Nottingham Forest and Barnsley's weekend opponents Blackburn Rovers have gone against the festive cheer by sacking their managers in the wake of Boxing Day's results.
The firing of former Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll at the City Ground has come of something of a surprise considering Forest dispatched of Leeds United 4-2 yesterday to move within a point of the play-offs. The club's Kuwati owners claimed it was the team's lack of consistency- they have won back to back games only twice since O'Driscoll took charge in the summer- that made them come to their decision. The former Forest midfielder and Sunderland and Ipswich manager Roy Keane is favourite to take charge.
The departure of Henning Berg at Blackburn has come of less as a surprise despite the fact their former Premier League winning defender had only been in charge at Ewood Park for just over a month and 11 games. Berg had won just one of those games after replacing Steve Kean and yesterday's 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough left a side who had spent 11 consecutive years in the Premier League until this spring, just seven points off the Championship drop zone ahead of this weekend's trip to Oakwell.