Bradford City face competition in managerial search after Gillingham sack their boss too

Hughes was dismissed on Wednesday night after consecutive defeats dropped the Bantams to 18th in the table.

Player Kevin McDonald will take caretaker control at home to Swindon Town on Saturday, assisted by former co-manager Mark Trueman. McDonald is due to speak to the media on Friday.

But in announcing Hughes' departure after 20 months, the club said the search for a replacement was already up and running.

Hughes led City to the play-offs for the first time since 2017, when Stuart McCall took them to the League One version, but they lost momentum after their semi-final defeat to Carlisle United and have started the new campaign slowly.

The stability which ought to have come from Hughes being the first Bantams manager since McCall to have two pre-seasons dissipated when he tried to change formation in the early weeks.

The Gills are in the managerial market too after they dismissed Harris on Thursday morning despite only being outside the play-off places on goal difference.

Like Bradford, Gillingham have one of the fourth tier’s bigger budgets and ambitions to return to the level they left in May 2022.

Having tried a manager with a League Two track record in Derek Adams, one with experience higher up in Hughes and the inexperienced Trueman and Conor Sellars, it remains to be seen what direction chief executive Ryan Sparks will go in for his fourth appointment in three years in charge.