Mick McCarthy believes he will be manager of Wolves next season whether or not they are relegated from the Barclays Premier League.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish will seek talks with Steve Coppell as he continues his search for a new manager.

Carlton Cole has called on West Ham United to get "ugly" to drag themselves off the bottom of the Premier League. The Hammers have collected only one win from 14 matches and are in a real battle to maintain their top-flight status.

Kevin Blackwell was the fall guy as Neil Warnock came back to haunt his old team on the second weekend of the Championship season and left them looking for a new manager.

"I won't be rushed into anything," said Steve Coppell back in June. Yesterday he walked out of his job at Bristol City after a tenure that lasted two games and 112 days – or rather six days of the season. It was nearly four times as long as he had remained in situ at Manchester City, but still represents a remarkably abrupt end to a management career that began 26 years ago.

With first-choice left-back Ashley Cole set to remain at Stamford Bridge, for the time being at least, Chelsea defender Yuri Zhirkov could be on his way out of the club after just a single season in England. The Russia international played understudy to Cole for much of last season and Zenit St Petersburg are preparing a £21m move for the 26-year-old.

David James has never been one to follow the beaten track.

The West Ham manager Avram Grant, who has already signed Thomas Hitzlsperger, Frédéric Piquionne and Pablo Barrera this summer, is looking to use the owners' renewed support to improve his squad with the signings of centre-back Tal Ben Haim and the Nice forward Loïc Rémy. "The squad is not yet complete, so we will buy or loan a few more players," Grant said. "Even if the club are limited with money, we know what we are doing and we know what we want to do."

Gary Megson and Alan Curbishley have emerged as the early favourites to replace the sacked Phil Brown as Hull manager.

Brown was "relieved of his duties" and placed on gardening leave by the Tigers this morning.

QPR have today begun the search for their seventh permanent boss in two and a half years after Paul Hart decided he had had enough less than a month into the job.