Russell Slade has left his job as Cardiff City’s Head of Football – less than a month after being kicked upstairs by the club.

The ex-Bluebirds boss is odds-on favourite to take over as manager at League One Charlton.

Slade made it clear he he wanted to stay in management after being kicked upstairs by City just before the final game against Birmingham last season.

A club statement said: “Cardiff City FC can confirm that, by mutual agreement, Russell Slade has left his position as the Club’s Head of Football with immediate effect.

“We’d like to express our sincere thanks to Russell for his efforts in helping to move the Club forward since arriving in 2014. He leaves with our very best wishes for the future.”

The 55-year-old took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in October 2014 and was forced to slash the wage bill by £12million.

He kept City in the play-offs hunt until the penultimate weekend last season despite losing the likes of Joe Mason and Kenwyne Jones with City hit with a transfer ban.

But owner Vincent Tan replaced him with his No 2 Paul Trollope after the club missed out on the play-offs.

Trollope, currently with Wales for the Euro2016 finals, would not have had to report to Slade making the ex-Orient’s boss’s position relatively meaningless.

endig