Watford have sacked head coach Ed Still, just three months into a two-and-a-half year contract, following the Championship club’s dismal end to the season. Still was Watford’s 11th permanent head coach since the end of the 2020-21 season.

Still, 35, was appointed in February following the resignation of Javi Gracia and his sacking comes at the end of the Championship season in which Watford lost six of their final seven games. The Hornets finished 16th, 10 points above the relegation zone.

“Watford FC have this morning parted company with Head coach Ed Still,” read a curt statement issued by the club on Sunday morning. “First-team coach Karim Belhocine has also left the club. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.”

Still is the older brother of Will Still, the former Southampton manager who was dismissed in November with the Saints just outside the bottom three. Southampton recovered to reach the play-offs under manager Tonda Eckert.

Following Watford’s 4-0 defeat to Coventry on Saturday, Still admitted in his final press conference that “a reset is needed. We need to reset the squad, the staff and make sure that the energy around the team and in the team is much stronger and ready to deal with a whole Championship season.

“You need the resources to be able to manage the challenges that a Championship season will give you. There’s the fact that so many players are on loan, out of contract, or others who you just feel have come to the end of their time at the club.

“That’s one of the factors that has impacted us in the past few weeks, because so many players know they’re not going to be here next season. In that moment, when you’re under a bit of pressure, and the team needs to come together again, there isn’t that little extra bit of commitment.”