IAN Holloway was given one last chance to save his job at Millwall but chairman John Berylson lost faith in him after defeats to Middlesbrough and Norwich.
Holloway was allowed to remain in charge for two more games even though Berylson was starting to doubt whether he had the right manager in charge.
The Den supremo had hoped Holloway would be able to spring a surprise result to give the Lions “something to build on” heading into the last ten games of the season.
But a 3-0 loss at the Riverside followed by a 4-1 thumping against the Canaries forced his hand.
“I knew Norwich and Middlesbrough were going to be very difficult opponents so throwing a new manager into those two games would have been unfair,” Berylson said.
“But I felt it was fair to Ollie to let him have them – if he was going to prove himself, that would have been a great time to do it.
“If he’d pulled something off against Middlesbrough and Norwich, there would have been something to build on and maybe we could’ve worked something out.
“I didn’t see a new manager getting a bounce in those two games.
“I didn’t think I was losing anything by giving Ollie an extra chance because they were points we were unlikely to get anyway.”
Holloway was the highest-paid manager in Millwall’s history and the club has described removing him from his position as a “million-pound decision”.
“Regardless of the timing, it was always going to be very expensive,” added Berylson.
“It was more a case of deciding whether Ollie was the right manager for us now and in the future.
“If he’d gone to Middlesbrough and won or got a result against Norwich, he might have had a chance. That was my logic.
“I like Ollie enormously and it’s never easy to sack a manager. You’d love to pull the trigger on someone you dislike but that’s never been the case for me.”