HUDDERSFIELD Town have parted company with Simon Grayson as manager.
The 43-year-old led Town to promotion via a play-off final at Wembley last year and despite a promising start to the club's Championship campaign, Town have now slumped to 18th - seven points above the drop zone.
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That slump has coincided with a winless run of 12 games in the league with the last three point haul at Barnsley on November 10.
Huddersfield Town Chairman Dean Hoyle said he'd made the decision to part company with Grayson with both the short and long-term needs of the club in mind.
He added: "We brought Simon in with the immediate aim to lead the club to promotion and he did that at the first attempt. It is an achievement for which we are grateful.
“We knew the transition to Championship football would be difficult and our targets for this season have been realistic, with retention of our status the priority.
“However, having worked so hard to get back into the second tier we have to do everything we can to consolidate that position. After exceeding all our expectations in the early part of the season, our results and performances as a team and from individual players have tailed off alarmingly.
"Worsening displays have accompanied a run of just six points and no wins from the last 12 League games, including some very heavy defeats, culminating at Watford last Saturday.
“Whilst we would all have hoped for even some modest signs of improvement to begin to emerge as the weeks have passed that has not been the case. This has made the position untenable.
“We will now seek to recruit a new first team manager who can, in the short term, lead and reinvigorate the team and players for the remainder of this season and also drive us forward towards our long term aims.
“We will not rush to make a new appointment. In the interim Academy Manager Mark Lillis and Senior Professional Development Coach Steve Eyre will take control of the team, starting with Saturday’s FA Cup Fourth Round game at home to Leicester City.
“Managerial change is a last resort and I hope our supporters will now get fully behind the team, Mark and Steve, starting on Saturday.”
