Tony Mowbray is now the longest serving manager in the Championship after Lee Johnson was sacked by Bristol City following their 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City.

Johnson's four year reign is at an end after a run of nine games without a win and four straight defeats since the re-start, including last month’s loss at Ewood Park.

A statement from the club read: "Lee Johnson was this evening relieved of his role as Bristol City head coach.

"Current assistant head coach Dean Holden will take over immediately in a caretaker capacity as the club look to appoint a successor."

Mowbray has been in charge at Rovers since February 2017 and is the 13th longest-serving manager across the Premier League and EFL, having been in charge for three years and 133 days.

Seven EFL managers, including Stanley's John Coleman, and five Premier League bosses, including Sean Dyche, are ahead of Mowbray in the list.

The longest-serving is Blackburn-born Gareth Ainsworth, who is on the verge of leading Wycombe Wanderers to the League One play-off final as he approaches eight years in charge at Adams Park. 

The Cardiff result left the Robins nine points adrift of the play-off places with five games remaining, one place and one point behind Rovers in the standings.

City chief executive Mark Ashton said: "We recognise the huge amount of work that Lee has put in over the last four-and-a-half years to move this club forward and we thank him for all his efforts.

"There have been some special moments over those years and Lee has played a significant part in them.

"However, success in football is ultimately judged by results and league position and the board believes that a change of management is needed now for Bristol City."

Johnson's tenure saw the Robins record back-to-back top-half finishes in the Championship, while they had a memorable run to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup in the 2017/18 season, including a famous victory over Manchester United in the quarter finals.

After the game - and before the news of his sacking - Johnson had said: "All I can do is to continue working as hard as I can and making what I believe are decisions in the best interests of the club.

"It is the biggest challenge I have faced since we lost eight games on the trot a few seasons back.

"We have not been good enough since the restart and we have to learn lessons from that.

"But I am not going to grumble at my players. We are not getting that bit of luck you need at the moment and that can change quickly."