This is the season of Premier League bosses being told they’re ‘getting sacked in the morning’. Thomas Frank has bucked the recent trend at Spurs.
It is a particularly close-run sack race in mid-February of a season in which six managers have already left their posts.
Under-pressure Brighton manager Hurzeler was told by his own fans he’d be getting “sacked in the morning” over the weekend.
And Frank was treated to a rendition of that particular chorus after another Spurs defeat left them 16th and three points above the relegation zone, before actually being sacked the following morning.
That has gone against recent trends. This is vitally important research which takes into account every coach fired since the start of last season, based on when the club statements confirming their departures landed, to see whether they really were sacked in the morning after all.
Ruben Amorim – sacked in the morning
The decision was probably made around the time of the acerbic meeting held between Amorim and Jason Wilcox the previous Friday, which itself was held after a damaging home draw with Wolves a few days before.
But Amorim was informed of the mutually necessary removal from his Manchester United post during the morning of January 5, which was relayed publicly by the club at 10:08am.
The draw with Leeds at Elland Road looks like a passable result in isolated hindsight; what would transpire over the next few hours from Amorim’s press conference onwards was so unexpected that no-one even sang about his impending morning-based sacking.
Enzo Maresca – NOT sacked in the morning
It took Chelsea 12 hours and 18 minutes of 2026 to dispense with a manager, which is pretty good going even for them.
Maresca was the first ever Premier League coach to be sacked on New Year’s Day, concluding a curious three weeks or so of unexplained cryptic public comments and rising internal tensions.
Having seemingly made it his early resolution to force the collective hand of the Stamford Bridge suits by picking passive-aggressive fights with the medical staff and overseeing a poor run of results and performances, Maresca made it until just after lunchtime of the first day of January.
Vitor Pereira – NOT sacked in the morning
How embarrassed the Wolves supporters who informed Pereira of his dawn departure must be that the confirmation actually arrived at 12:24pm the following day.
They had, to be fair, warned the Portuguese that he would be Sacked In The Morning during the two games immediately before that decisive Fulham defeat in November, when Wolves fell to Burnley and Chelsea at Molineux.
“Two months ago they sang my name, because together with the work we did last season, we are competing in the Premier League and not Championship. Now they sing my name to sack me,” Pereira bristled at the time after seemingly offering some of the fans out.
He cannot have been particularly surprised when they mocked him again as he went over to apologise for a 3-0 thrashing at Craven Cottage in what was ultimately his farewell.
Ange Postecoglou – NOT sacked in the morning
It ranks among the shortest manager sacking statements ever at 39 words, with the shy and retiring Evangelos Marinakis not even quoted as the club decided to ‘make no further comment at this time’.
The call came at 2:42pm, within 20 minutes of a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at the City Ground to which the travelling support kindly issued a Sacked In The Morning backing track.
Postecoglou must have been used to it by that point. Arsenal fans chanted it in literally his first game and it was ringing around St James’ Park during his seventh.
Hell, by the end of his sixth of eight in charge it was the Forest supporters themselves who called for Postecoglou’s head, which the Australian naturally put down to “just the climate we’re in” rather than him literally proving incapable of winning football matches.
Graham Potter – sacked in the morning
“I didn’t hear anything but I understand the frustrations. People are entitled to their opinion,” Potter pretended after the West Ham fans joined a Sacked In The Morning chorus led by Crystal Palace supporters at the London Stadium during a 2-1 home defeat on September 20.
West Ham did not play another game for nine days but waited seven before bringing to an overdue end the Potter experiment at 10:35am on a Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo – sacked in the morning
In perhaps the most Sacked In The Morning a manager has ever been, Nuno was officially relieved of his duties at about quarter past midnight on September 9.
It had been the most open of secrets long before then as Nuno actively took on a ‘furious’ Marinakis and new Global Head of Football Edu to the point he did seem to want to be pushed instead of walking.
His quest to relegate Forest as manager of a resurgent West Ham does not feel like a coincidence.
Ange Postecoglou – NOT sacked in the morning
Having spent most of the second half of an abandoned Premier League season being told by opposition supporters that he would be Sacked In The Morning, Postecoglou rose above it to lift the Europa League trophy come May.
Then he was sacked at 5:05pm on a random Friday just over a fortnight later because Spurs cannot have nice things.
Ivan Juric – NOT sacked in the morning
A day after securing the earliest relegation in Premier League history, Juric was asked to pack his bags and leave the St Mary’s premises. Quite what delayed it until 12:15pm is a mystery.
Sean Dyche – NOT sacked in the morning
With preparations well underway for their FA Cup tie against Peterborough at 7:45pm that evening, Everton allowed Dyche to oversee a morning training session before sending him on his way at 4:34pm.
Leighton Baines had just over three hours to compose himself on “a difficult day” which at least ended with the Toffees beating ‘Fergie’s killjoy nepo baby’.
Julen Lopetegui – NOT sacked in the morning
Lopetegui might have sensed something was up when his pre-match afternoon press conference before an FA Cup tie against Aston Villa was cancelled, even if he did take training in the morning.
The Spaniard was said to be ‘furious’ with how it all played out up to his official departure at 3:15pm; he should arguably have simply won more than six of his 20 Premier League games or not spent £40m on Max Kilman.
Russell Martin – NOT sacked in the morning
“You don’t even get sacked in the morning now, you’ve got to change your song mate!” said Postecoglou a few days after his Spurs side delivered the final blow to Martin at Southampton.
Barely 20 minutes after completing his post-match duties following a 5-0 hammering at home to Postecoglou’s men in December 2024, Martin had met his Saintly demise around 10:15pm.
He was then given the Sacked In The Morning treatment for most of his Rangers reign.
Gary O’Neil – NOT sacked in the morning
It was earlier that same day, around 12:55pm, when the axe finally fell on O’Neil at Wolves after a defeat at home to Ipswich.
O’Neil had declared that “the negative noise is always loudest” after being jeered off following a 4-0 humbling at Goodison Park ten days prior. Being 19th is pretty resounding too.
Steve Cooper – NOT sacked in the morning
There was little sense from anyone outside the executive boardrooms at the King Power Stadium that Cooper would be shown the Leicester door after a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea made it five games without a win.
Yet the news broke at 3:50pm the following afternoon that the manager who had the Foxes in 16th was being let go. For Ruud van Nistelrooy. Then Marti Cifuentes. Then a sustained fall into a Championship relegation fight for which Cooper would have been perfect.
Erik ten Hag – sacked in the morning
The meeting in which Ten Hag learned his Manchester United journey was being brought to a belated end, led by Omar Berrada and Dan Ashworth, was said to be cordial, respectful and a direct contrast to the summit that ultimately put Amorim out of his misery.