Harry Kewell leaves Notts County amid flurry of Football League sackings

Harry Kewell has been sacked by Notts County after just over two months at the helm. The former Australia forward was appointed to replace Kevin Nolan at the end of August but saw his side win just three out of 14 matches under his stewardship.

With County 22nd in League Two after last week’s 2-2 draw with Oldham, a statement from chairman Alan Hardy on Tuesday confirmed that Kewell, assistant manager Warren Feeney and first-team analyst Paul Murphy have all left with immediate effect: “Harry’s passion and commitment as a coach is unquestionable. I enjoyed seeing first-hand his love for the job and it gives me absolutely no pleasure to take that away from him.

“Unfortunately, however, things quite simply were not working out for him here at Meadow Lane. Results have not been good enough and performance levels are a continuing concern. We see no reason to continue with something we don’t think can work. Harry leaves with our best wishes for the future and our search for a new manager begins immediately. We hope to make an appointment before Saturday’s League Two match at home to Cheltenham Town.”

The former Nottingham Forest defender Steve Chettle is set to take charge on an interim basis, with Kewell becoming the 15th Football League manager to leave his post this season having previously resigned from his post at Crawley.

On Monday, League One sides AFC Wimbledon and Shrewsbury sacked Neal Ardley and John Askey respectively – the latter after more than six years in charge. That followed the departure of Phil Brown from Swindon on Sunday.

Remarkably, however, there has yet to be a managerial change in the Premier League this season compared to four at this stage of last season. But there is still a long way to go for this season to catch up with the record of the 2015-16 season, when 56 managers changed jobs including 11 from the top fight.