Gary Neville has said that Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will be replaced in the role by the start of next season.
Conte won the Premier League title in his first season in charge of the Blues, but this season, the club are out of the Champions League and are losing sight of a spot in the top four.
Neville, speaking to Sky Sports News, said that Conte, whose side are still in the FA Cup, may not have met the expectations of the club's board to merit a stay in West London.
"I don't think he's going to be here next season," the pundit said. "We've thought it for six or seven months. And that's not because we don't want him here, or we don't think he's done a great job, it's just the nature of the job here. It's such that when you have a season slightly worse than before, you go.
"It ends up becoming a bit messy, press conferences become the boardroom versus manager, it's happened here many, many times. "It has been a successful club over 10 or so years, but in the second seasons, it's never been great.
"In terms of the outcome, you can't complain about what they've done here. But the managers who come here know they've got a short period of time. I think if he'd gone through this season, finished fifth and things had not quite gone for him, if they'd remained competitive, I would have said that's not such a problem."
Chelsea face Southampton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley later this month.
Jonny Whitfield
