In Pictures: Sackings of the season

Last year Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich proved he wasn’t scared of taking a risk when he appointed the young Andre Villas-Boas. However, the Chelsea team never warmed to their new Portuguese master and longed for their old Portuguese master Jose Mourinho. Once AVB lost the support of the players, he quickly joined the long list of managers to topple out of Stamford Bridge [GALLO/GETTY]

The most dramatic sacking of them all came in Italy – no surprise there! – after Fiorentina coach Delio Rossi totally lost it with Adem Ljajic after the player sarcastically clapped his boss after being substituted. If any action is going to get you fired it is savagely attacking one of your players during a match. Not professional [GALLO/GETTY]

Birmingham fans would have been gloating when their former boss Alex McLeish was given the red card by Aston Villa, who only narrowly avoided relegation. When the foolhardy McLeish exchanged Birmingham for Aston Villa it was to the disgust of both sets of fans. And when he was sacked - for the briefest of moments -the footie fans of the city of Birmingham were united [GALLO/GETTY]

Inter Milan were expected to challenge for the Serie A title but got off to the worst possible start imaginable. Firing one manager was not enough to turn things around with both Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri being shown the door. Although Inter and Ranieri came to a mutual parting, only two wins in 13 games and elimination from the Champions League led to the former Chelsea manager’s dismissal [GALLO/GETTY]

Villarreal joined Inter as a team not afraid to chop and change managers. In December 2011, the Spanish side called time on Juan Carlos Garrido’s (pictured) tenure following Villarreal’s exit from the Copa del Rey. The Yellow Submarine sank to new depths when they disposed of Jose Molina after falling to 17th place in La Liga following a poor run of results [GALLO/GETTY]

Despite gaining promotion to the Premier League with QPR, the vocal Neil Warnock was clinically disposed of by owners fearing for their top flight survival. It was a harsh decision for a manager who had spent much of his time dealing with the difficult Joey Barton who graciously launched an immediate attack on his former boss on Twitter [GALLO/GETTY]

And the most undeserved sacking goes to former PSG manager Antoine Kombouare who was exchanged for Carlo Ancelotti a day after reaching the summit of the French Ligue. Despite the team’s good form, Kombourae was always going to go as the club’s rich Dubai owners wanted a more established coach to lead the developing side [GALLO/GETTY]

England manager Fabio Capello and John Terry

Did he jump ship? Or was he pushed? With only a few months to go until Euro 2012 Fabio Capello departed as England manager. The final straw appears to be the FA’s decision to take away the captaincy from John Terry after he was accused of racial abuse without consulting the Italian. However, one wonders how hard the English FA fought to keep him [GALLO/GETTY]