West Bromwich Albion head coach Ryan Mason has been sacked by the Championship club following Monday's defeat at Leicester City.
The 2-1 loss was their 10th in a row away from home and left the Baggies 18th in the table, 10 points adrift of the play-off places.
Mason's assistant Nigel Gibbs and head of performance Sam Pooley have also left the club, with first-team coach James Morrison taking charge on an interim basis.
West Brom are away to Swansea City in the FA Cup on Sunday and do not have another league fixture until Middlesbrough visit The Hawthorns on 16 January.
"The process of recruiting a new men's first team head coach and staff is under way," the club said in a brief statement announcing Mason's departure.
They are the eighth Championship club to part company with a head coach/manager this season.
Mason, 34, left Tottenham Hotspur's coaching staff to take charge of Albion on a three-year deal, but has been unable to turn them into promotion contenders.
Despite the early promise of three wins in their first four league games this season, the momentum did not last, with only six more victories in the 22 since then.
A fourth defeat in five games either side of Christmas has now cost Mason his job and left the club looking for a third permanent boss in the past 12 months.
Speaking following the game at Leicester, which the Baggies lost after an added-time goal by the home side, Mason told BBC WM: "We are on a terrible run in terms of away games, but you look at the last seven or eight that we have played, we have had more shots at goal than the opposition, more shots on target, more chances created, and conceded so little at our end as well.
"I am proud of the team and proud of the performance, and we deserve so much more."
Mason's appointment marked a shift in direction by Albion, who put their faith in a young head coach with fresh ideas, schooled in the cut and thrust of working at the top level working under the likes of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou.
Sporting director Andrew Nestor described Mason as "the leader the club needed" and after a summer rebuild that reduced the average age of the squad and gave them more wiggle room against the EFL's profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with the sales of Tom Fellows and Torbjorn Heggem, the start under the new boss was encouraging.
Wins over Blackburn, newly-promoted Wrexham and early pacesetters Stoke City helped them take 10 points from their opening four matches but a first home defeat by Derby County started a downturn in results Mason could not shake off.
Losses on the road put more pressure on the team to win at The Hawthorns but a record of six victories from 12 was not enough to buy Mason more time.
He may point to fine margins - 11 of their 13 defeats were by a single goal - but ultimately after pledging to "build a team that can win" when he arrived, the former Spurs, Hull City and England midfielder has paid the price for not doing that enough.
The longest run of successive away defeats in the Championship since its 2004 rebrand is 14 by Rotherham United in 2016-17.
Currently on 10 away defeats in a row, the Baggies will be keen to avoid making unwanted history by putting together a worse run than the Millers.
