The Newcastle Jets have sacked coach Gary van Egmond following their heavy A-League defeat to bottom-placed Melbourne Heart.
The club announced this morning via its Twitter account that the Jets and van Egmond have agreed a “mutual termination” of his contract as head coach effective immediately.
Jets youth league coach and former Socceroo striker Clayton Zane is tipped to be handed the job in a caretaker capacity for the rest of the season.
Speculation about van Egmond’s future had been mounting for months but it was believed the club would wait until the end of the season when his current contract expires before replacing him.
But the team’s poor recent form appears to have been a catalyst with the Jets’ 3-1 loss to bottom-placed Heart on Friday night seen as the final straw.
Newcastle remain in finals contention just a point outside the top six, but have been on the slide for several weeks.
The Jets have won just one of their past six games and have only one competition point to show from their past four encounters.
This decision ends van Egmond’s second stint at the club having led them to the championship with a grand-final win over Central Coast in the 2007/08 season, his second campaign in charge.
After quitting the club in 2009 to take up a coaching appointment at the Australian Institute of Sport, van Egmond returned just prior to the start of the 2011/12 season after the Jets sacked then coach Branko Culina.
But Newcastle have failed to secure a finals berth since.
Club management is expected to hold a media conference later on Monday.
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