It was always expected to happen after news that broke over the weekend, but Hull City's new owner Acun Ilicali has officially parted company with the club's manager Grant McCann.
The Northern Irishman had been in charge at the MKM Stadium since the summer of 2019 and managed a relegation to League One but an immediate promotion back to the Championship in his time at the Tigers.
Despite a rocky first few months of the current campaign, the East Riding of Yorkshire outfit had been in good form since Ilicali entered a period of exclusivity in terms of negotiating his purchase of the club at the end of October, with Hull taking 20 points out of a possible 36 since that time.
It wasn't enough to save McCann's job though, despite back-to-back wins over two promotion contenders in Blackburn Rovers and Bournemouth.
Ex-Georgia international striker Shota Arveladze, a friend of Ilicali and a manager previously in Turkey, Israel and Uzbekistan, will come in for McCann and it's a move that has been lined up for a while, with first reports coming in November that the former Rangers player would be his replacement.
It's a major decision for the Turkish businessman to make in his first week as Hull's custodian, but in McCann's departure statement he has explained the reasoning.
“These matters are never easy and are more often than not protracted," Ilicali stated.
"During the process, Grant has always remained professional and fully focused on the team, and will forever be a friend of the Tigers. I’m sure Grant will be successful in whatever his next challenge is.
“However, now is the time for change and for me to start to build, in what I believe will be an incredibly exciting time for the club.
"I have a philosophy and a belief that our project should start as we mean to carry on and that involves having my team in place.
"I understand the timing may look odd, after two good wins, but I wouldn’t be fair or honest if I merely waited for a defeat to change manager. That benefits nobody. I will continue to be transparent with you, our fans."
The Verdict
Before the takeover was confirmed last week, there was a sense of uncertainty surrounding McCann - mainly due to the good form Hull had been in recently.
If they'd had a poor string of results then it would have probably been very easy for Ilicali to bring Arveladze in immediately, however the player's were quite clearly fighting for McCann.
McCann in turn was publicly backed by members of his squad but you get the feeling that the decision was made months ago - the imminent arrival of Regan Slater perhaps suggested otherwise as he seems like a McCann player and not an Ilicali one.
Ilicali though will hope this doesn't come back to haunt him - McCann could probably easily get another Championship job soon and if results starts to slide at the MKM Stadium then alarm bells will start to ring.