The Leeds time bomb explodes on Gary McAllister

Gary McAllister has been sacked by Leeds United after 11 months in charge at Elland Road.

McAllister's team had lost there last five matches, including Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Milton Keynes Dons, the Scot's final match in charge.

The current bad run of form had seen the former Premiership club slip to ninth in League one, a sequence that has forced the hand of the Leeds board.

"The decision was made to ensure that the new manager has the maximum number of games possible to move the club up the table,"

When McAllister took charge of the club, he was entrusted with guiding the club back into the Championship.

They had recovered well under Dennis Wise from the deduction of 15-points at the start of the season, and promotion was a real possibility.

And the former Coventry manager came very close, loosing out to Doncaster Rovers 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley.

However, the team came into the new season with renewed vigor and started challenging for promotion, which given the resources available to the manager was all but guaranteed, or so everyone thought.

I was one of those people who had the Elland Road club nailed on for promotion, I even quote myself in preseason saying, "Anything less than promotion will be put down as a failure".

And with the squad available, its been a truly awful season for the Yorkshire club, but frustratingly enough the quality is there for all to see

Luciano Bechio has had a good start to the season, but without Jermaine Beckford alongside him he looks slightly out of place.

Beckford's injury could well have been the beginning of the end for McAllister, with the clubs top scorer being ruled out for a month after defeat at Northampton Town in late November.

The likes of Jonny Howson (I had to mention him didn't I?) and Robert Snodgrass have impressed for the side, but grinding out results hasn't been the main trait of this Leeds team.

The worry now is that some of the more talented players at the club might leave because of the teams underachievement.

Beckford and Fabian Delph could both one day preside in the countries top leagues and it could be where they will venture to in the January window.

Delph in particular has been courted by many Premiership clubs and is sure to be on many teams new years shopping list.

As for McAllister, well it was the right time to go.

There's just enough time in the season for the new man to turn the fortunes of the team around.

Getting the right man in is crucial though, and Leeds have said they want the new man in by the new year so they can have a full month in which the manager can do his January shopping.

There are some obvious names out there, but I'm going to steer you towards three of my favourites for the job.

The first is Alan Curbishley, the former Charlton manager was badly treated at West Ham and was forced out earlier this year, Leeds are a big enough club to attract him and he would be perfect for them as his commitment is unrivaled.

The second is Paul Ince. Only recently sacked by Blackburn, Ince will be keen to return to management as soon as possible and Leeds could be the perfect job for him.

In my opinion, he wrongly turned down the managers job at promotion rivals Leicester City, a move that would have been perfect for him to continue his managerial apprenticeship up the leagues.

The third candidate is Gustavo Poyet, who was at the club last season until he left the assistant managers role and went to at the time Juande Ramos' Tottenham Hotspur.

Obviously, things have changed since then, and Poyet is out of a job.

He's always struck me as a quality coach and having been in League one before with Swindon Town under Dennis Wise again he has the knowledge and the experience, I think it would be a match made in heaven and a good move for both parties.

But can Leeds afford to make the same gamble many have on untried managers in the past 18 months, with the distinct possibility of failure? I'm not sure they can.

Anyway that's my two pennies worth, feel free to speculate on who you think should succeed McAllister, but whoever does step into the hot seat has a huge job on their hands taking one of Britain's biggest clubs back towards where they belong.