Scott Watters has been sacked as St Kilda coach, hours after denying reports of disharmony in the football department. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo "The issue around some of the personality issues, we addressed those in the review. Were they a strong factor in this morning’s decision? No," Summers said. Hours after ringing morning radio saying he was safe in his job and that reports of disharmony within the club were inaccurate, Watters went to a meeting in which he was told he was out. "The club can confirm it has parted ways with senior coach Scott Watters," the Saints said via Twitter on Friday morning. Summers said he had not been aware until ‘‘well after’’ the 8am board meeting had finished that Watters had gone on radio in an attempt to publicly shore up his position.

It appears the decision to sack Watters was largely to do with manner and the dynamics within the club. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo The move comes a day after former North Melbourne senior coach Dean Laidley left the club to re-join Michael Malthouse, and a new high performance manager and senior assistant coach Ashley Prescott were hired by the Saints. The move to act on Watters who had a year left to run on his contract comes after a broad review of the football club and, in particular, the football department by board member Andrew Thompson. St Kilda has only recently changed president, has parted with former chief executive Michael Nettlefold and will now be in the market for a new coach. Speaking on Radio SEN earlier today, Watters said suggestions that his relationship with Pelchen was strained were "almost laughable".

"Chris and I are absolutely perfectly aligned from a list-management point of view and that really was from day one," Watters said. He said the decision to trade the likes of club stalwarts Nick Dal Santo and Ben McEvoy was one that had to be made for the club to be rebuilt. "These are quality people who I have enormous respect for, they've been long-term servants of the club," Watters said. " ... But we're charged with the responsibility at the club, and this is the list-management group I'm talking about here, to try and get this list back into shape and get it to a point where our supporters feel like they have a list that is going to come back and challenge and force it's way back into finals contention. Watters told SEN that he had been told by the president that he was seen as a long term coach. When Summers was asked what had changed his opinion during the past month, he said: ‘‘I have the same aspirations for all employees of the St Kilda Football Club.



‘‘We hope that everyone comes in is successful and is long term but it’s obviously not unconditional,’’ Summers said.



‘‘We’ve obviously assessed things today got the decision we’re at.

‘‘What happened at that time (of the review) was an assessment of where we’re at at the point of time. That’s changes, we went through a period where other things become clearer.’’



He did, however, thank Watters for ‘‘the commitment he’s given to our club, investing in our young team and helping to commence the transition of our list and we wish him well in the future’’. Loading Watters inherited an ageing list from Ross Lyon, who made a shock move to Fremantle after the 2011 season.



Watters guided the Saints to ninth in his first season last year. But this year, they came 16th with just five wins.



Summers said the club had not yet made contact with any prospective new coaches. AAP, with Stathi Paxinos and Scott Spits