Jonathan Woodgate new frontrunner to become the next Hartlepool manager

Jonathan Woodgate has been backed from 12/1 into 1/2 in the betting to become the new Hartlepool manager.

The former Bournemouth boss has been out-of-work since leaving the Cherries in the summer after missing out on promotion to the Premier League, while he previously managed Middlesbrough.

If there is anything concrete in his sudden move in the Hartlepool manager market then the 41-year-old could soon be returning to the managerial arena for his third job in two-and-a-half-years.

Woodgate entered into management in the summer of 2019 at hometown club Middlesbrough following the departure of Tony Pulis. He spent a year in the job during the pandemic-hit 2019/20 season, winning just nine of his 41 league and cup matches, before making way for Neil Warnock who kept the club in the Championship.

“I needed to do better, I got things slightly wrong at times,” he’s since told BBC Fooball Daily. “It was a learning experience.”

Woodgate’s second job came about eight months later in bizarre fashion. Just two days after his arrival at Bournemouth as first-team coach he was made caretaker manager after Jason Tindall was sacked. Then three weeks later he was told he had the job for the rest of the season.

Woodgate took Bournemouth to 6th spot but the club’s hopes of an instant return to the Premier League were ended in the play-offs by Thomas Frank’s Brentford.

He then made way for the summer arrival of Scott Parker, who came in after leaving Fulham.

In total, Woodgate won 13 of his 24 games at the helm.

Woodgate, who has been working as a pundit on BBC, now finds himself as the new odds-on favourite for the Hartlepool vacancy, which opened up nearly a month ago after Dave Challinor left for Stockport.

Caretaker Antony Sweeney has since won two, drawn one, and lost three of his six matches in charge, drifting to 5/1 for the full-time job. 

FC Halifax boss Pete Wild is also available at 5/1. Michael Nelson, who left Blyth Spartans last week, is priced at 8/1 ahead of Spennymoor Town’s Tommy Miller at 12/1.