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So Sven has finally officially left Manchester City.  No real surprise there - in fact it would have been a massive surprise if he hadn’t gone after all that has been said.  But who will replace him?

Thaksin has proved that no matter what the plan is in place, even if you deliver to it, there is no guarantee you won’t be sacked.  So what coach would be prepared to take on the position, knowing there is every possibility he will be without a job after 12 months.  Well I guess there are some out there who would be overly optimisitic and tempted by a big transfer budget, and there may be one or two who are just mercenary enough not to care.  After all, Sven has walked away with £5M I suspect.

The big surprise name among the likely candidates though is Mark Hughes.  Blackburn fans must be dreading him leaving, but if he were to go, my guess would have been to Chelsea, who are also rumoured to be interested.

Much of the talk has been about him taking over from Sir Alex at some point and that a few seasons at Chelsea would give him the experience needed.  I would tend to agree with that.  It would also be good to see 2 out of the top 4 clubs managed by British managers - even better if they were English but we’ll have to wait for Pompey to break into the top 4 for that to happen I guess…

Personally, I think if Hughes is serious about the Manchester United role, then the City job could ruin that - especially if he does a good job and by some miracle they were to break the Top 4 monopoly.  The die hard Red supporters would not sanction a Blue taking over I’m sure - having said that, Harry proved that fans can be fickle and if you produce results, they will forgive pretty much anything.

I think Scolari might be the successful candidate.  He is also interested and should be vacating his role of Portugal manager after Euro 2008. He also has a big enough reputation for Thaksin and a decent track record. Hughes, for all his potential really only has that - potential.  He has done well at Blackburn on a limited budget - there is no doubt about that, but has not managed a top club and a big budget.  So for a man keen on making  a major impact quickly as Thaksin seems to be, then he represents a huge risk. However, Thaksin has proved himself to be nothing if not unpredictable so it will be interesting to watch for the neutral at least!