When Claudio Ranieri lost his job as Watford manager two weeks ago, he joined an unwelcome club.
He became the third man to be sacked by a Premier League team four times, joining Jose Mourinho and Mark Hughes in sharing that unfortunate record.
Ranieri was first given his cards by Chelsea. Then, months after leading Leicester City to the unlikeliest of Premier League successes, he was shown the door again. A brief spell with Fulham ended prematurely, like his time with Watford.
Mourinho has been fired by Chelsea twice, while his time in charge of both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur ended in similarly acrimonious fashion.
Hughes can look back on failed spells with Manchester City, Queen’s Park rangers, Stoke City and Southampton on what is a crowded CV.
Ranieri was also the eighth man to lose his job this season. That is still two short of the record of ten, which has happened on three previous occasions. However, that is still in strong contrast to last season when only three men failed to see out their contracts.
When it comes to willingness to pull the trigger, Watford are not the worst offenders statistically, although their record of eight dismissals in the Premier League era, tied with both Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion, disguises the fact that all three have not played continuously in the top flight during that period.
While Southampton have made 10 managerial changes, the London duo of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur has proved to be the most prepared to lose patience with a manager, making 13 changes apiece.
With three months of the season still to be played, the sackings may not be at end.
In particular, the owners of clubs at the wrong end of the table recognise the potentially severe financial implications of dropping in to the Championship.
Some of them will reckon that, if bringing in a new voice before the end of the campaign can help galvanise the playing squad to raise their game and eke out a few precious points, then it may be a gamble worth taking.