Exclusive: Middlesbrough have advantage over Southampton, Norwich & Swansea in manager hunt - Sky Sports pundit | OneFootball

Four Championship clubs are currently on the search for their next boss, with Middlesbrough having had their manager snatched

Four managerial vacancies are currently up for grabs in the Championship.

It follows the sacking of Will Still, Liam Manning and Alan Sheehan at Southampton, Norwich City and Swansea City respectively.

That trio is joined by Middlesbrough, who have just had their head coach, Rob Edwards, poached by Wolverhampton Wanderers following the dismissal of Vitor Pereira.

We spoke to Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie, to get his take on which vacancy looks the best for potential managerial candidates.

Middlesbrough viewed the most attractive proposition

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Hendrie said: “Yeah, I think the Boro one would be a real good one for obvious reasons.

“Rob Edwards has left them in a real good position in the league, plenty of potential there, and they have been quite consistent over the last few seasons, so you feel that they'd have every chance of having a promotion push this season.

“Southampton obviously have got the squad, and a big club also, that potentially could be one of them that could get some momentum and really push up the table.

“They're quite way off the sort of automatic promotion, but it's not saying that they can't go and do that with the squad they have.

“And also, the likes of Norwich and Swansea, they're good clubs.

“But probably, when you're looking at potential of having success this season, it'd have to be the Boro one, for obvious reasons, and Southampton.”

Middlesbrough could also present the greatest challenge

While Boro are clearly in the best position of the four, with the most momentum and the confidence of players high, that could, counterintuitively, make it the hardest gig.

Those players had clearly built a good relationship with Edwards in his short time at the club, and whatever he was doing behind the scenes was working.

That will have instilled confidence into the players that could well have left the Riverside Stadium with Edwards.

Not only that, but the new face in the dugout will have extremely high standards to uphold, having inherited a second-placed team, and so any slip, as is possible in a period of unexpected transition, will be judged harshly.

Norwich may be the simplest fix based on Josh Sargent factor

Although currently second-bottom in the Championship table, Norwich have the resources at their disposal to be doing much more.

In Josh Sargent alone, they should have enough to be in a higher position than they currently are, and he has managed five goals in 15 appearances despite the turmoil.

Other clubs will be smelling blood, knowing they may be able to unsettle the USMNT striker and potentially get a cut-price deal, so keeping him happy and on board will be crucial.

But if the new boss can do that, and get the Canaries back to being a solid side across the pitch, then they should start to move up the table pretty quickly.

Minor adjustments, and probably an injection of confidence, may be all that is required to get Norwich back on a level footing, which in itself may not be too hard a task for an experienced manager.

While their predicament currently looks the worst, it may the easiest of the four to go in and make a tangible impact from the off, which will give that head coach much more time to settle in and begin putting their own stamp on the side.