Nigel Pearson's Derby County reign could be reaching a premature end after the manager was confirmed to not be in charge for Tuesday's trip to Cardiff City "at the request of the club."
The former Leicester City boss was hired in May, but has overseen just one win in nine matches which sees Derby languishing in 22nd place in the Championship.
The Rams' statement read:
Derby County can confirm that Manager Nigel Pearson will not be carrying out his duties at tonight's game at the request of the club.
Assistant Manager Chris Powell will take charge of the team for this evening's Sky Bet Championship match at Cardiff City. The club will make no further comment at this time.
Pearson could be fired at some point Tuesday, reports The Independent's Jack Austin, with the Derby faithful perturbed by just one goal at home all season despite the club having aspirations to return to the Premier League at the end of the season following a nine-year absence.
The East Midlands outfit's boardroom proved itself to be trigger happy last term, when highly rated coach Paul Clement was dismissed in February despite Derby being within touching distance of automatic promotion. Current academy manager Darren Wassall took interim charge until the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
After the match in Cardiff, Derby turns its attentions to second-tier tilts with Reading and Leeds United to begin October.