Hearts have sacked Ian Cathro four days before facing Celtic.
The 31-year-old replaced Robbie Nielson at Tynecastle in December and saw the club slip from second to fifth in the Premiership.
Despite that form fans backed the club by snapping up 13,800 season tickets but goodwill ran out on the back of last week’s League Cup defeat at Peterhead.
In his schoolboy manner Cathro dismissed that defeat without realising the gravity of the situation before his final match in charge against Dunfermline on Saturday.
Another tepid display ended in a draw with the penalty shoot out defeat academic as they went out of the tournament at the first round.
Ann Budge and Director of Football Craig Levein left before the shoot out and delivered the news of Cathro’s exit this morning.
Tomorrow the club will announce who will take charge with Celtic on Saturday the first of four SPFL matches making the job even more unattractive for a caretaker which could force Levein back into the dug out with Development team coach Jon Daly.