Paul Nevin. Picture / Adrian Malloch
The struggling New Zealand Knights soccer side have sacked Paul Nevin as manager.
The A-League soccer team have scored just four goals this season to sit anchored at the bottom of the table after two wins, nine defeats and one draw.
Knights director of football Barry Simmonds is
to take over the first team duties on an interim basis.
Nevin would stay on with the club in a coaching and development role, Knights chairman Anthony Lee said.
It appears the Knights' 0-4 thrashing on Friday night by A-League champions Sydney FC was the final straw.
The Knights' board believed a change was needed to arrest the sequence of poor results, but Lee today insisted Nevin remained a talented manager.
"I'm very disappointed that we had to make this announcement as Paul is one of the most professional coaches that I have known, his attitude and commitment to this club has been nothing but first-class," he said.
"However, football is about results and we need to turn those results around."
Simmonds now has the task of preparing his squad to play the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
The Mariners, two spots above the Knights at sixth on the table, should be an easier prospect than Sydney FC.
The Mariners have won just one more game than the Knights this season and were on Sunday beaten 3-1 by Newcastle Jets.
"These are difficult times and we are faced with a big task to prepare the players in such a short time but that is exactly what we will do," Simmonds said.
The interim manager's career has previously taken him to at English premiership club Bolton Wanderers, Viking FK of the Norwegian Premier League, top Welsh club Cardiff City and London side Crystal Palace, who both play in the championship league.
Through the 1980s and 1990s he coached in New Zealand's national league.
Knights management plan a press conference tomorrow but say they will be making no further comment until then.
- NZPA
