Auxerre announced the sacking of coach Laurent Fournier Sunday, a day after the prospect of relegation returned to haunt the club. Auxerre are the only club in the French top flight to have avoided relegation, but that possibility crept closer to reality Saturday following a 2-0 reverse at home to Evian/Thonon.
The result dropped Auxerre to 19th, and they will slip to bottom later Sunday if Sochaux draw with or beat Nice.
This season Fournier's side has won only four times, losing 12 and drawing 12 in 28 matches so far.
Fournier is the fifth coach from the French top flight to be sacked this season following Eric Roy (Nice), Antoine Kombouare (Paris SG), Bernard Casoni (Evian) and Mecha Bazdarevic (Sochaux).
The 47-year-old is a former footballer who notably played for PSG. He joined Auxerre as coach in June 2011 having coached PSG and Strasbourg.
The Burgundy club won their only league title in 1996, an era dominated by long-time coach Guy Roux who helped develop a string of top players including Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Philippe Mexes, Basile Boli, and Djibril Cisse.
This season Auxerre have slumped to new lows, and not all the criticism has been aimed at Fournier.
Prior to Saturday's game hundreds of fans took part in a march from the town cathedral to the Abbe-Deschamps stadium calling for the board to resign.
After the defeat, some fans expressed their anger by trying to rush into the tunnel leading to the players' dressing rooms, prompting the intervention of security staff and the use of tear gas, according to journalists.
For the first time in the club's history, Auxerre players left the stadium under a police escort late Saturday.
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