The sack race: are chairmen running out of patience?

The record figure for the end of October had already been broken on Saturday when Darko Milanic was relieved of his duties at Leeds after just six games.The man wielding the axe on that occasion was Elland Road chairman Massimo Cellino, a man who once earned himself the nickname 'The Manager Eater' after disposing of no fewer than 36 managers during 22 years in charge of Italian side Cagliari,But Cellino - and Blackpool's Karl Oyston - are not the only club bosses who send a chill running down managers' spines.BBC Sport takes a closer look at whether chairmen are more impatient than ever before.Who are the most 'trigger-happy' chairmen?Notts County chairman Ray Trew would not be the most obvious candidate as football's most trigger-happy chief.But, from the start of the 2009/2010 season, League One Notts County have had the most managers in English football - Sean Derry is their ninth - and Trew has overseen six departures since becoming chairman in February 2010.Trew, who was previously at Lincoln, has sacked Chris Kiwomya, Keith Curle, Martin Allen and Craig Short, with Paul Ince leaving by mutual consent. His first manager, Steve Cotterill, resigned.Trew is not the only chairman with a penchant for replacing managers, though. A total of 268 changes have happened between the start of the 2009 season and now, according to the League Managers Association.Raffaele Riva, who became chairman of Watford in July 2012, is on to the sixth manager of his reign, although only Sean Dyche has been officially sacked during the Italian's tenure. The Hornets have already had four managers this season, albeit Oscar Garcia's departure in September was due to health reasons."Managers and chairmen have to have a relationship," said former Wimbledon boss Dave Bassett, who managed eight clubs between 1981 and 2005. "If they can't get on, you have a real problem. Some chairmen think removing the manager is the way to solve problems and then, six months later, they find out it isn't."Crystal Palace have had seven managers since the start of Steve Parish's reign in 2010, with the Eagles also having the shortest average duration of managers - 1.14 seasons - of the current Premier League clubs since its inception in 1992.Nor is instability confined to league football. Gary Brabin is Southport's fourth manager in the last 18 months in the Conference Premier under Charlie Clapham.(BBC)Bakudaily.Az