The October international break is a favoured time for dissatisfied club directors to give their underperforming managers the heave-ho.
In what could be called the 'fortnight of the long knives', clubs have almost two weeks between fixtures to hire a new boss who can get his feet under the desk before his players return from duty with their national teams.
However, while the under-pressure bosses in the Premier League look set to still be in gainful employment come October 17, the same can't be said for Wycombe's Peter Taylor and Tranmere's John Barnes who, despite a full League One fixture list this weekend, left their jobs today by mutual consent and frogmarch respectively.
Barnes leaves Prenton Park after a shambolic run of just three wins in 14 matches in charge that has left them in the bottom three above only Taylor's promoted Wycombe and Southampton, who started the season with a 10-point deduction.
The final straw was the Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat at Bury, but in all likelihood the board were grateful for that cup exit as it represented the perfect excuse to get rid of Barnes and his assistant Jason McAteer.
That's the same McAteer who once asked for a pizza to be cut into four slices because he wouldn't be able to manage eight. The ideal guy to have by your side, then.
The fact that club physio Les Parry has been put in temporary charge shows just how desperate the Tranmere hierarchy were to get Barnes out.
Barnes's previous stint in club management at Celtic ended in similar ignominy. Nineteen wins in 29 matches just doesn't cut it in a two-team league (perhaps soon to be a no-team league), and Barnes lasted just eight months at the Parkhead helm.
On that occasion, it was also a cup elimination that did for Barnes, a 3-1 Scottish Cup defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle which prompted THAT headline, as if The Sun will ever let us forget.
Somehow, it's so much easier to stick the knife in to Barnes the manager than it is Taylor. The man who was once left minding the shop for England led Wycombe to automatic promotion out of League Two last season, and was canny and experienced enough to know that the best way for Wanderers to salvage their poor season was for him to leave.
Barnes could do worse than follow Taylor's lead and quit the management game while he's ahead.
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Back to international matters, and the biggest talking point around England's trip to Ukraine has been the fact that fans who can't handle listening to Chinese commentary via dodgy internet feeds are being forced to view it either online or in cinemas.
Fabio Capello may be the only person taking the match seriously, as he is set to name a strong line-up out of respect to his Ukrainian hosts, although they probably won't thank him for the favour as they chase a play-off spot.
Portugal have a big task on their hands, while Russia have been up to their old tricks by bringing the artificial Luznikhi Stadium pitch back into play for the key clash against Germany.
But the real thrill of the weekend will be seeing Argentina's attempts to give their stuttering qualification campaign a boost by beating Peru.
All the pressure is getting a bit to Argentina boss Diego Maradona, who earlier this week decided to further boost his team's morale by revealing he is already questioning his future in the role.
"After the qualifiers, I will talk to (Argentine football federation chairman) Julio (Grondona)," Maradona said. "I'll see if I carry on, and it will be on my own terms."
ED would proffer that doing things on his own terms - ie refusing to select the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Hernan Crespo and Juan Roman Riquelme in favour of Martin Palermo and Juan Sebastian Veron - is what has got Argentina in this mess in the first place.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I consider the declarations that have been published in the last few hours to be deprived of any foundation, because they are not true" - Peru defender Juan Manuel Vargas denies reports that he's been involved in several punch-ups with his international team-mates.
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COMING UP: We've got LIVE scoring of England U21s' Euro 2011 qualifier against Macedonia at 19:45 this evening, as well as two League One matches kicking off at the same time.