Watford have sacked head coach Ed Still after 15 matches in charge following the conclusion of the Championship season.
Still’s final match in charge was a 4-0 defeat to Championship winners Coventry at Vicarage Road.
It was a fifth successive defeat for the Hornets, with the run seeing them concede 16 goals and score just once.
Still had been appointed in February on a two-and-a-half-year deal, following Javi Gracia’s resignation.
He oversaw just three league wins, with Watford drawing twice and losing eight as they slid out of play-off contention to finish the season in 16th place.
‘Watford FC have this morning parted company with Head Coach Ed Still,’ a club statement read.
Ed Still has been sacked by Watford following a 16 match spell in charge of the club
Watford finished 16th in the Championship after losing 4-0 to Coventry on the final day
‘First Team Coach Karim Belhocine has also left the club. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.’
Still had been in his fifth managerial post, but first in English football.
His brother Will had been sacked earlier in the season by Southampton after an ill-fated 13-game spell in charge of the Saints.
Watford are now looking for their 15th coach since 2019, when Gracia left the club for the first time.
Only one Watford manager, Tom Cleverly, has made it past 50 matches in charge since.
Watford have had 22 permanent managers since Gino Pozzo bought the club in 2012, with Gracia and Quique Sanchez Flores both having two spells in charge.
The Hornets had begun the season with Paulo Pezzolano in charge, but the Uruguayan was sacked after just 10 games in charge.
Still was Watford’s third manager of the season after Paulo Pezzolano and Javi Gracia, pictured
Gracia was brought back to the club, but resigned after three months amid reports the Spaniard had been unhappy about the lack of activity in the January transfer window and the lack of experience within the squad.
He left with Watford just four points off the play-off places.
Watford chairman and chief executive Scott Duxbury had labelled the club’s end of the season as ‘unacceptable’ in a message to supporters ahead of the final day of the season on Saturday.
‘The need for a consistent and positive culture within the group, one that represents our supporters with the effort they demand and deserve, will be the driving factor this summer,’ Duxbury wrote.
‘We’re not hiding from the unacceptable level of performance recently, it’s obvious this has been truly disappointing in the extreme. But there are solid foundations going into the summer.
‘We have some very exciting young attacking players with pace that can make a real difference in this league if allowed to flourish and supported by more experienced players.’
