Essendon's handling of Matthew Knights' sacking was nothing short of an embarrassment for all parties involved.
Chairman Mark Evans and CEO Ian Robson confirmed that Knights' three-year tenure at the club was over on Sunday evening, less than 24 hours after the Bombers' season ended following their 29-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
The quickfire decision reeks of desperation as the club looks to appease the growing unrest among the Essendon fans and members.
When Knights was appointed coach at the end of the 2007 season, he faced a near-impossible task of following in the footsteps of the club's greatest ever coach, Kevin Sheedy.
In his three years in the job, Knights has always favoured youth over experience and continually looked to the future development of his young charges. He also employed a game plan which encouraged his players to run and attack.
In his second year in charge he led the new generation of baby Bombers to an unlikely finals berth. They would ultimately get thrashed by the Crows in an elimination final in Adelaide, but the signs were there that the future was bright at Windy Hill.
The Essendon board agreed and immediately re-signed Knights for a further two years, taking him until the end of the 2012 season.
The Bombers started this season with just one win from their first five matches, however they turned that around to square their win-loss record at 5-5 with big wins over top-four sides St Kilda and Western Bulldogs on the way.
A six-game losing streak followed and the pressure began to build around Knights, although you would never know it based on the way he portrayed himself in front of the media as he always remained confident he was the right man to lead the club.
He always talked fondly of his close relationship with Evans and Robson and said that he had no reason to believe that he wouldn't be coaching the club in 2011 season.
It is not clear when the decision was made to sack Knights but it's unlikely that it was on Sunday morning and it seems that 39-year-old has been a dead-man walking for a number of weeks now.
Yes there is no doubting the Bombers underachieved this year, but with an average age of just 22.7 (11th in the AFL) and an average of just 44.7 games per player (13th) is there any wonder why they missed out on the finals?
You have to feel for Knights as he was forced to put on a brave face week after week, while all the time he was left in the dark on his future.
But it is the club who has egg on their face now as they have to pay out Knights an estimated $800,000 for the remainder of his contract.