It’s Pink Slip Season!

With club seasons entering their twilight for 2009/10, you can bet that the P45s are just around the corner for quite a few managers across Europe. Several will be canned for not meeting expectations, some will be fired for reasons the casual observer might deem unreasonable, and some will be axed for just plain failing.

After the jump, we take a look at six managers who will be feeling the pinch in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Alberto Zaccheroni, Juventus
Being in charge of the Old Lady is a difficult task these days, made more difficult by the fact that no matter who holds the job, the results are still the same. Claudio Ranieri was forced out in May after winning 1 in 7 over a 2 month spell (his record overall was 45-17-30 in nearly 2 full seasons with the club) that saw them drop out of the title race. Replacement Ciro Ferrara was an internal hire and was a disaster. Given more time, it’s hard to say, but Ferrara’s 6-month record — Champions League humiliation, an 8-10-3 record in Serie A, and first-round Coppa Italia exit — speaks for itself.

Enter Zaccheroni, who swiftly masterminded an ignominious exit from the Europa League (they threw away a 3-1 aggregate lead in the second leg, losing 4-1 to a resurgent Fulham) and a 2-2-3 record in the league. It’s surely enough for the club, suffering with a difficult owner and dwindling funds (sounds familiar to me…), to make a more long-term, sustainable change in the summer. The squad should be performing better with the stars it has bought since the summer alone (Diego and Felipe Melo top the list), and I’m sure they’ll look for a manager who can get the best out of them while rebuilding wherever necessary. Sadly for Alberto, I don’t think the journeyman Serie A manager is going to be that guy.

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 80%

Rafa Benitez, Liverpool
We all want it to happen, yet we all wonder whether it will. Having come so close to ending the EPL title jinx for the Reds in 2008/09, they’ve regressed to turn in arguably their worst season under the well-groomed Spaniard. Stars are bickering, the transfer funds are non-existent, and confidence is low. Albert Riera moaned his way out of town, but the bigger concern is how many will look to sneak out should Liverpool miss out on 4th place and the guarantee of top-flight European soccer.

A lot will surely depend on the ownership situation; Hicks and Gillett need to find £100m to pay down their debts before July, else they run the risk of having their loan extensions denied by the Royal Bank of Scotland. There’s money on the table from the Rhone Group but the strings attached are in plain sight. If the Americans snub their nose, they might be forced to sell, and any form of new majority ownership would likely want to draw a line under Benitez’ tenure and start fresh.

One to watch

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 65%

Steve Bruce, Sunderland
This one drew some skepticism on the thread this morning, but the numbers don’t lie. A winless streak of nearly 3 months in the EPL sagged their season from top-half hopefuls to relegation-battling also-rans, not something that anyone foresaw last summer when they were the de facto dark horse pick to threaten the Top 7. Their thin midfield was exposed when Cana and Cattermole suffered injuries — not something you can predict — though squad construction remains a concern, especially at the back. Darren Bent might single-handedly save their season, putting a big positive against Bruce, but Ellis Short will be wanting a bit more bang for his buck. Chairman Niall Quinn adores Bruce, but it remains to be seen whether that’s enough.

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 30%

On the outs… Zola

Gianfranco Zola, West Ham United
An early-morning vote of confidence from the new owners Sullivan and Gold is probably the final nail in the coffin. Lingering in the bottom half for a while, recent surges by every team around them sees the Hammers just three points off the drop zone in 17th place. A 3-1 home defeat by fellow scrappers Wolves can’t have helped matters, either. Zola is safe “for now”, but he’ll be canned as soon as it makes sense.

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 100%

Manuel Pellegrini, Real Madrid
I don’t think anyone really expected him to last a long time in the Bernabeu hot seat, but the galling Champions League failure — marking the 6th season in a row that Real exited the competition before the quarter-finals — has been enough to get plenty of managers fired; why should Pellegrini be any different? They’re toe-to-toe with Barcelona in La Liga, but history always favors the Catalans to pull through as their squad is more cohesive than that currently knocking around in the nation’s capital. A bigger embarrassment on the resume might turn out to be the humbling Copa Del Rey exit at the hands of lowly AD Alcorcon, a team in the 3rd division. If a team containing Albiol, Metzelder, Raul, Benzema and van der Vaart can’t beat a group of semi-pros, that axe will always fall on the manager. In Madrid, it always does. Ergo, look for them to fish for a brand name and ply them with a boatload of cash and a slick smile.

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 100%

Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea
Such a tough one, as Abramovich’s poker face is hard to gauge. Considering that Avram Grant was laid off after a respectable job in Mourinho’s wake suggests that the Russian oligarch isn’t one for emotion in the workplace. Since then, Scolari and Hiddink have done their part, but Ancelotti was a coup last summer. The Italian came in with high expectations and a fancy formation to wow the masses, yet since the Christmas break, Chelsea have done nothing but underwhelm. 10 points dropped since January, and 16 points total lost from winning situations since the beginning of the EPL season is not something that normally happens to the Stamford Bridge side. The Champions League exit is enormous, also, as that’s the one trophy Abramovich has been unable to buy. If Ancelotti can’t get it done, he’ll find someone who thinks they can.

PINK SLIP PROBABILITY: 70%