Bristol Rovers legend Lee Mansell has taken interim charge of Gloucester City after the club sacked Paul Groves on Saturday.
The National League North side, Mansell's hometown club, sit 20th in the table after five successive defeats and the 3-0 defeat to Gateshead cost Groves his job.
The 39-year-old will get down to work on Monday, tasked with steadying the ship after a poor start to the season for the Tigers, who have sipped 20 goals in their seven league games.
The former Torquay United and Luton Town midfielder was made redundant from his academy coaching role at Rovers in May.
Mansell made 81 appearances for the Gas from 2014-2017, and while many players have played many more games for the club, he is held in the highest regard by supporters for the part he played in successive promotions.
His Conference play-off final clinching penalty against Grimsby Town is permanently etched in Rovers history, and Mansell is sure to receive plenty of goodwill from Gasheads as he embarks on the next step in his coaching career.
"Owing to recent results, I can confirm this evening that Gloucester City has parted ways with Paul Groves and members of his backroom staff," Gloucester co-chairman Alex Petheram said.
"We would like to thank Paul and his team for their hard work whilst with us and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
"In order to provide stability to the club and give ourselves the best possible chance of success moving forwards, we have appointed Lee Mansell as interim manager, taking charge from Monday.
"Lee has the support of everyone at the club and understands the aims and objectives for the season ahead.
"We would like to thank everyone for their continued support."
Following his playing retirement, Mansell took up the offer of a coaching role from Darrell Clarke before being named development squad manager in 2019.
But he was a surprise inclusion in a list of redundancies Rovers announced in May, as they restructured their staff structure.
Rovers' under-23s are no longer members of the Central League, with the development squad – many of whom are out on loan – now overseen by Kevin Maher and Chris Hargreaves, but they are yet to play a competitive fixture this season.
Mansell's first game in charge will be an FA Cup third qualifying round tie at Folkstone Invicta on Saturday.
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