Magath Hasn't Made Many Friends

[Julius Geezer]

http://www.the-daily-record.com/ap%20sports/2012/10/25/wolfsburg-parts-company-with-coach-felix-magath



http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/oct/08/bundesliga-felix-magath-wolfsburg

[Highlander]

Oh dear....

"When the players run so little they are either shattered from training or they're playing against the coach," Bayern president Uli Hoeness said Monday. "If you manage to have 80 percent of the players against you after two titles in a row, then something isn't right. That also seems to be the problem in Wolfsburg."

[Ordar]

Well the fact remains that he's won 3 German titles and saved 4/5 teams from relegation. So he's obviously done something right, or is extremely lucky

[Julius Geezer]

Some statements...


After spending the best part of €70m on new players in 18 months, Magath has simply lost the plot. Players keep popping up in unlikely, unsuited positions, then get banished from the squad only to re-appear in other, even more unfamiliar roles some weeks later. The manager's take on Diego's lack of impact was revealing in that respect. "We thought we'd sell him so we didn't put the team together according to his needs," claimed Magath. It all begs one question: according to whose needs exactly has this side been put together?

His raving hire-and-fire – policy and draconian measures have left him with an army of disgruntled ex-charges eager for revenge throughout the league, that's for sure. "Some players are especially motivated against former managers, especially against Felix Magath," noted the S04 midfielder Roman Neustädter. "The fact that Magath constantly runs into players who want to get their own back has become a permanent competitive disadvantage," wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung, only half in jest.



"Felix Magath out!" and "never again, Felix Magath, never again," the Schalke 04 supporters were chanting at the Wolfsburg manager at the Veltins Arena on Saturday. Quite a few Royal Blues players on the pitch seemed tempted to join in as well. Jefferson Farfán, for example, made a point of running over to the Wolfsburg bench after scoring the opener. Lip readers were later on convinced he'd mouthed "hijo de puta" in the direction of Magath. Was the striker merely repeating back some offensive words to Magath ("Oi, Felix, do you think I called you a hijo de puta?") or employing a term with altogether different connotations in Peruvian Spanish? "I didn't see it and don't care either," said the Wolves coach diplomatically.

It's rare to see opposition managers subjected to hostile chants in the Bundesliga. But then again, Magath is not your regular opposition manager but an ex-manager in seven out of 18 stadiums. In Gelsenkirchen, where he was fired in March 2011 after buying so many players that the DFL nearly ran out of registration forms - the club cited "transfer irregularities" as a reason for the dismissal – they were particularly unhappy to see him.

[Julius Geezer]

His assistant coach Bernd Hollerbach and conditioning coach Werner Leuthard left Wolfsburg with him so I presume they will come with him.