Iain Dowie is tipped by several (Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Daily Mirror) to step into sacked Glenn Roeder's shoes although there are plenty of other candidates floating around.

Reading boss Alan Pardew, ex-Arsenal manager George Graham, former Middlesbrough boss Bryan Robson and Stuart Pearce are also names being bandied about.

But speculative punters have a much bigger field to choose from if the nation's sports journalists are to be believed.

Paul Hart (Guardian), Gianluca Vialli (Daily Star), Alex McLeish and Ray Lewington (Daily Express), Tony Adams (Independent) and Steve Cotterill (The Sun) are apparently also among the runners and riders.

THE HEADLINES Daily Telegraph: West Ham ready to bring in Dowie The Times: Negligent England stumble to brink of defeat The Sun: Kit hits the fan - Roeder sacked after dressing room shambles Daily Express: End of the Roed Daily Mirror: Were you watching Fergie? Daily Mail: Exit for Roeder Daily Star: Roeder axed The Independent: Butcher and Flintoff chase unlikely victory The Guardian: The shape of things to come - Arsenal get back to full power

Most of the papers see the decision to axe Roeder as fair enough and one that should have been done a long time ago.

The lone voice of dissent comes from the Daily Mirror's chief sports writer Oliver Holt, who says Roeder has been "done up like a kipper" by the West Ham board.

"To sack him now just doesn't make any sense... Surely he at least deserved a chance to turn things around."

Turning things around is one thing the papers believe England's cricket team won't be able to do after a poor display on the fourth day of the fourth Test against South Africa.

"England lost the plot" says the Daily Telegraph's headline while The Guardian highlights a "lack of discipline and The Times describes the home team as "negligent".