Sean Dyche has been sacked by Nottingham Forest to become their third managerial casualty of the season.
Dyche’s tenure as manager ended on Wednesday night with Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, taking action following their goalless draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
Marinakis made a rare City Ground appearance for a midweek game and was exasperated by a performance which ended with Forest positioned just three points above the relegation zone.
The Greek businessman was understood to have held crisis talks with senior players after the game and Dyche was dismissed hours later.
Players are also believed to have expressed concerns over Dyche’s management and coaching methods in recent weeks. Fears have since grown over a disconnect between the squad and management staff.
Telegraph Sport understands there was also frustration within the boardroom over some of Dyche’s post-match comments which were perceived to have shifted the blame onto the players.
A club statement read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that Sean Dyche has been relieved of his duties as head coach.
“We would like to thank Sean and his staff for their efforts during their time at the club and we wish them the best of luck for the future. We will be making no further comment at this time.”
Marinakis’s first-choice target is Marco Silva, the Fulham head coach, but any move is thought unlikely until the summer. Silva will be out of contract at the end of June.
Forest plan to make a short-term appointment with Vitor Pereira, the former Wolves head coach, floated as one option to Marinakis by intermediaries.
Dyche was appointed in October but now joins Nuno Espírito Santo and Ange Postecoglou as the club’s third sacking of the season.
Forest are the first club to make three changes in one season since Blackburn Rovers did so during the 2012-13 campaign.
Despite impressive victories over Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford and West Ham United, Dyche’s position has come under mounting pressure in recent weeks.
Defeats by Everton (twice), Braga in the Europa League, Wrexham in the FA Cup and Leeds United on Friday night resulted in panic behind the scenes.
After spending £200m last summer, Marinakis cannot contemplate relegation to the Championship.
That big recruitment drive will now come under renewed scrutiny following Dyche’s departure.
Edu Gaspar, the club’s global head of football, is also under pressure after he was influential in several high-profile signings including Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Douglas Luiz, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Dilane Bakwa.
Another summer buy, Arnaud Kalimuendo, was offloaded to Eintracht Frankfurt in January and has been named their player of the month.
Edu and George Syrianos, Forest’s sporting director, were both behind the appointment of Dyche, who leaves after 25 games in charge.
Forest return to action next Thursday night when they face Turkish club Fenerbahçe in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.