Manuel Pellegrini's 18-month reign as West Ham United manager ended abruptly on Saturday as the Chilean was sacked shortly after his side's 2-1 home defeat by Leicester City in the Premier League.
The defeat left West Ham fourth from bottom, just one point above the relegation zone after a dreadful run of form.
Former Manchester City title-winning manager Pellegrini, who steered the team into the top four earlier in the season, had already given his post-match news conference at the London Stadium and had not hinted at what was about to follow around 15 minutes later.
West Ham broke the news in a statement on its website.
"It is with great disappointment that we've had to make this decision," joint-chairman David Sullivan said.
"Manuel is a gentleman and it has been a real pleasure to work with someone of his calibre. However, it has become clear that that a change is required to get the club back on track in line with our ambitions this season.
"We felt it was necessary to act now in order to give the new manager as much time as possible to try and achieve that."
West Ham spent around £80 million (Dh 384 million) in the summer transfer window on the likes of striker Sebastien Haller and Pablo Fornals.
They began the season well, going on a six-match unbeaten streak after losing to Manchester City on the opening day.
But since beating Manchester United at home on September 28 they have won only twice in their last 13 league games, failing to win at home.
West Ham looked woefully low on confidence against a Leicester side showing nine changes to the line-up beaten by Liverpool 48 hours earlier but who were still far too good for the hosts.
Fans made their frustrations clear on Saturday, jeering Pellegrini's substitutions of Haller and Manuel Lanzini.
"I understand the fans, they deserve better results and deserve a better performance of the team," Pellegrini said in his final post-match news conference.
West Ham face a crucial home match against fellow strugglers Bournemouth on New Year's Day.
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
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Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Dias Karmanov (KAZ) beat Mabrook Rasea (YEM) by points 2-1.
Male 54kg Round 1
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Men 86kg Round 1
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Men 63.5kg Round 1
Noureddin Samir (UAE) beat Polash Chakma (BAN) RSC Round 1.
Female 45kg quarter finals
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Female 48kg quarter finals
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
