Roberto Martinez early favourite to manage Liverpool

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez is the early 6/5 favourite in Sky Bet's next Liverpool manager betting market after Kenny Dalglish left the club on Wednesday afternoon.

Martinez has attracted the majority of support from punters, but with the search for Dalglish's replacement only just under way, we look at the leading contenders.

Roberto Martinez - 3/1 favourite with Sky Bet

Martinez declined Aston Villa's advances last summer to stay with Wigan but after pulling off another exhilarating escape at the DW Stadium, he may feel he has done all he can at the club. But if that is the case, the Spaniard could see his next move as one higher up the food chain than Aston Villa. A man in demand, Martinez heads the next Villa manager betting with Sky Bet and is also well backed to take the newly vacated post at Anfield.

Rafael Benitez - 2/1

Former Liverpool boss Benitez has been out of work since an ill-fated stint at Inter Milan in 2010/11 and has often linked to a move back to Anfield. Benitez provided Champions League glory for the Reds in 2005 as well as winning the FA Cup the following year. Whether the Anfield hierarchy will turn to a man allowed to leave by the previous owners remains to be seen.

Louis van Gaal - 12/1

The former Bayern Munich manager has been linked with a move to Anfield since leaving the Bundesliga giants last season and has an exceptional record at club level, having won the Champions League with Ajax and a host of domestic honours at Barcelona, Bayern and AZ Alkmaar. This silverware will impress the Liverpool owners and his track record of developing young talent could make him a decent outside bet.

Andre Villas Boas - 10/1

The young Portuguese manager's short tenure at Chelsea was tempered by stories of ill-discipline among the squad and perhaps he could have benefited from another season in charge. Although his stock was lowered by his west London experience, winning the treble in his first season at Porto will still earn him plenty of admirers.

Paul Lambert - 14/1

Lambert has rightly won many plaudits for guiding an unfashionable Norwich side to 12th place in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. He moved to a bigger club when he traded Colchester for the Canaries in 2009 and could be an outside contender to move to a bigger club. However, Lambert is second favourite with Sky Bet to move to Aston Villa and that size of club would probably make more sense for the ex-Celtic man.

Pep Guardiola - 40/1

Guardiola stepped down from managing Barcelona to re-charge his batteries after one of the most impressive trophy hauls in the history of club football. Although the former Spain international is a fan of the Premier League it remains to be seen whether he would want to step back into the firing line after such a short break.
Next Permanent Liverpool Manager Next Permanent Manager: Roberto Martinez 7/4
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These rich owners haven't a clue about English football clubs. Dalglish is the heart and soul of Liverpool and from the disaster he took over, he got them to 2 cup finals and 8th within a year which I think is a quite an achievement. It takes time to create a successful team (Fergie did nothing for the first 3/4 years) and I don't think any of the managers up for the job will be any better, they don't understand what Liverpool FC is about. I think the owners made a huge mistake sacking Dalglish but football has become just a money mad sport now

would agree with that, Dalglish should have been given more time.

Yes he was building. Like with Sam Allydyce at Bolton, the chicken farmers should never have sacked him for the rattle snake steve Keane...Glad to see he is getting his comeuppance now!

Allydyce did brilliant with Bolton, got them into the top five and could have gone further but they wouldnt give him any more money for him to get bolton to challenge further. He has done great with West Ham
hopefully they will win the playoffs at Wembley at the weekend to get promoted, they finished third in
championship so hope they go up. He is a good manager but due to the rumours about him and the Panorama programme which mentioned his son doing allegedly dodgy dealings which Sam said he knew nothing about, he could have made an england manager.

Apparently Dalgleish was considered not good enough because Liverpool lost 9 matches and we all know there is no sentiment in Business. Foreigners
are the only people rich enough to buy Football clubs and it must be said that the Players wages are astronomical now , it's not football any more its
the necessity to win trophies to merit the expense of buying Players.