The David Teague yes-no-wait-maybe saga is over after AFL club Carlton belatedly completed the sacking of a coach they appointed two years ago.
The Blues, having conducted a football department review, were expected to part ways with the under-siege coach on Monday.
The club sharpened its axe but delayed a decision, with Teague fearing the worst as he conducted exit interviews after Carlton's 13th-placed finish.
Teague learned his fate on Thursday morning and informed players before the club made a public announcement, several hours later.
Blues president Luke Sayers claimed in a letter to members it would have been "irresponsible to ignore the decisions that had to be made".
Sayers also revealed four changes to the club's board, with Jeanne Pratt, Chris Judd and Christopher Townshend joining Mark LoGiudice in stepping down.
Four-time Hawthorn premiership mastermind Alastair Clarkson has declared he will not coach in 2022, leaving former St Kilda and Fremantle mentor Ross Lyon as the frontrunner in the field to replace Teague.
Teague's exit caps a messy couple of weeks and continues an unstable stretch for the Blues, who haven't been part of finals since 2013.
Head coaches Teague, Brendon Bolton, Mick Malthouse and Brett Ratten have been cut loose by the club in the space of nine years.
Assistant coach Dale Amos was also shown the door on Thursday.
"We understand our members and supporters expect more from our on-field performance and expect us to consistently win games of football," Sayers wrote to fans.
"The review has found that while the coaching group had the expertise required, it had been unable to have an effective impact on a playing group.
"It was identified that there had been confusion associated with the game plan at times and on field, the team has underdelivered in its ability to consistently defend, win the contest and apply pressure.
"These decisions are incredibly difficult.
"If we refuse to act on decisions solely because they were difficult, we would be ignoring our responsibility to the club, our members and our supporters."
Teague sensed the tide turning against him in recent weeks, admitting after the Blues' final game of the season on Saturday night that "it doesn't look like it's going to go in my favour".
The former North Melbourne and Carlton player served as caretaker coach after Bolton's dismissal in 2019, impressing in such a fashion that he was handed a three-year contract and the job on a full-time basis.
Teague finishes with a 21-29 win-loss record from 50 games in charge of the Blues.
Teague guided Carlton to eight victories this season, their highest number in a single year since 2013, but pressure built as speculation swirled about the club's alleged pursuit of Lyon.
Lyon last week flagged an interest in the Carlton job despite there being no vacancy at that stage, prompting Teague's manager Liam Pickering to bemoan what he termed "a grubby ... set-up interview" that was "pretty poor".