Preliminary reports from the Mestalla indicate that Ronald Koeman has indeed been relieved of his duties as first team coach of Valencia CF.

La Opinión de Tenerife confirmed around one hour ago that the Dutchman had received his marching orders less than 24 hours after his side's 5-1 capitulation at the hands of Athletic Bilbao.

Dutch sources, including De Telegraaf, have also stated that Koeman is no longer employed by the Mestalla outfit, with the club hierarchy having decided shortly after the commencement of their 18:00 crisis meeting to sack the former PSV boss.

Koeman arrived at the club in November 2007 following the sacking of Quique Sánchez Flores, but he has endured a torrid time in his brief tenure as coach.

Despite winning the Copa del Rey, the side's Liga and European form has caused the club hierarchy to end his contract. In In 22 Liga games in charge of Los Che, Koeman amassed four wins, six draws, and 12 defeats.

In doing so he amassed a tally of 18 points - a total that Quique took just nine games to achieve before his own sacking.

Koeman leaves Valencia with a place in Europe next season, but for the time being, they have five games left to save themselves from relegation, from which they are just two points distant.

Bastille Day

While these reports remain unconfirmed, word is filtering through from La Opinión that Koeman's sacking is part of a massive cull of senior figures at the Mestalla.

His immediate assistants, José Mari Bakero and Toni Bruins Slot, are said to have joined him on the chopping block, but so too are sporting director Miguel Ángel Ruiz and technical secretary Antonio Fernández.

Should these reports turn out to be true, then the board have clearly wasted no time in instituting massive, wholesale changes to the backroom staff.

These would follow hot on the heels of similar switches at boardroom level. The current president, Agustín Morera, only took over recently from Juan Soler, who resigned due to health reasons.

Morera was joined today by vice-president of sports Rafael Salom, CEO Jesús Wollstein, and board member with legal responsibilities José Pastor for a crisis meeting, which apparently resulted in Koeman's sacking.

The quartet were later accompanied by Salvador González 'Voro', a current club delegate and former first team player. Voro is likely to be announced as caretaker manager for the final five games of the season.

Source : Goal.com 

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