It is that time of year again: sacking season. No surprises that a quarter of the Premier League have potted their managers already and another reminder that football, cut-throat as ever, has no room for emotion.
Mark Hughes was the last man I saw given the boot and, unfortunately, all of us in the Stoke squad basically had a front row seat. We had been at League Two Coventry that day and lost, an FA Cup upset to go with our terrible run of form.
We were on the bus heading into Clayton Wood, the training ground, and noticed that there were only two vehicles in the car park.