Wayne Rooney has left Plymouth Argyle after a nine-game winless run left the club bottom of the Sky Bet Championship.
Appointed in May on a three-year deal, Rooney leaves Plymouth after just seven months in charge of the club four points from safety.
His last game in charge came on Sunday, when Argyle were beaten 2-0 at Oxford.
In a statement on Plymouth's website, Rooney said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Plymouth board, in particular Simon Hallett and Neil Dewsnip with whom I have shared an excellent relationship.
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Plymouth's defeat at Oxford on Sunday proved to be Rooney's last game
“Thanks also to all the staff who made me feel welcome and who make the club such a special place, the players and fans for their hard work and support during my time as a coach and I wish them all the best in the future.”
“Thank you to the Green Army for making the games at Home Park so special, they are memories we will share forever.
“I would also like to give special mention to my coaching staff of Kevin Nancekivell, Simon Ireland, Darryl Flahavan and Mike Phelan for their knowledge, dedication, help and support.
“Plymouth Argyle will always have a special place in my heart and I will continue to watch and take an interest in their results.”
Wednesday, January 1 at 12:25 p.m
Start at 12:30
Following Rooney's departure, first-team coach Nancekivell and club captain Joe Edwards will be in charge of Plymouth's New Year clash against Bristol City.
A statement on the club's website read: “Plymouth Argyle can confirm that the club and head coach Wayne Rooney have mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect.
“Runey's assistant head coach Mike Phelan and first team coach Simon Ireland will be leaving the club.
“First team coach Kevin Nancekivell and club captain Joe Edwards will lead the team for our Sky Bet Championship match against Bristol City on New Year's Day. Daryl Flahavan will continue as goalkeeping coach.
“We would like to thank Wayne and his team for all their efforts and wish them the best of luck in the future.
“The club will not be making any further comment at this stage with updates on our new first team management in due course.”
'It wasn't good enough' – What Rooney said after defeat at Oxford…
Sunday's defeat at Oxford was Rooney's 11th defeat in 13 away games.
Speaking after the game, in what turned out to be his last post-match interview as Argyle boss, Rooney said: “You have to look at every possible outcome, that's normal with the results we're going through. You have to feel, 'do we have the players to turn it around? '
“I'll go back and try to prepare for Bristol, but at the end of the day I know football and how it works. I understand the fans. I was there myself. As a fan you want to see your team win, to see your team run, when your team loses games, I'm frustrated, I know the work we're doing is good.
“It wasn't good enough. We didn't create enough chances, we conceded goals – we didn't do enough to stop them from scoring. Defensively it's been going on for a few weeks now. We tried to score goals but we didn't hurt them enough today.”
'Seemed like a perfect fit – but Rooney and Plymouth never took off'
Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam:
Rooney's time at Plymouth lasted just 221 days.
He signed a three-year contract back in May and had a relationship with Neil Dewsnip, who has been the club's sporting director for a number of years. He has overseen much of the club's recent success and was Rooney's coach during his time in Everton's academy. It's a long-standing relationship that goes back 30 years, which is why they picked Rooney in the summer as someone who could potentially take Plymouth forward.
As a manager, Rooney did not have much success. There were a few hits and misses in the Derby, but they had real combativeness about everything that happened off the pitch. We know that things didn't go so well at Birmingham City and that he had experience in MLS.
Plymouth thought they were getting someone with a lot of experience and we know his playing credentials, but he was still very new to management and didn't fit in at the club.
Plymouth is a social club. It's a great club with great people. It's a really good spirit and Home Park is fantastic to go to because of the way the crowd really get behind the team and they've had a lot of success under recent managers, going from League Two to the Championship.
At the time, this seemed like a perfect fit for the club.
A young, hungry, ambitious manager who we know and understand and wants to play the Plymouth way, and the club believed that, despite a shoestring budget, he would take them to places they had never been before in the Championship. It didn't work out that way and it just didn't work out for Rooney and Plymouth.
There were ups and downs and some positive results, but it just wasn't good enough, leading to the board, along with Rooney, deciding it had to end because it just wasn't working.
What next for Rooney and Plymouth?
More from Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam:
Rooney will be desperate to prove he is a good manager and a good coach. He won't want to sit around, he'll be looking for the next opportunity, and he'll be happy to get back to work as soon as he's well.
I don't think this is the end of Rooney as a head coach or manager. I still think he has those ambitions to be successful.
For Plymouth, they'll have to take stock, think and look because they've had two managerial appointments that haven't really worked out. Rooney was the most recent, and before that was Ian Foster.
The two appointments before that were extremely successful and interestingly Ryan Lowe and Steven Schumacher are both currently out of work.
The key thing that the management will be thinking about in this next decision and this next appointment is to get someone who understands the city, the culture of the football club, the community spirit that it has and the group of players that are already there.
So you'd think someone like Lowe, who wants to get back to work and understands the club, would say he'd hang on until the end of the season to have the chance to take Plymouth off the bottom of the table and into the top half of the Championship.
Plymouth's upcoming matches
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Bristol City (H) – Championship – Wednesday 1 January, 12.30pm kick-off – live on Sky Sports+
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Stoke City (A) – Championship – Saturday 4 January, 12.30pm kick-off – Live on Sky Sports+
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Brentford (A) – FA Cup – Saturday 11th January, 3pm kick-off
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Oxford (H) – Championship – Tuesday, January 14, kick-off at 19.45
- – live on Sky Sports+QPR (H) – Championship – Saturday 18 January, 12.30pm kick-off