Lens Sack Dino Toppmöller After Just Six Games

Lens have parted company with head coach Dino Toppmöller after just six games in charge.

The club confirmed the decision on Tuesday, 15 September, saying the two sides had separated by mutual consent Reuters. Lens cited diverging views with the German coach as the reason for ending his tenure Yahoo Sports.

Six games. One trophy. Gone. That brief spell makes Toppmöller Lens' shortest-serving manager since the second world war The Guardian.

He had arrived in the summer as the successor to Pierre Sage. Sage guided Lens to second place in Ligue 1, France's top division, and to a maiden Coupe de France, the country's main knockout cup competition, last season before departing to join Crystal Palace.

Toppmöller's start could hardly have been louder. His first match in charge ended with Lens beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Trophée des Champions, the annual curtain-raiser between the league champions and the cup winners.

It was not enough to secure his position. After five more matches, Lens decided to make a change and turned to a familiar face to steady the team.

Yannick Cahuzac was named interim manager just three days before Lens travelled to face Monaco at Stade Louis II. Cahuzac had only returned to Lens in the summer as Toppmöller's assistant, after leaving Lorient at the end of last season where he had worked as Olivier Pantaloni's assistant.

What makes this stand out is the speed of the fall. Managers are often given time after a trophy win to shape their squad. Lens have decided they cannot wait.

For fans, this means a strange kind of reset. Last season brought a second-place finish and a first cup triumph, memories that still feel fresh. Now an interim coach leads them into one of the toughest away trips in France, with the next permanent appointment still to come.