxes, of which they won both. Appleton would then join West Brom having started his coaching career there as well as the latter years of his playing career.
Appleton’s last managerial job was at Sincil Bank with Lincoln, winning 55 of his 143 matches, following a difficult third season in charge. The 46-year-old will feel as though things could have gone much differently, having led them to the play-off final in the 2020/21 campaign, where his side was beaten by Blackpool at Wembley.
Appleton is priced at 4/7 for a return to his hometown.
Manchester United’s Under 23s coach Neil Wood is also on this list of managers being considered for the job at the Peninsula Stadium.
Wood has been in charge of United’s reserve team since the start of the 2019/20 season and perhaps could utilise his contacts well with any future managerial role, as Salford have previously had several ex-Man Utd players on their books.
In Premier League 2, which is typically a tough competition for United, having often loaned out players who could feature for first-team exposure, Wood has done a decent job, winning 10 and drawing seven of his 26 matches in charge with what is a young squad in relation to the rest of the division.
Wood is priced at 9/2 to be appointed as Salford’s next manager.
Current Sunderland manager Alex Neil is a shock contender on this list to be the Ammies' next manager.
Neil is set to take charge of the Black Cats League One play-off final this weekend with Wycombe Wanderers and would likely only really be tempted to join City for the money that they could offer due to already managing a high profile club.
Prior to his current job at Sunderland, Neil was perhaps best known for his time in charge of Norwich between 2015 and 2017, where he guided the Carrow Road club to promotion via the Championship play-offs in the 2014/15 campaign.
The 39-year-old Glasgow born coach had previously built on a promising start to life in management having become the manager of Hamilton Academical back in 2013, leading the Scottish Championship side to the playoffs in 2014.
Neil managed to do a decent job too in his time at Preston, as he was given a limited budget at Deepdale, overseeing the Lancashire side push for unlikely play-off place finishes in two of his three full seasons in charge.
Neil has the odds of 5/1 to take the job at Salford.
Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough has also been touted to be interested in the vacancy at Salford.
Clough is currently in the League Two play-off semi-finals with the Stags and has been a superb appointment since moving to Field Mill, consolidating their place in the division, before finishing seventh in the table in his first full season at the club.
The 56-year-old had previously managed Burton between 1998 and 2009, overseeing their rise from the Southern Football League up to the top of the Conference (now National League) before moving to Derby, a club where his dad Brian, had legendary status at.
Clough had an unspectacular spell at the Rams, winning just 78 of his 233 matches in charge at Pride Park, with very few improvements ever made in his four-year spell. He then would move to Sheffield United in October 2013, winning 49 of 104 matches in charge till he parted ways in May 2015 having failed to earn promotion from League One.
A return to Burton was on the cards for Clough prior to his move to Mansfield, where he would notably lead the Brewers to the Championship in the 2015/16 season for the first time in their history.
Clough would be a good choice of manager for Salford, however, it may be tricky to prize him away from Field Mill if Mansfield earns promotion this season.
The final manager to make this list of Roy Keane, who is a fellow friend of the Class of 92 who owns the Ammies, having plied his trade as club captain of Manchester United during his playing days.
Keane has not uptaken the role of a manager since his departure from Ipswich Town back in 2011, where he won 28 of 81 matches in charge, however, he has since been the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national side, as well as Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.
The 50-year-old’s best spell in management came with Sunderland between 2006 and 2008 where he oversaw the Black Cats win the Championship title in the 2006/07 campaign, before consolidating their place in the Premier League the next season.
Keane has expressed his desire to return to management, could this be the opportunity that he has been waiting for?
