FOXBOROUGH, MA – The New England Patriots have announced that they have officially parted ways with Bill Belichick following 24 years and six Super Bowl championships.

Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft both issued in-person statements on Thursday announcing the major change.

“Robert and I, after a series of discussions, have mutually agreed to part ways,” Belichick said. “And for me this is a day of gratitude and celebration.

And it was clear that they held a lot of respect for one another.

Following Belichick’s sentiments, Kraft stepped up to make his statement and highlighted that the decision was reached “amicably.”

Here’s everything Belichick said:

“All right, morning. I haven’t seen this many camera since we signed Tebow. Robert and I after a series of discussions have mutually agreed to part ways. For me this, is a day of gratitude and celebration. Start with Robert and his family. So much thanks for the opportunity to be the head coach here for 24 years. It’s an amazing opportunity, received tremendous support. We had a vision of building a winner, building a championship football team here, and that’s exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations, the amount of success we were able to achieve together through a lot of hard work and contributions of so many people. I’m very proud of that and always have those memories. I’ll carry those with me the rest of my life.

“Of course, after Robert, thanks to the assistant coaches. I’ve had so many great coaches here. They’ve made my life so much easier. It’s a long list, but the amount of work, preparation and diligence that they do, every one of them, and I say this about the players and the coaches regardless of how long they were here, how many years they were here, how many years they coached or what the position was. It was a great team effort, and everybody put everything they had into it. That’s why we were successful.

“To the coaches, the support staff, it’s an amazing staff here that supported me in every way. All of the scouting, and all of the football support people to the equipment to the training, security, video, operations and so forth, right down that line. Dining room, it’s all first class. It’s all extremely, extremely good. Special thanks to Berj (Najarian) and Nancy (Meyers). They’ve been here since Day 1 and made my life a lot easier, or I’ve made theirs a lot harder, however you want to look at it. But that’s a big shoutout to them.

“Of course, a great deal of thanks and appreciation to the players. Players win games in the NFL, and I’ve been very fortunate to coach some of the greatest players who have ever played, some of the greatest players who have ever played for the Patriots. Some of them are already in the hall of fame. Many more are going. Regardless of however long the players were or weren’t here or what their role was or how many games they played or even if they didn’t win championships, I respect the way the players come to work here on a daily basis, all of them that I’ve coached, well over 1,000. But their ability to work, prepare, train in the weight room, train their bodies, meet, rehearse over and over again what we need to do things right to be successful to win, I have so much respect for all of the players, and we’ve had many that have been here for a long time and had great contributions. Too many to name at this time, but great thanks to the players.

“To the media, to you guys, I don’t know if anyone has got more coverage than I have, we have in the last 24 years. I give you guys a lot of respect, what you do. You’re our voice to the fans. Even thought we don’t always see eye to eye all of the time — most of the time but not all of the time — I do respect what you do.

“Finally, to the fans. Fans here are amazing. So many memories of the fans, the send-offs, the parades, the Sundays, whatever the situations are. The letters to support, the seeing the fans away from here at a gas station or grocery store or wherever you bump into them. The Patriots fans here and not just in New England but they extend nationally and even internationally as I’ve traveled. It’s amazing how far the arm reaches. We saw that this year in Germany. So appreciative of the fans for all of the support they’ve given me, my family, this football team.

“There are so many fond memories and thoughts that I think about the Patriots. I’ll always be a Patriot. I look forward to coming back here, but at this time, we’re going to move on. And I look forward, I’m excited for the future but always very, very appreciate of the opportunity here, the support here and Robert, what you’ve done here for me. Thank you.”

Here’s everything Kraft said:

“Good afternoon, everyone. And as Bill mentioned, yesterday we met and mutually agreed to part ways amicably,” Kraft said. “Like a good marriage, a successful head coach-owner relationship requires a lot of hard work and I’m very proud that our partnership lasted for 24 years. I don’t think in the NFL there’s been any other partnership that lasted longer and has been as productive as ours.

“I trusted my instincts to bring Bill back to New England in 2000 after immediately regretting not hiring him, after working with him together in 1996. When I did hire him, I was still making the transition from the fan who bought season tickets in ‘71, sitting on the metal benches in the old Foxboro Stadium with my boys to try to become an experienced owner. Bill has taught me a lot over those years and we had high expectations for what we could achieve together. I think we were the only ones who had those expectations. And I think it’s safe to say we exceeded them.”

At this point, Belichick piped in and said, “We did.”

Kraft responded, “Thanks to you.”

The Patriots owner then continued and he said he understood how hard this news would be for Patriots fans.

“It’s hard to put into words really when I think back to sitting on those metal benches, and that we’d have an opportunity to go to 10 Super Bowls together and bring six Lombardi trophies home to Massachusetts,” Kraft said. “At heart, I will always be a sentimental sports fan. So, this is a very emotional day for me. Some of my happiest and most memorable moments were celebrated with my family during Bill’s tenure here. I recognize that it also is a very emotional day for many of our fans and most of our fans as it represents the end of an era, one that hopefully will always be celebrated in this region.

“The man standing to my left brought the leadership and coaching skills that were needed to make this type of unprecedented success that we have had possible. Coach Belichick will forever be celebrated as the legendary sports icon here in New England and I believe will go in as a pro football hall of famer on the first ballot. Why? Because he is the greatest coach of all time. Which makes this decision to part ways so hard. But this is a move that we mutually agreed that is needed at this time.

“What Bill accomplished with us, in my opinion, will never be replicated. And the fact that it was done in the salary cap and free agency era makes it even more extraordinary. I thank Coach Bill for his hard work and dedication. It’ll be difficult to see him in a cut-off hoodie on the sideline. But I will always continue to wish him continued success except when he’s playing our beloved Patriots.”