The Chelsea football club have fired manager Carlo Ancelotti after this morning's 1-nil loss at Everton completed a season which the team's owner says fell short of expectations.
Ancelotti was sacked just a year after he led the Blues to the League and FA Cup double in his first season in charge.
However Chelsea's campaign was labelled disappointing by the club despite finishing second in the standings, nine points behind champions Manchester United and ahead of Manchester City.
They made a flying start again this season but went off the boil and eventually fell away on all fronts.
Ancelotti's fate was probably sealed when Chelsea lost to Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals, the competition that Russian owner Roman Abramovich desperately wants to win.
Not even the arrival of Spanish striker Fernando Torres for a record 50 million pounds ($NZ 102 million) in January could transform their fortunes and Ancelotti's departure with a year left on his contract came as no real surprise.
