Saints striker to to play under third manager of the season (From Daily Echo)

Saints striker to to play under third manager of the season

11:18am Tuesday 5th February 2013 in Sport

SAINTS loanee Billy Sharp is preparing to play under his third manager of the season at Nottingham Forest after Alex McLeish left the club today.

McLeish was only appointed Forest manager on December 27, and has won just one of his seven games to date.

Six of those were in the Championship and the other was a shock 3-2 home loss to lower division Oldham in the FA Cup.

The ex-Birmingham and Aston Villa boss was a controversial replacement for ex-Cherries manager Sean O’Driscoll, who was sacked on Boxing Day after Sharp’s two goals had helped beat Leeds 4-2.

Chairman Fawaz Al-Hasawi confirmed in a statement this morning that McLeish had left the City Ground by mutual consent.

Recent reports speculated that McLeish was considering his future at the City Ground after little over a month at the helm.

The Scot was left frustrated after missing out on several transfer targets last month - most notably Peterborough winger George Boyd whose move to the east midlands was scuppered by a failed eye test.

And a bad week for McLeish was capped on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat at his former club Birmingham, where both Blues goals were scored by another player he tried to sign - Chris Burke.

Sharp, meanwhile, is on a season long loan at Forest and has scored 11 goals in 28 league and cup appearances.