News that West Bromwich Albion and Alan Pardew have parted ways by "mutual consent" hardly came as a surprise considering the club's dire situation, sitting rock bottom after eight straight defeats. 'Pards' lasted just 124 days.
Pardew was the 10th Premier League manager to be ousted this season, matching the record set in 2013-14. He may be the last, depending on whether Antonio Conte survives at Chelsea for the remaining games.
The Baggies boss was the season's 44th managerial casualty in the four divisions of the English league, although the number has since increased to 45 with the departure of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at League One's Northampton Town.
The management casualties have been fairly evenly distributed in the four divisions, with the Championship matching the EPL's 10, League One suffering 14 departures while League Two stands at 11.
Alarmingly the sack race has spread to Thailand. After just eight games in the new season, nine coaches in Thai League 1 have been sacked or have resigned, reflecting a disturbing trend towards the short-term fix. At least the sacked coaches here can go off to a tropical beach, not an option for those in still-wintry England.
Like many British managers, Pardew is something of a journeyman, with West Brom being the seventh club where he was the gaffer. It has been a curious career with moments of promise followed by considerable disappointments. He is also not particularly liked by fans and has been subject to considerable vitriol over the years.
Pardew's management career began at Reading in 1999 with whom he won promotion to the second flight in 2002. But the following season, against Reading's wishes, he suddenly wanted to go to West Ham and ended up being put on "gardening leave".
At West Ham he won promotion to the Premier League and finished in a respectable ninth place in the 2005-6 season, also reaching the FA Cup final, losing to Liverpool. But then things turned bad and he was out at the end of the year.
Moving to Charlton he could not stop their relegation from the Premier League and by November 2008, fans were chanting "Pardew out". He went. He then moved to Southampton for a season but was again unpopular and after internal conflicts left in 2010.
Pardew's biggest challenge came when he was appointed manager of Newcastle, against the wishes of most fans who saw him as a stereotype arrogant cockney. To everyone's surprise, he enjoyed a couple of decent seasons at St James's Park and was rewarded with an extraordinary eight-year contract in Sept 2012.
But after a poor run of results fans turned on Pardew and club owner Mike Ashley and in the final match of the season they felt the full wrath of the supporters. The Chronicle reported: "This was arguably the worst case of personal abuse a Newcastle manager has had to endure… it was excruciating."
The following season there were sustained verbal attacks on Pardew by the Geordie fans. The pressure began to take its toll on and in March he was in disgrace after head-butting a Hull City player on the touchline. He was fined £100,000 by his own club.
Eventually he cut his losses and moved back down South to Crystal Palace, a club he spent four seasons with as a player. Taking over halfway through the season. Pardew hauled Palace out of the relegation mire, and they finished 10th, their highest-ever position in the Premier League.
The following season began well and after 19 matches the club was in fifth place. However, they lost form and were to finish 15th, partly compensated by an appearance in the 2015 FA Cup final, losing 2-1 to Manchester United. Unfortunately for Pardew the following season did not begin well and he was out by Christmas.
After sacking Tony Pulis, West Brom signed Pardew in the hope he could give the club a bit of impetus. But it never happened.
When you see the managerial merry-go-round that Pardew, Pulis and many others experience, it makes it all the more amazing that some managers are almost immovable. Sir Alex Ferguson was at the Manchester United helm for an amazing 26 seasons. Of the current managers, Arsene Wenger has survived a commendable 22 years. Even so he has endured considerable criticism by fans unhappy that Arsenal have not won the title since 2004.
Also impressive at a different level is the achievement of Paul Tisdale in charge of unfashionable Exeter City for 12 years. In 2006 he took over at Exeter when they were in the Conference and won successive promotions in 2008 and 2009 to lift the club into League One, although they are now back in the fourth tier. Then there was Dario Gradi who was gaffer at another unfashionable side, Crewe Alexandra, for an astonishing 24 years.
Perhaps the strangest relationship between manager and owner occurred when Barry Fry was at Barnet, owned by Stan Flashman. Fry once told the Daily Mail: "On Friday afternoons I used to go to Stan Flashman's house for my wages, but he would only pay me if I told him the team and he agreed with it. If he disagreed he wouldn't pay me until after the game. If we lost he wouldn't pay me at all... He must have sacked me 37 times."
Being a football manager is one of those strange occupations where being regularly fired doesn't stop you getting another job. So Pardew will probably be back next season, maybe in the Championship. It won't be much fun, but at least he knows what he's in for. Which will be the lucky club, one wonders?