Thirty-five games was the sum total of Thomas Christiansen’s reign as head coach of Leeds United.
The axe fell in the wake of Saturday’s crushing 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Cardiff City, a result which left the Whites winless in seven games.
They currently lie seven points adrift of the play-off places and were recently bundled out of the FA Cup by Newport County.
Leeds are now searching for their seventh manager since 2014 and facing yet more upheaval and uncertainty.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Last summer, a 100% takeover of the club by Andrea Radrizzani appeared to herald a bright new dawn.
The chaotic reign of predecessor Massimo Cellino was over and Radrizzani was ready to return a sleeping giant to the Premier League.
After Garry Monk decided he could not work under a new structure which saw Victor Orta appointed as director of football, Christiansen was handed the managerial reigns.
The little-known 44-year-old arrived after spells in charge of Cypriot sides AEK Larnaca and APOEL, where he won the title with APOEL last season and guided them to the last 16 of the Europa League.
The Denmark-born former striker, who played under Johan Cruyff at Barcelona and won two Spain caps, was set a target by Radrizzani of making the top six this season.
Christiansen said last August: “Last year we finished seventh so to be in the play-offs would be good.
“After that we’ll see if we can bring something more.
“We can put a lot of pressure on ourselves and I like pressure, that’s not a problem.
“For the people around who say ‘it has to be like this’ [a top-six finish], I will do my best to prepare everyone for it.”
Leeds made a flying start, going unbeaten in their first nine games and topping the table in mid-September.
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Spanish playmaker Samuel Saiz emerged as a shrewd addition but, with last season’s 30-goal leading scorer Chris Wood sold to Burnley, cracks began to appear in the squad.
The quality of Leeds' many new signings came under scrutiny and their campaign began to unravel.
A 1-0 defeat to Millwall on September 16 signalled a dire run of eight defeats in 11 games and raised serious question marks over their promotion pedigree.
True, a much-needed 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough on November 19 stopped the rot and began a mini-revival which harvested six wins in eight games.
But since then, Leeds have gone seven matches without a win and looked anything but promotion aspirants.
Discipline has been a major problem in recent outings.
When Gaetano Berardi was sent off on against Cardiff, it was Leeds’ fourth red card in five games – a shocking record.
Christiansen’s tactical nous also came into question and fans jeered his decision to substitute Pierre-Michel Lassoga at the weekend.
From there, Christiansen lost many fans and Radrizzani pulled the trigger on Sunday evening.
The search for a new man is well underway and Steve McClaren, Jaap Stam, Simon Grayson, Paul Heckingbottom and Gordon Strachan have all been touted as potential candidates.
Leeds’ season is far from over and the right appointment could yet see them emerge as top-six contenders.
Christiansen, for his part, will be remembered as a diligent, amiable coach who never quite convinced that he was the man to take Leeds back to the Premier League for the first time since 2004.
