Colchester United and Tony Humes parted ways on Thursday morning, with the club sitting 15th in Sky Bet League 1 following three straight defeats.
After a slow start to the season, the U's rattled off four consecutive wins during September and it looked like the club were turning the corner.However, Humes watched his men lose seven of the next 10 games, including Tuesday's defeat to Sky Bet League 1's bottom club Crewe Alexandra, which prompted discussions between Humes and the club's chairman, Robbie Cowling.
A statement on the club's official website read: "Following Tuesday night’s game against Crewe Alexandra, Tony and Chairman Robbie Cowling met and the decision was taken that Humes and the club would go their separate ways.
"Humes felt that his presence was becoming detrimental to the club and the young players that he had nurtured in his time at the U's, and it would be best to remove himself from the equation.
"Robbie would like to place on record his thanks to Tony for his hard work, not only over the past 14 months but throughout the years he has been at Colchester United."
Life without Humes begins at Burton Albion this weekend, with assistant manager Richard Hall and the U21s boss John McGreal taking charge of proceedings at the Pirelli Stadium.