By Gareth James
Cardiff City have confirmed manager Sabri Lamouchi will leave the club when his contract expires.
Former Nottingham Forest boss Lamouchi agreed a deal until the end of the season when he replaced Mark Hudson in January to become the Sky Bet Championship club’s third manager of the 2022-23 campaign.
A club statement read: “Cardiff City Football Club can confirm that Sabri Lamouchi will depart at the conclusion of his current deal.
“Sabri joined the Bluebirds at the end of January 2023, overseeing 18 fixtures, and winning six matches.”
Sabri Lamouchi Left In The Dark As Cardiff City Let His Contract Run Outhttps://t.co/h082q8vbP4 via @Dai_Sport_
— Dai Sport (@Dai_Sport_) May 9, 2023
Cardiff added: “The Board of Directors at Cardiff City FC have already begun the process of appointing a new management team.”
The Bluebirds sat one place above the relegation zone after a nine-game winless league run when Lamouchi replaced Mark Hudson.
That winless sequence was extended to 12 matches before back-to-back wins boosted their survival chances and they finished the season in the same position, five points above the bottom three.
Cardiff sacked former manager Steve Morison in September after three wins from their opening 10 league games and Hudson stepped in as interim manager.
I was feeling confident for Cardiff under Lamouchi to at least avoid being in a relegation battle next season.
Now I put them as early favourites for relegation.
Utterly absurd decision. #CardiffCity https://t.co/dVoKLcmANH
— Justin Peach (@JustinPeach27) May 16, 2023
Lamouchi had said he was open to the idea of staying on and held talks with Cardiff owner Vincent Tan in the past few days.
But rather than negotiate a new deal with the Frenchman, the club have opted to look elsewhere and will bid to appoint their seventh manager in less than four years.