Five managers who could be back in a Premier League job soon

Who are the five men who could be in charge at your club before you know it?

Harry Redknapp

Sacked in the summer by Daniel Levy, Redknapp has said he has already turned down some offers from big clubs and is waiting for the right job to come along. The former Spurs boss is linked with every possible job going at the moment, and Ireland and QPR have both been reported to be considering replacing their current bosses with Redknapp. He is probably the most in demand manager at the moment, and perhaps some chairmen might consider it worthwhile to get rid of a current manager before other clubs so they can have first dibs on Redknapp.

Mick McCarthy

Currently adding his insight to the BBC football punditry team, McCarthy would be a fairly safe pair of hands for a Premiership or Championship side. He has been linked with Blackburn recently, and with the Lancashire club seemingly having trouble acquiring their number one target in Sherwood, he is still in the frame for the job. If McCarthy is waiting for a return to the Premiership then you would expect teams looking for an experienced man to save them from relegation may look his way at some point.

Alan Curbishley

In September 2008 Curbishley resigned from the managerial post at West Ham, and he has been involved in TV punditry since then. No-one seems to really know if Curbishley is keen to return to management, but he is still linked with plenty of jobs every year. Currently Bolton are reported to be looking at him, but with so many years out of the job, he may not be as attractive an option as he once was.

Rafa Benitez

Having not taken on a management role since being sacked as Inter manager in 2010, Benitez has been working for Sky as a pundit on Spanish football. The former Liverpool man is only 52, and has an excellent track record despite the ill-fated spell in Italy. Benitez brings a wealth of tactical knowledge to the table, as well as good links to Spanish clubs for transfer purposes. It's surprising he has been out of work for so long, especially as he has given indicaitons before that he would like to return to the Premier League. He could go anywhere in Europe if he does decide to return to management, but it wouldn't be completely unexpected if he was back in the Premiership soon.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The former Manchester United striker came close to joining Aston Villa in the summer, but in the end elected to stay in Norway at his current club Molde. He is an exciting proposition for Premiership fans, and has a growing reputation as a manager, having won the Tippeliga with Molde last year. As with all ex-United players he is assessed as whether he could ever take over at Old Trafford, and if that is something he has in mind, a move to a smaller Premier League side would be a likely option in the near future

image: © apasciuto

Nick Harris

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I'm Nick Harris, Spurs fan and sports writer. Alongside HITC, I'm the founder, editor, writer, and fan of footballspirals.com and can be found on Twitter - @nicksharris. When I'm not watching sport I'm usually drinking coffee and checking updates on my phone in an antisocial manner.