Arne Slot has been sacked as Liverpool manager just one year after winning the Premier League title in what was his first season in charge.
But this season's title defence has been desperately disappointing with the Merseyside club finishing in fifth place, 25 points behind newly-crowned champions Arsenal and having lost 19 times across all competitions.
The club announced on Saturday that the Dutch coach would be leaving after two seasons as manager.
“Liverpool FC can confirm Arne Slot is to depart his role as head coach with immediate effect and that the process to appoint a successor is under way,” Liverpool said in a statement. “He leaves with a Premier League title to his name and our deepest gratitude and appreciation.”
It was a brutal decision by Liverpool who generally are not the type of club to dispense with their managers so quickly but they clearly feel a change of coach is needed before any moves in the transfer market this summer.
Early names being mentioned include Spanish coach Andoni Iraola, who has just left Bournemouth having guided the Cherries to a club record sixth-place finish.
Austrian coach Oliver Glasner is also without a club after quitting Crystal Palace after winning the Uefa Conference League after a spell that also saw the Eagles secure their first major trophy – beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final – as well as the Community Shield last summer.
For Slot, it has been a dramatic change of fortunes after helping Liverpool seal only their second top-flight crown in 30 years following his appointment to replace Jurgen Klopp.
That opening campaign saw Liverpool finish 10 points clear of second-placed Arsenal, with Mohamed Salah claiming the Golden Boot award after scoring 29 goals – and provide 18 assists – in 38 league games.
But a harrowing summer would follow for the club which started with a horror attack on supporters during the team's title parade was followed by Portuguese attacker Diogo Jota being killed in a car accident at the age of 28.
As the new season kicked off, Slot had seen his squad boosted by the arrival of around £450 million of new talent as Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak all arrived at Anfield.
But they campaign would not go to plan with Slot seeing British-record signing Isak break his leg in December while the Dutchman's relationship with star attacker Salah disintegrated in a very public fashion.
Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup in Round 4 after falling to a 3-0 home defeat to Glasner's Palace, while Slot's side were humiliated 4-0 at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
“Disappointment about the result, disappointment about going out and very disappointed about the 20 minutes where we conceded four goals,” admitted Slot after the Etihad Stadium defeat. “The way we defended in that period, you will never be able to win a game of football.”
Any hopes of a seventh European Cup were also over at the quarter-final stage when holders Paris Saint-Germain comfortably won 4-0 on aggregate.
There was a further blow for Slot when striker Hugo Ekitike was ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the 2-0 second-leg loss at Anfield.
The 23-year-old French attacker – who will miss this summer's World Cup finals in North America- had been among the team's top performer during the season, scoring 17 goals and providing six assists across all competitions.
The Premier League season would also fizzle out with Liverpool securing just two points from the last four matches, which included a 3-2 loss against fierce rivals Manchester United and a 4-2 thumping away to Aston Villa.
That loss at Villa park would result in Salah – who had announced in March that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season – once again publicly calling out his increasingly under-pressure manager.
“I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies,” Salah stated on Instagram.
“That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”
The season ended with a home draw against Brentford that would see club legends Salah and full-back Andy Robertson bid a tearful farewell at Anfield.
As it turned out, it would also be Slot's final match. Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group said in a statement: “That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying.
“We would like to take this opportunity to place on record our appreciation for Arne, who will always hold a special place in the history of this football club as the coach who delivered Liverpool's 20th league title.
“That accomplishment – made all the more remarkable as it arrived in his very first season in charge – was built on outstanding coaching and leadership every single day.
“He also helped guide the club through one of the most difficult periods imaginable following the loss of Diogo.
“Nevertheless, the conclusion we have come to is built on a belief that the team's trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction.”
