Hull City sack coach Shota Arveladze on morning of Championship match against Luton Town

The Georgian admitted he was unsure if he would be dismissed after the 3-0 defeat at Swansea City on September 17, his side's fourth in a row. They had failed to score in the last three.

Owner Acun Ilicali assured Arveladze afterwards his job was safe, but has now changed his mind. Arveladze’s assistant, Peter van der Veen, has also left.

The news was announced at 11.30am on Friday, eight-and-a-half hours before the Tigers were due to face Luton Town in a televised Championship game.

Former player Andy Dawson, promoted to the first-team coaching staff in the summer, will be in charge for that.

"During the international break, we had a number of meetings with Shota to discuss the direction of the team and the future of the club,” said Ilicali in a statement. “As these meetings went on, it became clear our views weren't aligned so we have made the decision to part ways.

"Shota and Peter leave with our thanks, greatest respect and fond wishes for the future.

"Our focus is now supporting Andy and the squad and finding the best possible candidate to drive this club forward."

Arveladze took charge in January, when Grant McCann was sacked to allow a fresh start after Turkish televison mogul Ilicai bought the club from the Allam family.

McCann had put Hull in a decent position to avoid relegation in their first season back in the Championship, and Arveladze saw them there. They finished the campaign in 19th, the same position they were when he took over.

There then followed a huge overhaul of the playing squad, with 17 players signed. As coach, Arveladze was consulted over the signings, rather than deciding them.

The result of the spending spree was some very high quality players, such as Oscar Estupinan, who won the Championship's player of the month for August, scoring seven goals, Ozan Tufan and Dimitrio Pelkas. But the squad was also hugely unbalanced with few defensive signings and an array of players most comfortable between midfield and attack. Many also signed carrying injuries or in the case of Dogukan Sinik, picked them up as soon as they began training with the squad.

Nevertheless, the new campaign started well with wins in the first three home matches, including one over Norwich City, plus a creditable 1-1 draw at Burnley built on counter-attacking and clinical finishing. However the defensive frailties – something which had not been a feature for the past two years – came to the fore and Arveladze lost five of his final six games as the team dropped to 20th in the table.

Arveladze complained that it was not easy to change formation to counter-act the slide because he did not have the players fit to play certain positions, but he nevertheless went from three at the back to a 4-2-3-1 in South Wales.

In all he took charge of 30 matches, winning nine and drawing six.

There was no hint of any trouble in when Arveladze did his usual pre-match press conference on Wednesday but now he has been shown the door.