The walls are closing in around Steve Bruce at Newcastle United.
Another terrible start to a Premier League season has seen the pressure building on the under-fire Magpies manager.
Just two points from their opening five games, and performances that are well below par, has meant that Newcastle have already slid down to third from bottom.
Rumours of training ground bust-ups clearly haven’t helped matters, and with a series of daunting fixtures ahead, odds on Bruce’s replacements have tumbled.
Clearly, whomever comes into the St. James’ Park hot-seat will need to play open, expansive and attacking football as a pre-requisite.
Allan Saint-Maximin aside, Newcastle seem devoid of ideas in that department.
Furthermore, they’ll need to have the thickest skin to be able to deal with a set of long-suffering fans and local media if things don’t go well initially.
The Talk of the Toon blog cite Betfair’s odds of just 2/1 for Eddie Howe to be that man.
Out of work currently, he would therefore be available immediately, and the brand of football he oversaw from his Bournemouth days would be music to the ears of the faithful.