Roy Keane Steps Down: No One Safe As Premiership Clubs Wield the Axe Again

Sunderland fans have woken up to the news this morning that their manager, Roy Keane, has left his managerial position at the club.

Keane had been in charge for exactly 100 games, the last of which was a 4-1 defeat at home to Bolton Wanderers.

Keane said after the game on Saturday, "I ask myself every day if I'm the right man for Sunderland. I asked myself this morning and I said I was. Sunday morning, if the answer's no, we'll have to look at it."

Well, it's taken Keane 'til Thursday morning for the answer to be no, as he leaves Sunderland in 18th with a recent record of five defeats in six games.

The amount of money Keane has had since taking over at the Stadium of Light has been well documented, but up until this season he had succeeded.

In his first season in charge, signings such as David Connolly saw his side promoted to the Premiership. In his opening Premiership season, Keane took on Kenwyne Jones amongst others for £5 million as his side finished 15th with 39 points.

Substantial investment in the summer, including the signings of Djibril Cisse and David Healy, created expectations among Black Cats fans for the new season.

However, it hasn't quite come off and after four successive home defeats Keane has left the position and joins a long line of managers who have left by the infamous "mutual consent." Kevin Keegan, Alan Curbishley and now Keane have all left their respective clubs this season, and Keane is bound not to be the last casualty.

Already pressure is being put on Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Ince after just four months in charge, and yesterday's 5-3 defeat against Manchester United's second string did nothing to diminish the speculation about Ince's future.

Mark Hughes is under huge pressure at Eastlands after being given huge targets for his first season in charge. Everyone in football knows full well that Hughes' task of getting a top 10 side into the top four is impossible within one season, no matter how much money is available.

Even Gianfranco Zola is under pressure after a poor start at West Ham United, more so because of the Italian's lack of experience.

We seem to be approaching a period of time when Premier League managers will never be safe.

Even in recent weeks the unsackable Arsene Wenger has been under pressure at Arsenal. Is this just media speculation, or is there no smoke without fire?

Keane's departure, however voluntary it might be, shows that no manager in England's top flight is safe, from the chairman or even from themselves.

The bookies will be lining up the next casualty with the names above sure to be involved, but with this unpredictable season already having seen three managerial changes, the bookies have a difficult task in predicting when and where the next ax will fall.