Betfred make former Leicester City boss Martin O’Neill the 11/10 favourite to succeed the sacked Sven Goran Eriksson as the new manager at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes decided to axe former England and Manchester City boss Eriksson on Monday, with Saturday’s disappointing 3-0 home defeat to struggling Millwall apparently the final straw for the club’s owners.

Despite some decent results this season – notably wins over Championship leaders Southampton and East Midlands rivals Derby – Eriksson’s side have been inconsistent and are two points out of the play-off places despite being viewed as pre-season favourites for promotion (Leicester 9/4 to be promoted).

Eriksson was given plenty of money to spend over the summer and the Swedish coach believes he could have guided them up to the top flight if he’d been given more time.

In a statement on the League Managers’ Association website, Eriksson said: “I am disappointed to be leaving Leicester City Football Club.

“It was always my aim to lead the club into the Barclays Premier League and I am very sorry that I won’t be able to do that.

“I have always thought, and still believe now, that the club will be promoted this season. The current squad is capable and ready to achieve promotion, but football is a results industry and unfortunately we couldn’t quite get things right enough of the time.”

O’Neill would be a popular choice to replace him while Mark Hughes (3/1) and Billy Davies (8/1) are also among the early names in the frame.