Sochaux fired coach Mehmed Bazdarevic on Tuesday after a poor run of results that has left the club languishing in last place in the French league.

Sochaux has not won a game since beating Lyon 2-1 at home in early November and has lost nine of its last 13 league games. It is five points away from safety with 12 matches remaining.

The club said in a statement that reserve team coach Eric Hely will replace Bazdarevic in a caretaker role.

The 51-year-old Bazdarevic was popular with Sochaux fans during his playing days as a winger at the club from 1988-94.

“He’s obviously very upset, because he has a special relationship with the club, the region. But we had to make a decision,” Sochaux president Alexandre Lacombe said on the website of sports daily L’Equipe. “We had the impression that Mehmed Bazdarevic and his staff no longer had the answers to get the team out of a difficult situation.”

Sochaux never recovered from losing coach Francis Gillot, who guided the club to fifth place last season before joining Bordeaux.