Thursday 16 March 2017 15:57, UK
We take a look at the contenders and odds for the Middlesbrough manager's position following the departure of Aitor Karanka.
The Spaniard has left the club second-from-bottom and three points adrift of Premier League safety, with assistant manager Steve Agnew taking over first-team duties for Sunday's clash with Manchester United.
Here are the main contenders for Karanka's permanent replacement according to Sky Bet's odds...
The early favourite for the job has strong links with Boro having played more than 100 games for them in the 1990s.
Pearson steered Leicester to Premier League safety from a position of little hope two seasons ago so knows all about a relegation fight.
He has been out of work since leaving Derby back in the autumn, where he won just three of his 14 games in charge, but he showed at Leicester he could inspire what seemed an unlikely turnaround.
Could Karanka's assistant follow in the footsteps of Craig Shakespeare at Leicester and take the reins?
He's already been placed in charge of first-team affairs at the Riverside ahead of Sunday's clash with Manchester United and that would seem to at least give him a chance to stake a claim for the job on a permanent basis.
He did have a previous spell in temporary charge following Gordon Strachan's departure in 2010 but lost both matches.
The 51-year-old made his name as a player at Barnsley and went on to play in the Premier League for Blackburn, Leicester and Sunderland. Has been in his role as assistant head coach at Boro for just over two years.
Perhaps significantly, the club's statement on Thursday said only that Agnew would "step up from his role as assistant head coach to take control of first team affairs with immediate effect" - there was nothing about for how long.
Timing is everything when it comes to management changes and ex-Boro boss McClaren is available at the right time.
He has just lost his job as manager of Derby despite having an immediate impact on the Rams' fortunes upon his arrival at the club earlier in the campaign. That's exactly the sort of characteristic which Boro chairman Steve Gibson requires with his club currently inside the relegation zone.
Gibson knows McClaren very well - he was the man who led Boro to League Cup glory in 2004 and the UEFA Cup final two years later, not to mention a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.
He only left the club to take on the England role so there was no bad blood between the pair and McClaren showed himself that he's not afraid of returning to old haunts when he took the Derby job.
It remains to be seen whether a Premier League club will take a gamble by appointing one of the competition's greatest ever players as their manager.
Most football fans know that fine players don't always make good managers and while Giggs did take temporary charge at Manchester United in 2014, he's yet to be handed the reins anywhere on a full-time basis.
Were they to appoint Giggs, it would certainly be seen as a huge gamble by Boro given their predicament.
It was not a risk Swansea were willing to take earlier this season when Giggs was touted for their managerial role only for Bob Bradley to get the job.
Despite Leicester's resurgence since the departure of Ranieri, it still seems strange to think that The Tinkerman is available to work less than a year after leading the Foxes to the greatest sporting upset of all time.
Ranieri worked across Europe at some of the continent's top clubs but has little experience of relegation battles - other than this season's at the King Power, which obviously didn't go well. He did keep Parma in Serie A a decade ago, however, after being appointed in February.
Ranieri's relationship with his players reportedly deteroriated; with an immediate bond required given Boro's position, he may not be deemed the man for the post at this moment in time.
If Boro are looking to a manager with an abundance of Premier League relegation battling experience then the former Reading, West Ham, Charlton, Southampton, Newcastle and Crystal Palace boss could well be their man.
He is also available and seemingly eager to get back into management, with reports suggesting he is keen on the vacancy at Norwich.
The 55-year-old has been out of work since Palace sacked him in December, leaving the Selhurst Park outfit sat a point above the drop zone following a woeful 2016, when they registered just 26 points from 36 Premier League games.
The former England manager has been linked with several jobs in recent weeks but remains 'on the market'.
Few managers are more experienced - this is a man who has worked across Europe, including at Inter Milan.
Saved Fulham from relegation after they found themselves in a perilous position in 2007/08 and also kept West Brom up in 2010/11 when given a similar fire-fighting role.
But he could struggle to shake the burden of presiding over one of England's most embarrassing defeats - a 2-1 loss to Iceland at Euro 2016 last summer.
* Odds correct at 1530, March 16
