Markus Babbel has been dismissed as Western Sydney Wanderers head coach.
The German was shown the exit door the morning after the 1-0 home defeat against Perth Glory after Western Sydney had collected only four points from their last 10 matches.
Wanderers surged out to a superb start to the 2019/20 campaign as they returned to their spiritual home of Parramatta following three years in the wilderness.
Babbel guided his side to three wins and a draw from their first four games, including a 1-0 triumph against Harbour City rivals Sydney FC in the first Sydney Derby at the brand new Bankwest Stadium.
But it was all downhill from that magical night, as the Red and Black won only one of their next 11 fixtures to fall to ninth in the Hyundai A-League ladder.
Babbel was named head coach in May 2018 and Wanderers won six of their 27 matches in his first season, finishing eighth and missing the Finals Series for the second straight season.
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Babbel’s former assistant, Jean Paul de Marigny, has been appointed as caretaker coach, with Labinot Haliti assisting him.
“It is unfortunate that we have needed to take this course of action because we have a great relationship with Markus,” said Wanderers Chairman Paul Lederer.
“However we firmly believe that we have a great squad and the results are most definitely not reflective of the ability of the players at this club and certainly do not reflect the aspirations of the Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club.
“We have total faith in the group of players here at the Wanderers and look forward to pushing on with renewed vigour towards the finals series.”
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