Chris Hughton was fired by Newcastle on Monday despite taking a club in disarray back into the Premier League at the first attempt and to a mid-standings position.
Barely a month after Hughton presided over a 5-1 rout of local rival Sunderland and a 1-0 victory at Arsenal, Newcastle announced that it wants a more experienced manager.
The 51-year-old Hughton was promoted to the top job after Alan Shearer failed to prevent the team sliding into the League Championship in May 2009.
Despite then winning the second-tier title, Hughton was not offered a new contract. His deal had been due to expire at the end of this season.
''Regrettably, the board now feels that an individual with more managerial experience is needed to take the club forward,'' Newcastle said in a statement. ''The task of appointing a new manager now begins.''
Hughton said in a statement on the League Managers Association website that the termination of his contract is ''now in the hands of the LMA.''
''I am immensely proud of my achievements with Newcastle and I enjoyed a fantastic relationship with the players, my staff and the supporters during my time as manager,'' Hughton said. ''I now wish them and the club all the very best for the future.''
Chief Executive Richard Bevan said the LMA is ''extremely disappointed'' at Newcastle's decision and praised Hughton's ''integrity and dignity.''
Newcastle has put former forward Peter Beardsley, who has been serving as reserve team manager, in temporary charge. The next match is on Saturday against Liverpool, a club at which Beardsley won two league titles.
Bookmaker William Hill had made former West Ham manager Alan Pardew favorite to succeed Hughton permanently, but he was swiftly overtaken in the betting by Martin Jol after the Dutchman quit Ajax late Monday.
With Hughton as his assistant, Jol led Tottenham to consecutive fifth-place finishes in 2006 and '07. But a year after firing Jol in October 2007, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said the manager had held unauthorized talks with Newcastle while negotiating a new contract.
Jol came close to joining Fulham ahead of this season but Ajax would not release him from his contract.
Newcastle is 11th in the standings after 16 matches despite a 3-1 collapse at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, the team's third loss in five matches.
Defender Sol Campbell said the players weren't aware of Hughton's impending departure at training on Monday morning.
''This will hit the players hard. The players admired him and liked him, and won't be happy now he's gone like this,'' Campbell was quoted as saying on the ESPN Soccernet website. ''You have got to ask yourself why this has happened, because it makes no sense. Here is a guy who has done an unbelievable job.
''He got the club back into the Premier League and any manager would have been rewarded for that with a new contract - but Chris wasn't. The players are sure to be asking themselves, 'What the hell is going on?' That is only natural.''
Speculation had been mounting that owner Mike Ashley's failure to offer Hughton a new contract signaled that the former Tottenham player's future was in doubt.
Newcastle, which last won the topflight title in 1927 and the FA Cup in 1955, had to issue a statement in October stating that Hughton would ''remain our manager and it is our intention to re-negotiate his contract at the end of the year.''
Hughton was hired by the northeast club in February 2008 as Kevin Keegan's assistant and also served under Joe Kinnear and Shearer.
The former Ireland defender took over as interim manager after Newcastle was relegated from the top flight in May 2009 and he was appointed on a permanent contract later in that year.
''The board would like to place on record their thanks to Chris for his considerable efforts during the club's transition from Championship to Premier League football,'' Newcastle said. ''Chris has shown exceptional character and commitment.''
Shearer, who scored 148 goals in 303 games in 10 years for Newcastle, said the announcement was ''not good news.''
''Despite what happened (while manager), I loved it and if something was to arise again I would seriously look at it,'' Shearer was quoted as saying on FourFourTwo.com.
Players from rival clubs reacted with dismay to Hughton's exit.
''Loyalty in football gets spoken about a lot in football,'' Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand wrote on Twitter. ''Do u (you) see much of it about these days???''
