Ex-Portsmouth skipper and former West Ham and Swindon man dismissed after 10 league matches

Adrian Whitbread joined the National League North side as assistant manager in June after previously managing in Puerto Rico, Antigua and Bahrain.

However, the experienced coach’s time with the Linnets was this week ended after 103 days.

Manager Mark Hughes paid the price for a poor start to the campaign which has left King’s Lynn third from bottom and six games without a win.

And accompanying him out the door was his right-hand man, who made 158 appearances for Pompey during almost six years on the south coast.

Having last year reached the National League North play-offs before losing to Kidderminster Harriers, hopes were high Whitbread’s summer appointment could help the club build on that near miss.

Instead they are seeking a new management team following one win from 11 matches in all competitions so far this term.

In terms of coaching in this country, Whitbread had most recently been Martin Allen’s assistant at Barnet and then Chesterfield, the latter ending in December 2018 following Allen’s dismissal.

As a player, he turned out for Swindon and West Ham in the Premier League before arriving at Fratton Park in November 1995 on loan from the Hammers for the rest of the campaign.

The central defender returned on a permanent basis in October 1996 and that season Terry Fenwick’s men finished seventh in Division One, just three points short of making the play-offs.

During his time on the south coast, Whitbread skippered the Blues, yet left for Reading in July 2001 after falling out of favour and being loaned out to the Royals and Luton.

However, he went on to total just 37 more appearances in his career before retiring through a knee injury in April 2003 at the age of 31.

His last club was Exeter, making seven appearances during a three-month loan, before forced to hang up his boots prematurely.

Since becoming a coach, Whitbread has worked at Barnet, Brentford, MK Dons, Leicester, Chesterfield, Puerto Rico, Antigua Barracuda FC and overseen Bahrain’s U23 side.