ANY second now the phone call will come from a particularly irate Steve Bruce.

There were only a matter of hours to go… but still the Premier League is waiting this century to get through to December without a manager losing their job.

Last week’s column pointed out how strange it was for the top-flight bosses to all remain in situ heading towards the final month of the year.

Sunderland, though, were the first to blink. And out went Bruce, a victim of Sunderland’s dreadful run of form in the last few months that would come as a surprise to anyone who saw them impress at Anfield on the opening day.

Now one has gone, surely more will follow. And hapless Steve Kean, hardly flavour of the month with Blackburn Rovers supporters, may have sealed his fate with his frankly astonishing admission he had forfeited this week’s Carling Cup quarter-final at Cardiff City.

Just what fans who’d spent their hard-earned on travelling to South Wales on Tuesday night wanted to hear.

THERE’S been a bit of a kerfuffle over the lack of women on the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Old Beeb itself is attracting most of the flak, although that’s a bit unfair considering they don’t even vote for it.

Instead, the nominations are decided by the national press, both Zoo and Nuts magazines (no, I don’t know why either) and a sprinkling of regional publications, among which is the Daily Post in Wales – who didn’t include any women in their choices either. Tut tut.

Still, hats off to the Manchester Evening News – among their 10 are Paul Scholes, Yaya Toure, Dimitar Berbatov and Patrick Vieira.

So, no local bias there, then.