Gianfranco Zola has become the early favourite to take over at Birmingham after Gary Rowett's shock sacking.
Though it is still early days following Gary Rowett's lunchtime sacking, Zola is the early favourite to replace him at odds of 1/2.
The Italian has been out of football management since his sacking at Qatar club, Al Arabi but could be entrusted with continuing Birmingham's promising start to the season by the club's new Asian owners. Prior to that role, Zola had unsuccessful roles at Watford and Cagliari, with his main involvement in football being guest appearances on Sky Sports in recent years.
Considering his relatively unproven track record it would certainly be a surprise if he was given the job, especially when you consider how well Rowett was doing this season. Birmingham currently seventh in the table, which is quite an achievement under their modest budget relative to some of the clubs in the Championship.
Sam Allardyce is the 4/1 second favourite, while further down the market Ryan Giggs is again in the running at 10/1, Phil Neville at 16/1 and Steven Gerrard also at 16/1.
The owners have asked for the fans to trust them in finding the right man for the job and to lead them to bigger and better things but it's debatable whether they would be happy with Zola, should he be appointed.
