Derry City have this morning parted company with manager Declan Devine.
The club confirmed his departure in a short statement.
It read: "Derry City FC and Declan Devine have parted company by mutual consent.
"The Board wish to thank Declan for his service to the Club and wish him well for the future."
The Candystripes have had a poor start to the new SSE Airtricity League season and are currently bottom of the table after failing to win any of their opening six league games, picking up just two points from a possible 18.
They lost their first four games before picking up draws in their last two.
Their most recent game finished 1-1 against Dundalk at the Brandywell on Tuesday night.
Devine returned as Derry manager for a second spell in charge in November 2018 and guided the club to finish fourth to secure a European place in 2019.
But they were beaten at the first hurdle in the Europa League last year, losing to Lithuanian side RK Riteriai in the opening qualifying round.
They struggled domestically in 2020 too and only secured their Premier Division status on the final day of the season.
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley was surprised to see Devine and Derry parting company.
He said: “It’s not nice to see anyone lose their job. From watching their games beforehand and when we played them up there, you get a feel for a team and its players.
“You know if the dressing room is not there with the manager and I felt anything but that. I felt they worked extremely hard for the manager and I left there thinking they were still with him.
“So I didn’t think there would be a change. I know results haven’t gone their way in the early part of the season but I didn’t think there would be a change in the early part of the season but when you’re not in it, it’s hard to know what’s going on.”
Bradley added: “He played a few of them and they did well against us. It’s hard to go into budgets and squad because you don’t know what’s what but he’s definitely given a lot of young players their opportunity.”
Derry travel to The Showgrounds to face joint-league leaders Sligo Rovers on Saturday night.
