Gullit resigned on Monday for "personal reasons" while the club chose this moment to fire Lalas, whose contract was due to expire at the end of the season. The changes came with the club on a seven-game winless run which has dropped them out of the play-off places in the Western Conference.

Tim Leiweke, chief executive of AEG, the group that owns the Galaxy, revealed the depth of the group's unhappiness with the performance of the club when speaking to the Los Angeles Times.

"Unfortunately, you can't fire 22 players," he said, adding that the club is "dysfunctional".

"I think they're all responsible," Leiweke said of the players. "What I told them this morning was, 'Now no one has any excuses'. I eliminated all excuses."

There has been speculation that Beckham, signed by the Galaxy last summer in a move which smashed all previous Major League Soccer records, wields enormous influence not only on the field but in the running of the club, but Leiweke insisted any suggestion he was involved in the latest decisions were wrong.

"Ruud was their guy, so Ruud resigning and us accepting that obviously is not a great day for them," Leiweke said of the Beckham camp.

"So those who claim there was influence, this was my decision solely.

"I don't think David knew about this decision until the team meeting. I saw him right before I went in the locker room and I don't even think he knew what I was about to do."

It is understood the relationship between Gullit and Lalas deteriorated over the course of a season in which the Galaxy failed to deliver on pre-season predictions of a challenge for the MLS Cup title, causing a wider split in the dressing room.

Cobi Jones, the former Galaxy star who is taking over as interim coach, faces a big challenge in his first head coaching role to bridge the gap.

"Now it's up to Cobi to straighten it out with the team and on the pitch, and for us to make a decision on how we structure this organization going forward so we no longer have the split we clearly have," Leiweke said.