It's rare to see a manager sacked whilst his side still remain firmly in the hunt for the top two of any division but in the case of Lee Johnson and Sunderland, the stakes were too high.
The Black Cats have been in the third tier of English football for too long now and there is a feeling that it has to be this season that they win promotion back up to the Championship. However, Johnson has only been able to deliver one win in the last five League One games, allowing Wigan and Rotherham to pull one and two points ahead respectively. The key factor is the fact that Wigan have four games in hand on Sunderland, whilst Rotherham have two, meaning the potential for the gap to grow larger is great.
The final straw came on Saturday as Johnson 's side fell to a crushing 6-0 defeat away at 14th place Bolton Wanderers and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus made the decision to act swiftly to make a change in the coaching department.
This is a decision that it seems many would agree with, as Chronicle Live ran a poll after the weekend's game, which found that the majority of fans felt Johnson should be sacked.
Asked whether they wanted a managerial change, 58.3% of the voters said yes. That's compared to just 27.3% for no. Meanwhile, 14.4% were unsure.
When it comes to finishing in the top two of the division, there is real pessimism in the fan base as 82.1% voted no. Only 8.9% said yes, with 9% being unsure.
In terms of promotion - be it automatic or through the playoffs - 19.2% believe Sunderland are good enough. 64.4% say no, whilst 16.4% are unsure.
The transfer window closes on the 31st, giving a very short amount of time to make any changes to the squad but when asked how many signings were needed before the window closed, the top voted answer was three. 31.9% of those taking part in the poll voted for that option, with 24.3% voting for more than four.
The position most people wanted to see brought in was another striker. 31.5% voted for that option and the second placed option was central midfield with 24.6%.
