Next Southampton manager: West Brom and Birmingham City favourites among 'contenders'

West Brom manager Carlos Corberan and former Birmingham player and coach Lee Carsley are both in the top five of the bookies’ shortlist of contenders for the vacant Southampton job.

Russell Martin was relieved of his duties as Saints head coach after Sunday evening’s 5-0 thumping from Tottenham Hotspur and the relegation-threatened Premier League club are now searching for a replacement.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has emerged as the early frontrunner due to his prior experience at Southampton as Ralph Hassenhuttl’s assistant. It’s been widely reported that those among the Saints hierarchy are keen on re-hiring Rohl but talks are seemingly yet to get underway.

If Rohl cannot be hired for whatever reason - whether it be his own dismissal of the idea or issues with Wednesday over compensation - other options must be considered. Corberan and Carsley could feasibly be among those.

West Brom have become a far more difficult team to beat since Corberan took over from Steve Bruce in October 2022, once narrowly missing out on the Championship top six and once qualifiers for the play-offs. Corberan is a mightily popular figure at The Hawthorns, especially as he’s been linked to several Premier League job opportunities already but stayed put.

Carsley, meanwhile, has returned to England Under-21s following his interim period in charge of the senior national team. It awaits to be seen if the 50-year-old - 48 times an appearance-maker for Birmingham as a player and the caretaker head coach in 2017 - would make the step back into club management.

Next Southampton manager

The full list of favourites, as per Sky Bet:

• Danny Rohl - 1/1
• Carlos Corberan - 7/1
• Graham Potter - 7/1
• David Moyes - 10/1
• Lee Carsley - 14/1
• Kasper Hjulmand - 14/1
• Rafael Benitez - 14/1
• Ralph Hassenhuttl - 14/1
• Gareth Southgate - 16/1
• Michael Carrick - 16/1
• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - 16/1
• Liam Manning - 20/1
• Rob Edwards - 20/1
• Steven Gerrard - 20/1
• Mark Robins - 25/1