The sack race in next season's Scottish Premiership promises to be very interesting indeed.
We can probably discount Brendan Rodgers. He's got a lot of credit in the bank, the biggest reputation and his team will win a lot of games.
And even if they surprise everyone and struggle (relative for Celtic) the board has shown in the not-too-distant past that they are willing to hold on to a struggling manager even when external pressure is telling them to move on.
David Gray will also get a good grace period at Hibs should they get off to another slow start. He's proven he can turn things around and his Hibs legend status, if it were even possible, was cemented further by last season's third place finish.
There may have been question marks around Jimmy Thelin, but his masterminding of Aberdeen's Scottish Cup final victory will certainly buy him until the end of the year unless the wheels fall off completely. He'll also be helped by a general acceptance that every non-Old Firm team who goes into the group stages of European competition tends to toil a bit in the league as a result.
Elsewhere, Stephen Robinson would have to see his side in imminent relegation danger for his job to come under threat after three consecutive top-six finishes for St Mirren, while Jim Goodwin at Dundee United is an interesting case.
After getting a newly-promoted club into Europe, you'd think he'd have nothing to worry about, but the Tannadice club are big enough that fans will demand top-six contention, and that may not come to pass following a summer of transition with many key former players out the door.
For a side who have bounced too much between the top two divisions in recent years, though, the hierarchy would likely go with stability – again, unless they're in deep trouble a couple of months in.
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Then there's a bunch of managers who are either newly promoted or new to their jobs.
David Martindale is viewed as being in with the bricks at Livingston and survived his side's miserable 2023/24 relegation, which would suggest he would remain in his post even if they endured a tough return to the top flight – though the recent takeover of the West Lothian club by US businessman Calvin Ford (presumably his automotive lineage has fostered a love of roundabouts) does complicate that somewhat.
John McGlynn is rolling the dice with a squad largely made up of players who starred for him in League One as recently as last year, so that's one to keep an eye on.
His heroics in winning consecutive titles should, in theory, make him safe regardless of what happens in 2024/25. Although, if they emerge as early front-runners to go right back down, his future may depend on whether his loyalty to those players was enforced by budget constraints or not.
As for the five new entries, Steven Pressley will need to get off to a strong start at Dundee to keep the wolves from the door, but other than that they should all expect a honeymoon period.
There's always the possibility that a 'Jack Ross at Dundee United' type scenario could occur where it's just a terrible fit from the start and the boardroom feels compelled to act, but this could end up being a rare season where everyone is still in their positions post-Christmas.
Regardless of the sack race winner's identity, one thing is absolutely certain. At some point following the dismissal, the most lazy, overused, vacuous cliche in football will be uttered, likely by many different folk in the game: "the players have got to take responsibility".Why does anyone think this observation holds any sort of substance?
The players themselves can be exempt from this particular criticism. Whichever experienced first-team pro is put up for press and media duties around the first game following the sacking, they will inevitably be asked about it and they will say "we as players have to take responsibility".
But they have to say that. If they don't say something along those lines their reputation will sink further amongst a fanbase who have already grown hostile towards them, what with all the losing of football matches in the weeks leading up to the change of manager.
They also wouldn't want to appear unprofessional or make a bad situation even worse by attracting negative headlines if they answered: "That useless p***k? He was clueless." But media members and pundits should be delving much deeper in their analysis.
Of course the players are ultimately the ones responsible. A manager can meticulously plan all week, set out the perfect strategy to take on the opposition, give an inspired team-talk – then sit back and watch his star centre-back fall over the ball inside his own penalty box a minute after kick-off.
And yes, we often don't appreciate as fans how difficult it is to transition work from the training field to the pitch. Fans and pundits alike can be guilty of failing to consider that a manager is trying to get his team to do one thing and the players keep doing something else. That is obviously the fault of the players.
But it is also the fault of the manager as well.This is the entire point of having a manager. They are employed to elevate players as individuals and as a collective. If they are unable to do so then they aren't doing their job correctly. And, frankly, the reasons don't actually matter.
Take the prior Jack Ross example. He's got a strong record in the Scottish game, having impressed at Alloa Athletic, performed minor miracles at St Mirren and got Hibs to third place and two cup finals.
When he went in the door at Dundee United he soon found that he couldn't mesh with some of the bigger personalities in the dressing room.
This unhealthy environment resulted in some humiliating results, which culminated in the 9-0 defeat to Celtic and Ross' dismissal.
Are the players at fault in this instance? Absolutely. But I'd bet Jack Ross would do some things differently if he had the chance again.
If you can't get your players to respect you enough to play well for you, regardless of who is at fault, then you're doing something wrong as a manager. Let's try and remember that when the sack-race winner of 2025/26 is confirmed.
