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Thijssen, who will assume the role of technical director at the end of the season, will work in tandem with football director Ken Stead to try and turn around the defending A-League champion's disastrous start to the new season.

Roar announced that Thijssen will face the media in Brisbane alongside captain Matt Smith on Monday afternoon.

Stead will be in charge at training on Monday with Thijssen, who arrived in Australia last week and watched the club's 1-0 loss to Melbourne on Friday, likely to arrive in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Thijssen, 62, made 14 appearances for the Netherlands in a playing career that included spells with English clubs Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest, and Dutch outfits NEC Nijmegen, FC Twente, Fortuna Sittard and FC Groningen.

His coaching debut role came in 1995 with Dutch club Vitesse, before moving to Sweden to take charge of Malmo. More recently he has split his time between the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in youth and assistant gigs.

He will be in charge until the club appoints a new coach, likley to be from overseas, at the end of the season.

It's believed coach of the year Mulvey's axing just six months after leading the Roar to the 2013-2014 Premiership/Championship double was a result of abandoning the club's core values and losing the support of the players, according sources close to the club.

Mulvey was effectively put on notice at the end of last season with Roar chiefs concerned he was drifting away from the direction the club wanted to head in, in terms of team style and training methods, player conditioning, match preparation and analysis.

It is also understood the club had decided to dump Mulvey before the loss to Victory - his fate sealed by losing the confidence of both players and management.

Confirming Mulvey's departure on Sunday night, Roar CEO Sean Dobson told The World Game: "We made the decision to part company with Mike Mulvey based on the football style and philosophy of the club.

"Those are the key tenets in terms of how we approach the game. The strength of the club off the field in terms of the support from chairman Chris Fong and the Bakrie Group means we can make a hard decision such as this for the benefit of the club.

"It's about looking to the medium and the long-term and not having a regard for the financial implications ... we accept the responsibility that comes with these decisions and just want the fans to continue to support the lads out on the field.

Mulvey sacked...tough gig being an a-league coach.. — Danny Vukovic (@vuka20) November 23, 2014

"They have been putting in every single shift and they are hurting the same as everybody else. The boys need the support and we all believe we, as a club, can turn things around this season.

"We think our squad is good enough but we are keeping an open mind on possible signings and will see how things unfold in the next few weeks."

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Mulvey was said to be "shocked" by his dismissal, though it's understood he was informed by the club on several occasions that his training methods, in particular, were not up to the standard expected.

There was also disquiet at the top over Mulvey seemingly abandoning the team's 'total football' ethos for a more counter-attacking style and widespread unrest in the dressing room over conditioning and tactics.

A club statement, quoting Dobson, said: "Head coach Mike Mulvey will step down from the role, effective immediately.

"He met with Brisbane Roar FC management today. As a result, he will step down from the head coach’s position.

"Brisbane Roar FC thanks Mike Mulvey for his contribution to the success of the club since his appointment as interim coach in December 2012 and as Brisbane Roar head coach in February 2013.

"He guided Brisbane Roar to the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 Premiers’ Plate, winning the league by 10 points, before securing an historic Grand Final win on May 4, 2014 against Western Sydney Wanderers.”

Brisbane lies in eighth with one win and five losses from its opening six games and is at home to league-leading Perth Glory in Round 8.