Alan Butcher has been as sacked as coach of the Brown Caps after leading Surrey to statistically the worst season in their history.

Butcher, who has been in charge since 2006, was summoned to The Brit Oval yesterday ahead of a meeting of the club's cricket management board where he was told he would have to leave.

The move is little surprise following a season in which Surrey were relegated from the County Championship First Division, failing to win a game.

They also finished bottom of their division in the Twenty20 Cup and also struggled in the Friends Provident Trophy and the Pro40 competition.

Last month the club had even taken the unprecedented step of writing to members apologising for results.

The final straw for Butcher was said to be his calamitous decision to hire paceman Shoaib Akhtar for their last two championship matches.

The Pakistani international was paid an astonishing £15,000 to play in the clubs final two games of the season, in which he took just one wicket for 117 runs in 33 tepid overs. At a cost of more than £75 per ball.

However, until the very end Butcher refused to blame his players, who dropped 44 catches in the 14 Championship games they took to the field.

Speaking before his dismissal he said: "The guys have tried hard all the way but eventually that becomes a bit too big a burden to cope with.

"We've tried all the way through. No-one's given it away."

Butcher's dismissal is the start of what is likely to be a wholesale clear-out of coaching staff by the richest county in England.

It is also expected the club will force the departures of assistant coach Nadeem Shahid and bowling coach Geoff Arnold.

Graham Thorpe, the former Surrey and England batsman, is set to accept a job as Surrey batting coach, while Chris Adams, who has just stepped down as Sussex captain, is a leading candidate to replace Butcher.

Mickey Arthur, who held talks with both Surrey and Middlesex, is likely to accept an improved deal to stay as South Africa coach.

There is also a question mark over the future of captain Mark Butcher, who has been absent for much of the season with a knee injury that may require a second operation.

Butcher is expected to be prepared to stay on despite his fathers sacking as he wants to oversee a much-needed overhaul of Surrey's youth policy but there are concerns over whether he will ever, at 36, be fit to play again.

Surrey have confirmed that Sussex chief executive Gus Mackay is leaving the South Coast side to take up the new role of managing director with the Brown Caps.

The 41-year-old former Zimbabwean international spent two years at Hove after arriving from Leicestershire.