Ligue 1 club president ruthlessly announces sacking of manager on live TV after thrashing

Montpellier president Laurent Nicollin shocked viewers by publicly announcing the sacking of head coach Michel Der Zakarian live on air after Sunday's 5-0 humiliation against Marseille. The Ligue 1 strugglers' woeful campaign worsened in front of a furious home crowd at Stade de la Mosson, but the biggest fireworks went off after full-time.

Montpellier are languishing at rock bottom of the French top flight, losing six of their opening eight matches while conceding a staggering 26 goals.

La Paillade's latest nightmare struck this weekend as Marseille ran riot to move three points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain at the league summit.

Elye Wahi's first-minute strike set the tone before Amine Harit and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg added second and third goals in the first half.

Former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood rounded off a devastating counter to make it 4-0 on the hour mark.

And Luis Henrique concluded the scoring, adding a fifth in the 73rd minute, which spelt doom in bold for Der Zakarian.

His sacking comes as no real surprise, given Montpellier's disastrous fortunes at the dawn of the 2024/25 campaign.

That said, no one would've predicted club president Nicollin would stand before live TV cameras and break news of his decision in front of the world. But that's what he did.

Speaking to DAZN France, Nicollin explained: "We can't change 25 players, so, unfortunately, I've taken the initiative to stop Michel tonight.

"We talked in the locker room after the game. I told him it was over tonight.

The 51-year-old also aimed fire at the Montpellier players, suggesting it was their fault he was forced to take such drastic measures.

"And I said to the players that, thanks to their great job, they had fired the coach and that they need to take their responsibilities next week against Toulouse," Nicollin added.

Der Zakarian, 61, originally took charge of Montpellier from 2017 to 2021, overseeing 161 matches with a 39 per cent win record.

Following a 16-month stint as Stade Brestois' manager, he returned to the club in February last year and was under contract until next summer.

Montpellier's 5-0 mauling at the hands of Marseille was his 200th Ligue 1 match in charge of the club and his last, having won just one of his final 10 outings in the dugout.

Der Zakarian has become the first Ligue 1 manager to be sacked this season. Not many from here, if any, will be quite as explosive.