Tsutomu Ogura will step down as manager of J.League first-division club Omiya Ardija at the end of this season, soccer sources said Thursday.

Omiya won eight and drew two of their first 10 games of the season en route to a J.League record-breaking run of 21 games unbeaten under coach Zdenko Verdenik, and the Squirrels were top of the league for much of the first half of the campaign.

But Ardija lost steam and general manager Takeyuki Okamoto filled in as coach after Verdenik was fired, before technical director and former Japan national team assistant Ogura took over in August.

The 47-year-old Ogura was unable to turn the tide and has managed just one win against 10 defeats in charge.