A Championship club fired their manager on Sunday, and a former Midlands football defender is among those named to replace him.
Former Birmingham City and West Brom defender Darren Purse has been linked with the EFL Championship’s current managerial position.
Cardiff City sacked manager Erol Bulut on Sunday after a dismal start to the season. The Bluebirds have failed to win in their first six games, scoring only once, marking their poorest start to a season in 94 years.
Omer Riza, who joined the club in the summer, was handed the position on an interim basis. The 44-year-old has previously managed Cheshunt in the non-league and Leyton Orient, and prior to joining Cardiff, he held several jobs at Watford.
According to the BBC, Cardiff expects’significant interest’ in the position, and the fact that Riza has been named as interim rather than caretaker manager means they will take their time making their decision.
Their next manager could be staring them in the face, as Darren Purse, who has been put as sixth favourite with bookmaker DragonBet, is among the many candidates for the post since the markets opened up. The 47-year-old is presently Cardiff’s under-21s manager, having been with the club for three years. The club has previously promoted under-21 managers, including Steve Morison.
If Cardiff considers him for the position, it would be his first experience in senior management, having previously supervised its future stars. Purse had a lengthy playing career, much of which was spent at Birmingham City.
He joined the Blues in 1998 for £600,000 plus Kevin Francis and went on to captain the team, making 200 games in all. Purse left St Andrew’s in 2004 to join West Brom, although his stay there was short, as he was later moved to Cardiff City, where he played more than 120 games.
Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall were the other significant clubs he played for before retiring to the non-league. Since 2018, he’s been coaching, progressing from under-16s coach at Oxford United to under-21s manager at Cardiff.
