Former Preston North End and Norwich City manager Alex Neil is one of the candidates to replace Slavisa Jokanovic at Championship strugglers Sheffield United, as reported by The Sheffield Star.
Now, Jokanovic teams are not exactly renowned for exploding out of the blocks like a pedigree stallion.
His Fulham side won just four of their first 17 games during the 2017/18 season, after all, before rattling off a remarkable series of wins and defeating Aston Villa in a tense play-off final just a few months later.
Whether Jokanovic would have sparked a similar turnaround at Bramall Lane… well, it seems that is a question without an answer.
According to reports coming out of the Steel City, the softly-spoken Serb is expected to be sacked by Sheffield United on Thursday afternoon.
That is the price he will pay for a disastrous start to the season which sees a blunt Blades side stuck in 16th place, equidistant between the relegation zone and the promised land of the play-offs.
Who will replace Slavisa Jokanovic at Sheffield United?
Given that Sheffield United were expected to challenge Fulham, Bournemouth and West Brom at the top of the Championship table – they have a plethora of proven second-tier talent in their ranks after all, including Rhian Brewster, Oli McBurnie and George Baldock – you can see why patience with Jokanovic appears to have run out.
It is understood that Paul Heckingbottom, the one-time Leeds United and Barnsley boss, will take over on an interim basis.
Heckingbottom currently coaches the club’s U23 side and stepped into the breach when Chris Wilder departed in the second half of last season too.
But The Star believes that, as far as permanent appointments go, Alex Neil is one name the Sheffield United board are likely to consider. 40-year-old Neil guided Norwich to promotion in 2015 and overachieved consistently with a rather limited Preston North End side too.
Neil was linked with the Rangers job recently before Giovanni van Bronckhorst took over at Ibrox instead.
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