FORMER Cherries management duo Paul Groves and Shaun Brooks are understood to have today parted company with the club.

Ex-boss Groves and his assistant Brooks held the reins between March and October 2012 and were kept on by former chairman Eddie Mitchell after they had been relieved of their duties with the first team.

Brooks, a popular midfielder at Dean Court under Harry Redknapp, was subsequently appointed head of youth, while Groves took charge of Cherries' under-18s and was given the titles of youth team manager and head of coaching.

It is believed Groves and Brooks had been retained on their first-team management contracts, which are due to expire at the end of this season. However, the Daily Echo understands the duo have today been stood down from their respective roles.

The pair had previously been involved in the youth set-up with Groves joining Brooks in July 2011 following the controversial and acrimonious departure of popular club stalwart Joe Roach.

Groves and Brooks were then promoted to head up the Cherries first team, initially on a caretaker basis, following Lee Bradbury's departure as manager in March 2012.

Following an eight-game stint on a temporary basis, they were handed permanent two-year deals in May 2012, although their appointments drew criticism from a section of the club's fan-base.

And while Mitchell urged disgruntled supporters to give them time, the duo continued to come under fire as Cherries made an indifferent start to 2012-13, going out of the League Cup and JPT at the first hurdle and collecting just three points from their opening four games.

Groves and Brooks finally celebrated their first win of the season when Richard Hughes, a man they had tempted out of retirement, netted a superb free-kick to earn Cherries a 1-0 victory at Yeovil.

The win proved to be the only real high point of their reign and calls for Groves's head intensified after Cherries had suffered a 4-0 thumping at Swindon. And just a week later, Mitchell was confronted by angry Cherries fans following a 2-1 home defeat by Walsall, but defiantly continued to give his backing to Groves.

However, Mitchell and the Cherries board finally decided to act after a 3-1 loss at Crawley in early October had seen Cherries slip perilously close to the relegation zone following just one win in their first 10 league games.

Groves and Brooks subsequently left their roles with the first team and took up posts in the youth department - with the return of Eddie Howe sparking a dramatic upturn in the club's fortunes, which led to promotion to the Championship.

When contacted by the Echo, Cherries chief executive Neill Blake politely declined to comment, while at the time of going to press, the Echo had been unable to contact either Groves or Brooks.