Newcastle Jets have sacked coach Mark Jones after they finished the A-League season at the bottom of the table.
Jones was dismissed on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Jets' 2-0 loss to Sydney FC confirmed them as wooden-spoon recipients following a terrible late-season collapse. He is the latest of the club's managers to be axed after a single campaign.
It comes six weeks after the team were genuine contenders for a first finals berth in seven years, before then going on to concede a record 19 unanswered goals.
They lost their last six games and went winless in their last 10 to ruin an initially encouraging campaign.
Jets chief executive Lawrie McKinna said the decision was made with Chinese owner Martin Lee on Sunday morning, before he made the phone call to Jones.