Everton have sacked Sam Allardyce after barely six months as manager.
Allardyce took the reins at Goodison Park in late November and steered the club to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League last season.
But the one-time England boss remained an unpopular figure within the Blues’ fan base due to his style of football and public comments about supporters.
Talks took place between Allardyce and Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri following a seismic boardroom reshuffle at Goodison Park on Tuesday.
Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the club’s new chief executive, said: “On behalf of the chairman, board of directors and Mr Moshiri, I’d like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months.
“Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that.
“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately.
“Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”
Marco Silva remains the forerunner to succeed Allardyce despite a protracted legal wrangle between the Portuguese coach and former club Watford.
The Hornets claimed that Everton’s prior interest in Silva, following Ronald Koeman’s sacking, was a key factor in their decision to part with him.