Clarke took charge of 44 games and won 18 of them as he leaves the side in 10th in League One, eight points off a play-off spot.
In his statement, chairman Neerav Parekh thanked “Darrell for his efforts in a season which has been difficult for various reasons.”
He went on to defend the sacking decision by saying “Darrell has worked extremely hard to try and get the team competitive and pushing for promotion, unfortunately, we find ourselves eight points away from the play-offs and feel that a change is needed.”
Sporting Director Mladen Sormaz also added his thoughts to the departure of Clarke and was complimentary of the relationship he had built with him while backing the move to appoint an interim head coach in Conor Hourihane until the end of the season.
“Darrell is someone I respect and have enjoyed working with and I’d like to thank him for his efforts this season.
“We believe that Conor can help to create enough bounce to keep us fighting for the top six until the end of the season. We will also be working in parallel to have a new Head Coach in place over the summer.”
