Kerala Blasters have parted ways with head coach Rene Meulensteen, less than two months into the 2017-18 ISL season. An official communication from the club stated that Meulensteen left for "personal reasons".
Meulensteen, the former assistant coach at Manchester United, was named Kerala boss last July. However, despite having experienced players like Wes Brown and Dimitar Berbatov at his disposal, the team has endured a rough start under Meulensteen's leadership, winning just one of their opening seven games, including a deflating defeat at home to Bengaluru FC on New Year's Eve.
"I like to thank the management, staff and players and amazing fans for this experience and wish them well for the future,'' Meulensteen was quoted as saying.
Varun Tripuraneni, the club's CEO, thanked Meulensteen for "all his hard work in his time at the club" and confirmed that a replacement would be named soon.
Kerala, who finished runners-up in the ISL in both 2014 and 2016, currently lie eighth in the table, with just seven points and a negative goal-difference of 4. They next face FC Pune City on Thursday.