Debt-ridden Leeds United sacked Peter Reid as their manager today while Eddie Gray will take-over as caretaker manager at the Yorkshire club.
The 6-1 defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday appears to have been the final straw for the club's directors and the search will now begin for Reid's successor.
Leeds are approximately £80million in debt following a period of wild excess under former chairman Peter Ridsdale, who spent vast sums of money on players on the basis of yearly qualification for the Champions League.
They are currently propping up the Premier League, having conceded 31 goals in their 12 league games to date and having not played in Europe's top club competition since their glorious run to the semi-finals in 2000-01.
The Yorkshire side simply cannot afford to be relegated from the top flight and the new manager will be under great pressure to keep them up.
Nottingham Forest boss Paul Hart - a former director of youth development at Elland Road - is understood to be the number one choice of the board.
Reid, who managed Leeds for just 22 games, first took over at Elland Road in a temporary capacity in March following the sacking of Terry Venables and had eight games to keep the struggling club in the top flight.
They secured their status in the top division with a 3-2 win over Arsenal at Highbury in the penultimate match of the season, a result which also handed the title to Manchester United.
Reid was given the job on a full-time basis in May but had to be content in the summer with bringing in seven players on loan deals, with Jody Morris the only permanent arrival from Chelsea.
Star player Harry Kewell was sold to Liverpool to service the club's debts while Olivier Dacourt and Nigel Martyn also left the club.
Reid fell out with full-back Danny Mills, who was loaned out to Middlesbrough before the transfer window closed at the end of August and more recently has had a series of rows with striker Mark Viduka.
Viduka left the ground before the home clash with Arsenal after discovering he was not part of the matchday squad of 16 because of his late arrival at Elland Road and was then excluded from the ill-fated trip to Portsmouth after another training ground confrontation.
The club's directors held a very public discussion of whether to keep Reid after some poor results but announced in early October that he would remain as manager.
However, performances have worsened since then and the club have now taken action.