Bristol Rovers next manager odds: Ex-Oxford United boss amongst early favourites for Gas job

Former Oxford United manager Des Buckingham has emerged as the early bookies' favourite to replace Matt Taylor at Bristol Rovers less than 24 hours after being sacked by the U's himself.

Rovers confirmed that Taylor had been relieved of his duties alongside assistant manager Wayne Carlisle on Monday morning after news broke on Sunday evening that the 42-year-old was to depart.

The Gas will now be led by Lee Catermole and Dave Horseman on an interim basis while the club conduct "a thorough recruitment process for a new first-team manager" with Rovers set to host Wrexham in League One on Saturday.

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Naturally in football, once a manager departs focus immediately turns to who will come in to replace them way before any dust has been allowed to settle. Therefore, the bookies have already put out their first batch of odds for who they think could be the next Gas manager.

Of course, as always with odds they have to be taken with a pinch of salt. They don't reflect who the club are actually targeting, just figures that they believe could be candidates with Buckingham top of the pile at the time of writing, priced at 4/1.

The 39-year-old returned to his boyhood club in November 2023 following the departure of Liam Manning to Bristol City, arriving from Indian Super League side Mumbai City. After a tough first couple of months, Buckingham turned things around at the Kassam Stadium and led United into the Championship for the first time in 25 years following victory over Bolton Wanderers in the play-off final.

Although they have recently been on a poor run, Oxford are still outside the relegation zone, albeit by one point, with many giving them no chance of survival going into this season.

Elsewhere, half of Rovers' interim team in Catermole is being fancied for the job at 6/1 while former Birmingham City, Millwall, Stoke City and Derby County boss Gary Rowett is also amongst the favourites at 8/1.

Many supporters have thrown names such as Steven Schumacher, Ryan Lowe and Mark Robins into the hat which has seen the trio priced at 10/1, 12/1 and 12/1 respectively.

Amongst the outsiders, club captain Scott Sinclair has been listed at 25/1 while former Leicester City and Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper is 20/1 and Premier League survival expert Sam Allardyce is another manager priced at 25/1.

Here's how the current list of bookies odds looks at the time of writing with odds provided by BettingOdds.com...

• Des Buckingham - 4/1

• Lee Catermole - 6/1

• Gary Rowett - 8/1

• Michael Appleton - 8/1

• Steven Schumacher - 10/1

• Ryan Lowe - 12/1

• Mark Robins - 12/1

• Lee Johnson - 12/1

• Leam Richardson - 12/1

• Mat Sadler - 14/1

• Matt Gray - 16/1

• Robbie Savage - 16/1

• Andy Woodman - 20/1

• Steve Cooper - 20/1

• Leighton Baines - 25/1

• Dean Holden - 25/1

• Scott Sinclair - 25/1

• Sam Allardyce - 25/1

• Robbie Keane - 25/1

• Rob Page - 25/1

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