Perth Glory's longest-serving coach Kenny Lowe has been sacked after failing to guide the side to the A-League finals this season.
Lowe, who had one more year to run on his contract, has been head coach since late 2013.
He will now move into a youth role at the club, where he is expected to be named technical manager at the Glory Academy.
Lowe's sacking comes just a day after Western Sydney Wanderers coach Josep Gombau was shown the door, and former Wanderers coach Tony Popovic could come into the reckoning to replace either Lowe or Gombau.
Popovic left the Wanderers on the eve of the season to take up the head coaching role at Turkish club Karabukspor, but was dismissed there following 10 losses in 11 games.
Glory chief executive Peter Filopoulos said the club parted ways with Lowe because of disappointing results and the desire to head in a fresh direction.
"We never shied away that we wanted a top-four finish at the beginning of the year, and we felt the squad should have done better than what it actually did in the end," Filopoulos said.
"We just felt generally as part of the review that after four-and-a-half years, we needed a new fresh approach in the coaching ranks."
Lowe declined to attend the press conference, with the emotion too raw.
"Kenny is an incredible man. And it's incredibly raw and emotional. He needs to process this," Filopoulos said.
"But we're delighted Kenny will remain at the club to play an instrumental role."
Lowe helped guide Glory through a number of stormy times after taking over as interim coach in December 2013 when a player revolt led to the stunning axing of then-coach Alistair Edwards.
Lowe was appointed full-time coach at the end of that season and he was left to pick up the pieces yet again when the club's salary cap breaches were revealed in 2014-15.
Glory were stripped of their finals spot and fined $269,000 for those breaches.
Remarkably, Lowe was able to regenerate his squad quickly and guide them into the finals for the following two seasons, but they fell just short this campaign, with injuries cruelling their chances.
Needing a win in the final round to sneak into sixth spot, Glory lost 3-2 to Brisbane in Perth.
He guided the club to 52 wins, 27 draws and 49 losses during his 128 games at the helm.