Sunderland, Leeds United & Middlesbrough's Championship rivals sack manager after play-off hammering

Norwich City have reportedly sacked head coach David Wagner following their heavy 4-0 defeat against Leeds United in the second leg of their Championship playoff semi-final.

He guided the Canaries to a sixth-placed finish in the Championship table, but mounted little challenge against a rampant Whites outfit on Thursday. Multiple possible replacements have already been rumoured as Arsenal’s assistant manager, Carlos Cuesta, is thought to be in the mix, as is former Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper.

Prior to his time with Norwich, Wagner had managed clubs such as Schalke, Young Boys and Borussia Dortmund’s second team. He is perhaps best known for his tenure with Huddersfield Town - he guided the Terriers to the Premier League, keeping them in England’s top flight for a single season despite the limited resources at his disposal.

As a player, Wagner turned out for clubs like Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz and Darmstadt 98 - he also represented the USA on the international stage, winning eight caps over the course of two years for the Stars and Stripes.

After the game against Leeds, Wagner spoke in his post-match interview: "If you play in the last game of the season like we have done, we were poor. We had an off-game today, and Leeds were very, very good.

"To go out of the play-offs, it hurts. At the end of the day, it was a heavy defeat against a very good Leeds side and we weren't good enough tonight.

“Disappointing, yes it is. But what I can say is that I would like to thank everyone involved in the last ten months, from players and backroom staff, for their hard work and for the effort that they have put in. Tonight, we lost but in the last ten months, it was good and I would like to thank everyone for that."