Speaking at a press conference at Windy Hill on Sunday evening, Essendon Chairman David Evans said the lack of on-field success was the reason for Matthew Knights sacking earlier in the day.

The axe fell swiftly on Knights, gone within 12 hours of the Bombers season ending 29 point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Jihad Stadium on Saturday night.

At a hastily arranged EFC Board Meeting at 8am on Sunday morning, the decision was made to sack Knights, leaving the club with an $800,000 cheque to cut for the remaining two years of his contract – a two year contract which was extended last year by the current board, despite Knights original contract set to expire at the end of this season …. but let that be a debate for another day.

By 1pm Knights was summoned into Windy Hill and told the news of his sacking and within an hour word began to leak out to the media and the interwebs.

“It has not been an easy year on-field for our club, but I do want to say that Matthew has started the process of rebuilding our list and playing many new young players.” Evans said.

“However, it has become very clear … that we have not made the progress we needed to make this year, and we needed a fresh start going into a new season. This lack of progress is the basis of the board’s decision today.”

After replacing Kevin Sheedy and his 27 year run at the end of 2006. Knights has never been warmly received by Bomber fans – the majority of whom wanted now Richmond coach Damien Hardwick appointed at the time and has been under the gun since day one and combined with the Bombers dismal 2010 season, his sacking comes as no great shock.

Bomber fans wet dreams imagine James Hird as Knights’ replacement … but realistically that won’t be happening and the two favourites seem to be ex-Port Adelaide Premiership Coach Mark Williams and current Essendon Assistant Alan Richardson.

Essendon fans on the BomberBlitz interwebs have installed Mark Williams as their favoured option – with the reasoning that the Bombers in their current situation need an experienced hard head in the role, not an untested, untried gamble like Richardson – who would be seen (rightly or wrongly) as Matthew Knights Mark 2 and would start the job on Day 1 behind the eight-ball with a fractured fanbase not supporting his appointment.

Few however have little confidence in the EFC Board making the right choice.