West Brom, Leeds United & Portsmouth's Championship rivals sack manager

West Brom’s Championship rivals Cardiff City have sacked manager Erol Bulut with the Welsh club rooted to the bottom of the table.

The Bluebirds have picked up just one point from their opening six games, with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Leeds United on Saturday proving to be the final straw for the Cardiff board as Bulut was dismissed on Sunday.

A club statement read: “Cardiff City Football Club can confirm First Team Manager Erol Bulut has been relieved of his duties and will leave the Club with immediate effect. The Board of Directors wish to thank Erol for all of his hard work and wish him well for the future. First Team Coach Nikolaos Karydas will also depart and leaves with the Club’s best wishes. Further backroom staff confirmation will follow in due course. Omer Riza will take charge of the First Team on an interim basis, while the Club look to recruit a new permanent First Team Manager.”

Cardiff sit four points from safety with one seventh of the season played, with Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday the other sides occupying spots in the bottom three after six fixtures. West Brom face Cardiff at the end of next month, with Carlos Corberan’s side enjoying a flying start to the season. The Baggies beat Plymouth Argyle 1-0 at the Hawthorns on Saturday and sit top of the table with five wins and one draw from their opening six games.

Reflecting on the win in Devon, Corberan said: “[It was] one win based on a massive level of commitment and desire. At the end of the game the resilience of this group of players, they deserved to win in a very challenging game.

“Sometimes you need to insist, insist, insist, and insist until you achieve what you want to achieve. We would like to be winning three or four nil in 10 minutes, but this is not football and this is not the Champions League. So you need to be ready to compete in the level of the Championship, [and meet] the demands of the Champions League.”