EFL’s fifth-longest serving manager set to leave after third play-off heartbreak

Dave Challinor is set to leave Stockport County after nearly five years at the club, talkSPORT understands.

The Englishman took over at the League One club in November 2021 when they were ninth in the National League.

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He immediately ended their 11-year absence from the English Football League that same season.

The Hatters were then promoted to the third tier at the second time of asking – as League Two champions in the 2023/24 season – having missed out via the play-offs 12 months earlier.

However, the play-offs would become something of a nightmare for Challinor in the two years that followed.

Stockport lost to Leyton Orient in the semi-finals last term, before getting thumped 4-1 by Bolton Wanderers in this season’s final seven days ago.

And now Challinor, the fifth-longest serving manager in the EFL after a reign of four years and 209 days, is expected to leave imminently.

The 50-year-old is currently being linked with the vacancy at Blackburn after Michael O’Neill’s exit.

More to follow.