A-League coaches go from musical chairs to the sack race, who's next? John Aloisi has shot to the top of the bookies' board as favourite to win the sack race. If bookies had been framing a market for punters on the first A-League coaches to part company with their clubs, the rank outsiders would have been Ange Postecoglou and Graham Arnold. The former was in the early stages of a major makeover of the A-League's biggest club, Melbourne Victory, the latter was basking in the glory of delivering the Mariners their first championship and looking forward to making it two in a row. But the fact that the pair are no longer in situ - Postecoglou is now coach of the Socceroos, and presided over his first match in charge against Costa Rica on Tuesday night, and Arnold is in Japan, having been lured to Asia's biggest league by J-League club Vegalta Sendai, proves at least a couple of things. Most obviously, it illustrates why the bookies drive big cars and live in flash houses. And it also shows that nothing can be taken for granted in life, never mind football, where today's impossibility can become tomorrow's improbability and the day after's certainty. Those two left of their own volition and in truth could hardly have said no, such were the challenges being offered to them. But the sack race goes on, and one thing is almost certain: with 21 rounds of the A-League still to go, the chances of the 10 coaches who are with their clubs now being the same 10 men at the end of the season are negligible. You would think that Kevin Muscat, at Melbourne Victory, and Phil Moss, at Central Coast, are pretty safe. Both men were brought in as replacements and almost no replacement (as opposed to caretaker) coach gets axed after a partial season in charge. And Muscat, anyway, is a legend at his club. In many ways he is Melbourne Victory, having been its first skipper, led it to two titles and done so much to make it an iconic club in its own city and a hated side on its travels. It would take a brave board to cut "Musky" off at the knees after less than a season. Moss, too, would surely be on safe ground having been handed a three-year deal to succeed Arnold after being the latter's assistant. Ernie Merrick has made a poor start at Wellington Phoenix, certainly in terms of points accrued, but it's hard to imagine the Scotsman being under the hammer, at least not yet. Wellington's season has been badly disrupted by international call-ups and postponed games and it is too hard to properly judge his impact yet given the number of changes he is bringing about and the scheduling problems he has faced. In his favour is the fight his side has shown in several matches, notably getting a point at Western Sydney in round two and almost coming back from a 3-0 deficit against Victory, going down 3-2 in Muscat's first match in charge at Etihad Stadium. Gary van Egmond might have been in trouble after the first few rounds in Newcastle, when a series of lacklustre performances, coupled with poor results, had the Jets floundering at the wrong end of the table. But a good fortnight, with wins in Adelaide and over Brisbane, has helped his cause. It was a similar story with Frank Farina, whose future looked to be all behind him after four rounds as Sydney staggered towards the foot of the table. But that spirited win over Victory at Allianz and the 2-0 triumph over a dispirited Melbourne Heart - which was so poor it made the Sky Blues look like world-beaters last Friday night - has turned things round for the ex-Socceroos boss. Which brings us to Heart. Alone and unloved, the red and whites are propping up the table and in desperate straits. Winless in six games, and without a goal in more than six hours of football, their coach, John Aloisi, has shot to the top of the bookies' board as favourite to win the sack race. Aloisi is a revered name in the Australian game and his penalty shootout winner against Uruguay almost eight years ago to the day [that was on November 16, 2005] always means he will be remembered as the man who took the Socceroos to the World Cup for the first time in 32 years. But his time in the coaching hot-seat has been less memorable. He and his assistant, former Socceroos defender Hayden Foxe, were cut some slack last year as it was their first in charge at senior level, but there is no such luxury this time. Aloisi is used to pressure on the pitch, and there is no doubt he retains his self-belief. But unless Heart picks up, his short-term career prospects could be zero. Games away to Newcastle next weekend and at home to Adelaide after that could seal his future. He hasn't had much luck with his key signings, Dutchman Orlando Engelaar breaking a leg pre-season and not playing at all, while Harry Kewell has only appeared once. If ever Aloisi needed his former Socceroos teammate to stand up, roll back the years and deliver some of the old magic, it's now. A couple of good results could work wonders - just ask Farina and van Egmond. A couple of bad ones won't bear thinking about.