WATFORD have sacked manager Slaven Bilic after less than six months in charge of the club.
He was been replaced just 17 minutes after his official sacking as the club announced former Middlesborough and Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder as the new boss.
Wilder has been out of a job since he was sacked from Boro in October with the club sitting in the bottom three of the table.
He has signed a contract until the end of the season and will have 11 games to try and gain promotion to the Premier League.
Croatian Bilic's most recent game was the 0-0 draw with Preston, leaving the Championship side four points and three places off the play-off places.
The former West Ham and West Brom boss has only managed to orchestrate three wins since Christmas, leaving the Hornets' promotion hopes dented.
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From a total of 36 points available, Watford have only managed to collect 14.
The 54-year-old took over from Rob Edwards in September, who was axed after only ten games.
Bilic won 10 of his 26 games in charge of Watford.
Technical director Ben Manga said: “We are all ambitious to succeed this season, so something new is needed quickly while the opportunity of promotion is still real.
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“With the January transfer window over, to change coach is the only option available to re-energise for the final games ahead.”
“We can say we stopped them but that wasn’t our aim, we wanted the three points and we’ve come up short.”
He took training with the players today at London Colney following their day off yesterday.
Bilic was the 18th manager of the Pozzo ownership to be sacked, with Gianfranco Zola being the first in 2012.
This includes Quique Sanchez Flores enduring two spells.
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