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Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Roma after three years at the Serie A club.
The veteran manager guided the Yellow and Reds to Europa Conference League glory in 2022, but leaves them ninth in the table after a disappointing 2023/24 campaign.
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Mourinho departs after a damaging week which saw Roma dumped out of the Coppa Italia by arch-rivals Lazio and then beaten 3-1 by AC Milan in the league.
Club owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin said: “We would like to thank Jose on behalf of all of us at AS Roma for his passion and efforts since his arrival at the club.
“We will always have great memories of his tenure at Roma, but we believe that an immediate change is in the best interests of the club.
“We wish Jose and his assistants all the best in their future endeavours.”
The 60-year-old joined the Italian club in May 2021, six months after being sacked by Tottenham.
He guided Roma to two sixth-place finishes but enjoyed greater success in Europe.
After winning the Europa Conference League, Mourinho took the Italian giants to the Europa League final in 2023, but lost on penalties to Sevilla.
The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager’s sudden departure in Italy means he is yet to spend more than three seasons at any club during his managerial career.
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Reacting to the news, talkSPORT’s European football expert Andy Brassell said: “The fans will be very disappointed. There was almost a cult of Mourinho there.
“If we look at how he’s changed the club, they’ve sold out 44 successive home games. Do you know how hard it is to sell out the Stadio Olympico?
“Some of the best teams in Roma’s history have failed to do that, but he created something, he created a feeling.
“In some cases, there was a blind faith in him. But from the owners’ perspective, they paid a lot of money to take over the club, it was a protracted takeover.
“They were initially happy with his work but the football has been terrible for a while and the results started declining as well.
“They have been increasingly more angry with the performances. Mourinho was talking publicly about wanting a contract extension, he developed an emotional attachment to the club.”
Brassell added: “The straw that broke the camel’s back was the Coppa Italia defeat. They turned up to Lazio and barely had a shot. That’s not acceptable.
“For the first time, you heard fans they, ‘We can’t play like this’. It was embarrassing for them.”
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Heads will immediately turn to Mourinho’s next job – and Brassell believes the former Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss could head to Saudi Arabia due to a lack of elite club interest.
Mourinho cut an animated figure throughout his time at the Stadio Olympico but crossed the line on numerous occasions.
He drew widespread criticism for confronting referee Anthony Taylor in a car park after the Europa League final defeat.
Brassell insists these antics were a regular occurrence and Mourinho leaves Roma with a ‘toxic’ reputation.
He continued: “If you’re looking for the next step, I think Saudi is the obvious one.
“None of the big clubs in the Premier League will take him.
“Paris Saint-Germain would’ve done anything to have him four or five years ago, but the last chance they had to get him, they said, ‘No, he’s too toxic now’.
“The way Mourinho behaved after losing the Europa League final, a lot of clubs said, ‘He’s not for us, he’s not worth the baggage.
“He behaves like that every week.”
More to follow.
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