Jose Mourinho was without doubt the highest-profile managerial casualty in England this year. Several other Premier League managers are under the spotlight too, but the real carnage lately has taken place in the lower leagues where knee-jerk chairman dream of Premier League riches.

Already this season four Championship (second division) clubs have ditched their coach. Martin Allen was ousted at Leicester after three months in the job, while John Gregory (Queen’s Park Rangers), Peter Taylor (Crystal Palace) and Peter Grant (Norwich City) all went in quick succession in October.

Leicester City have had seven managers in three years as they try to regain their place in the elite, while Burnley’s Steve Cotterill is the longest-serving manager in the Championship after just three years in charge.

As the gap between the Premier League and the rest continues to widen, so the desperation of Championship chairman increases. Seasons spent slogging around some of the less glamorous locations on the football map does not appeal to some of the big investors targeting England’s second tier.

They want quick returns and the only way they can achieve that is reaching the Premier League. The problem is England is full of “big clubs” who have fallen on fallow times.

Southampton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sheffield United, Palace, Leicester to name but a few. There are only so many places at the top table and precious little time to get there.

The dark winter nights are fast approaching, and plenty of coaches will spend the next few months anxiously looking over their shoulders.

Martyn Herman, London

PHOTO: New Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock reacts while manager of Sheffield United, May 13, 2007 REUTERS/Eddie Keogh