Derby County manager Nigel Pearson was suspended from the club and told thathe would not be taking charge of first-team duties for Tuesday night's Championship clash with Cardiff City, following a clash with owner Mel Morris.
Pearson is now widely expected to be sacked in the coming days as his assistant, Chris Powell, assumes first-team coaching duties.
Pearson met with Morris on Monday to discuss the Rams' poor start to the season which has seen them win only one of their first nine games - leaving them languishing in 22nd in the table - and the conversation is said to have descended into something of a shouting match.
BREAKING: @dcfcofficial confirm Nigel Pearson will not take charge of tonight's game against @CardiffCityFC at the request of the club.
Following the incident, the club has confirmed it has opened an internal investigation and will look into Pearson's general approach to management duties. Pearson has gone six games without a victory and now Steve McClaren is tipped for a sensational return to the iPro Stadium.
Neil Warnock and Steve Bruce are both said to be in the frame as Morris weighs up potential replacements for Pearson, who was only appointed in the summer.
"Derby County can confirm that manager Nigel Pearson will not be carrying out his duties at tonight's game - at the request of the club," a club statement read.
"Assistant manager Chris Powell will take charge of the team for tonight's Sky Bet Championship match at Cardiff City.The club will make no further comment at this time."
Following Derby's home defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, Pearson was extremely critical of his players in saying they were "paralysed by fear."
He also threatened to drop the club's highest-earners and well-established stars in favour of untested youth players if performances continued to underwhelm.
Just when stability was needed on the pitch ... my take on the Nigel Pearson situation #dcfc https://t.co/1iBichP3zj