Northoce City and Alex Gymnopoulos have parted ways just seven rounds into the NPL Victoria season.
The departure comes after the club had managed only one point to begin the campaign, sitting firmly at the bottom of the table.
The side’s woes were highlighted by its inability to score from play in the absence of key striker Calvin Mbarga in India.
Gymnopoulos was one of Northcote’s favourite sons, having spent time on the touchline at John Cain Memorial Reserve since 2004 as a youth team coach
He became an assistant to the newly appointed City manager and former teammate Peter Tsolakis, helped Hercules win promotion from the third tier and second tier as the club returned to the VPL in 2010.
Gymnopoulos then moved onto coaching the club’s 20s side in 2011, spending five seasons at the helm, which included being crowned 2013 Premiers and runners-up twice over the course of the last two campaigns.
In that time, the likes of Wade Dekker, Jonathan Bounas, the returning Anthony Rizk and other current first-team members Aaron Ward, Nicholas Bavcar and Todd Dekker have all played under Gymnopoulos.
His struggles with the senior side epitomises the club’s gradual decline down the NPL heirarchy since claiming the VPL premiership in 2013.