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Former Northern Ireland international Iain Dowie has been sacked as manager of Queen's Park Rangers after just 15 games in charge.
Dowie had been under pressure following a poor run in the Championship with QPR winning only one of their last six league games - and that against bottom side Nottingham Forest.
Rangers were tipped to be setting the pace in the league, especially given their new-found wealth after the arrival of Flavio Briatore as chairman and shareholder Lakshmi Mittal.
A statement from the club read: "The board of Queens Park Rangers FC has terminated the contract of manager Iain Dowie with immediate effect.
"Player-coach Gareth Ainsworth has been appointed caretaker manager on a temporary basis and will take charge of first-team affairs until further notice."
Dowie, a former Charlton and Coventry boss has been hopeful that he would be able to turn the team's fortunes around.
Earlier this week he told Sky Sports News: "Modern football with message boards, phone lines and the media outlets, what is an opinion often becomes a widely-held fact.
"The fact of the matter is we've not spent a great deal of money, we're one point off fourth and we're in the last 16 of the Carling Cup.
"I've said all along that I'd rather come to a club with expectation than without it. Is there a big expectation at this club? Yes, there is.
My view is that transmits to a bit of anxiety at times. I'm not someone who subscribes to being anxious, I've got to make sure the players are relaxed.
"We've got to perform a lot better than we did the other night (against Swansea). Our performance against Forest, in the second half particularly, was very good."
