FULHAM'S MAD DESCENT UNDER MAGATH

[jags24]

I am struggling to think of anyone in last years nightmare team who deserved the title "ELITE PLAYER", especially when in the second sentence you refer to the same players as being pampered and lazy.
As for Hangeland, his efforts last season earned him a one year contract at Crystal Palace and according to a supporting friend he is expected to spend the year on the bench if there are no injuries. I think that say everything.

Basically they were a shambles and best gone.

As far as FFC is concerned they have survived worse times than this.

Well, anyone playing in the prem is inherently an elite player.  The guys we have now, not so much, although the potential is there for some of them.  Hangeland is old and coming off a back injury which is the reason for his contract.  But there was no way to foresee that happening prior to last season - he had been a rock for us for a very long time.

[sunburywhite]

Looks like he is an aspiring journalist who is a Fulham supporter

http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/study/media-studies/news/broadcast-media-student-nominated-for-aspiring-writer-award

[Max Headroom]

Magath is a tabloid journalists joy. What has happened at Fulham in the last 12 months has been a mess.

Put the two together and it's pretty easy to come up with a trashing of Fulham or Magath.

I am excited, and whilst he may not have the friendliest of methods, I think he has enough hungry players to be very effective.

COYW

[akf]

This is a really poor piece of journalism. This guy's editor has obviously asked for a piece that will make Felix look like a tyrannical nutcase and Rhind-Tut has done his best with 1 quote from Hangeland and a load of contrived rubbish.

Sorry, it really annoys me when I read some of this rubbish.  096.gig

Exactly what I thought when I read it.  'Write up a piece on the dynamic between Felix and Brede' or something of that nature and the rest is an exercise in making something from nothing.

[Skatzoffc]

http://www.thesefootballtimes.net/#!fulhams-mad-descent-under-magath/cxj9

It was half time, and Felix Magath entered the dressing room with Fulham losing. With the team in grave danger of relegation, was there to be a rousing speech from the manager? What words would he use to galvanize his players ahead of the second half? Well in this case, Felix Magath decided to threaten his players in German.

Fulham went on to lose the match and the dressing room reception after was equally frosty. This time, Magath decided to silently glare at each player in the face before leaving the dressing room. Fulham went on to be relegated.

Magath's predecessor René Meulensteen didn't have the results but he commanded respect from the players. To put it simply, he wasn't hated by the squad which is why Magath's appointment ended Fulham's chances of survival.

Lewis Holtby was asked when at Spurs if he could cope with Louis van Gaal as boss. Holtby said he wouldn't have a problem, "after all, I've survived Felix Magath". Yet did Spurs loanee Holtby know he would toil under Magath again, this time at Fulham. Brought in under the impression he would be working with René Meulensteen, a fortnight later, Holtby was forced to face the Magath nightmare along with the rest of the Superwhites' squad.

The club had lacked discipline as a result of the Martin Jol era but appointing someone with Magath's reputation didn't look too wise given how fragile the squad were. Disliking your boss doesn't necessarily incapacitate you from doing your job but when your boss is Felix Magath, it's difficult.

Magath could not get another job in his native Germany despite a managerial CV boasting several Bundesliga titles and a few relegation escape acts. Any employer knows that a CV will rarely tell you everything.

What was missing were the stories of Magath being an extreme authoritarian with a penchant for medicine balls, how swathes of professionals in Germany have had an open dislike for Magath and how, even if there may be an initial rise, by the end there will be chaos at the club.
"His [Magath] main tool is to try and mentally and physically batter his players and then hopefully get some results out of that," said former club captain Brede Hangeland after leaving in June.

Stories from within Fulham back up Hangeland's claims. The militaristic training regime under which players suffered last season has continued in pre-season. Such has been the autocratic control of Magath, some at the club are saying FFC now stands for 'Felix's Football Club'.

Once in football, a manager could get away with 'showing the players who is boss' but today, players are football's empowered pawns. Continually and sadistically punishing them in such a regressive manner is unlikely to yield results. Perhaps it's indicative of how effective Magath's methods are now that Fulham haven't had a positive bounce since his arrival.

Still, the Germans' squad this season has some talented players, which in part is down to the excellent work of the club's academy. Now is the time for the likes of Patrick Roberts to deliver. Elsewhere in the squad though is a reminder of what Fulham has become.

Firstly, there's Kostas Mitroglou, representative of poor business in January, after arriving for £12.4 million and playing just 153 minutes. His cost to Fulham averages around £81,000 per minute on the pitch.

More poignantly, Ross McCormack arrived in July from Leeds in a deal worth up to £11 million. Yet, this comes when the club has been trying to save money by making staff redundant. Signing a player for that amount doesn't send out the right message about the ethos.

Even before the start of last season, Fulham's predicament wasn't healthy. Martin Jol, the manager who created the platform for the ensuing chaos, talked of how he was after "a top-12 finish."

The team had performed poorly for the majority of 2012/13. Bringing in Dimitar Berbatov and playing him in the same position as Bryan Ruiz stunted attacking creativity. Playing with nothing resembling a midfield left a slow defence vulnerable.

The club and Jol also pledged to build a younger team as they then proceeded to shaft most of the squad who had helped Fulham to the greatest achievement in its history in reaching the Europa League final.

The irony was the average age of replacements - players that would never share the same bond with the fans - was not radically lowered. Seeing 35-year-old club captain Danny Murphy make way for 35-year-old Giorgos Karagounis was particularly odd.

The end of the Mohamed Al-Fayed era lit the fireworks then for the crisis that would unfold in new owner Shahid Khan's first 12 months. The club's thirteenth year in the Premier League certainly provided a mighty bang, with Magath's appointment a spectacular finale.

More thoughtless signings such as Darren Bent and Adel Taarabt were made with no hint as to where they'd fit. Jokes were cracked on social media as to how the likes of Berbatov, Bent, Taarabt and Ruiz could ever work together. Like most gags, this one was funny because it was true.

Somehow though, Fulham won games. A victory in October against Stoke was detrimental but worst of all, was the 4-1 win against Crystal Palace.

The season's biggest victory was a terrible result with owner Shahid Khan watching on next to the away end at Selhurst Park. Because, even against what at the time was weak opposition, the result legitimised Jol's reign for another six matches. Fulham lost each of those six games.

Martin Jol's successor was already at the club before he went. In November, René Meulensteen came in to work with Jol, who was assured his job was safe before being duly sacked 18 days later.

Meulensteen only lasted until February even if performances did improve. Despite January signings made with him in mind, Meulensteen was the second Dutchman sent flying from Craven Cottage in February and then the madness of Magath followed.

Supporters merely booed at Craven Cottage. Fans at other clubs would have been stronger given what the Fulham supporters had had to endure. Media scrutiny will decrease with Fulham now in the Championship but Brede Hangeland's lone cry in June still remains a good indicator of what has happened to Fulham. 

On the 16th August, Magath will still be the manager as Fulham host Millwall - a paradox as the club of "no one likes us, we don't care" travel to "everyone likes us, but no one cares".

By Archie Rhind-Tutt. Follow Archie on Twitter @archiert1

Very old news.
Blaming the wrong person.
Very negative.
Totally pointless trolling.

Pls don't bother posting again.

[bobbo]

Hello toddles, I am not perturbed who the author of the article is it could Father Christmas for all I care and I didn't LAY into him I just made my point like you've tried to

[beijing ben]

The telegraph piece posted by kcat is good. We could be going for promotion or we could be battling relegation. For me, we need to get to 50 points first and foremost. If we can get off to a good start then we can think about things higher up..

[terryr]

This negative attack on the manager is frankly boring. We have a new season ahead and we need to move forward.
There is more and more coming out regarding some of the players who left who didn't seem to have any fight in them towards the end of the season and are not looking so upstanding and much of a loss to the club.
Lets see what happens today.
If we lose the vitriol will fly no doubt.
If we draw or win there will still be many a naysayer and the negativity will continue.
I for one reserve judgement until we have 1/2 dozen games under our belt and the team has had some time to play together.
Lets look forward with optimism rather than picking over a "he said this or that" from players who didn't cut it or fight for the club.

[Jack Deane]

To clarify - as the poster of this message on the form - I am not the writer of the article itself.  I should have stated upfront that I disagree with it's bias, and take it's 'insights' with a bucket load of salt.  I admit it's barely worth it's space on the forum - was just interested to see whether there were any sympathisers...

[jags24]

To clarify - as the poster of this message on the form - I am not the writer of the article itself.  I should have stated upfront that I disagree with it's bias, and take it's 'insights' with a bucket load of salt.  I admit it's barely worth it's space on the forum - was just interested to see whether there were any sympathisers...

Agree or not, the one thing I don't like is when anyone who has a negative take on the team is accused of being a troll.  I'm not even sure that Fulham is important enough at this point to attract a lot of trolls, but I also don't think that people should act like such tools to think that the team is perfect now that all the old players are gone.

Magath's approach could very well work - I don't agree with it ethically, because it is not a decent way to treat players, and we have seen most players from the team go out the door.  A lot of veterans are old enough that they don't even have the legs to do Magath's training regimes.  Younger players recover faster.

They will be young, fit and exuberant, and no one will mind that positive change.  The only question is whether they are really skilled enough to excel.  That one has not yet been answered.

[God The Mechanic]

Making a bunch of athletes run is not ethical or a decent way of treating players?

[Logicalman]

Making a bunch of athletes run is not ethical or a decent way of treating players?

Of course not, didn't you learn anything from last season man? We are supposed to sit back and let golden oldies run and puff about the pitch before they run out of steam in the 75th minute, pay them bucket loads of dosh for the pleasure in seeing them do so, and then thank them personally and ask if they would like another 5 year multi-million pound contract!!

I dunno why we got rid of them all personally, all seems so simple to me this owning and running a Prem Team lark.  094.gif

[jags24]

Making a bunch of athletes run is not ethical or a decent way of treating players?

Of course not, didn't you learn anything from last season man? We are supposed to sit back and let golden oldies run and puff about the pitch before they run out of steam in the 75th minute, pay them bucket loads of dosh for the pleasure in seeing them do so, and then thank them personally and ask if they would like another 5 year multi-million pound contract!!

I dunno why we got rid of them all personally, all seems so simple to me this owning and running a Prem Team lark.  094.gif

Maybe a balance between physical exertion and recovery would be more reasonable?  Have you considered that?

[Arthur]

Maybe a balance between physical exertion and recovery would be more reasonable?  Have you considered that?

Do you know that the squad are being treated unreasonably? Or are you making an assumption based on comments from the likes of Hangeland?

[jags24]

Maybe a balance between physical exertion and recovery would be more reasonable?  Have you considered that?

Do you know that the squad are being treated unreasonably? Or are you making an assumption based on comments from the likes of Hangeland?

Oh, come on.  You guys are the saddest bunch of Magath defenders I have ever seen!  It is his entire history.  Not just Hangeland.  Lots of players have said it... Holtby said it.  A lot of players have said.  That doesn't mean it won't work, but my view is that it's a bit of an overcompensation from last year - a happy medium would be better.

[Arthur]

Maybe a balance between physical exertion and recovery would be more reasonable?  Have you considered that?

Do you know that the squad are being treated unreasonably? Or are you making an assumption based on comments from the likes of Hangeland?

Oh, come on.  You guys are the saddest bunch of Magath defenders I have ever seen!  It is his entire history.  Not just Hangeland.  Lots of players have said it... Holtby said it.  A lot of players have said.  That doesn't mean it won't work, but my view is that it's a bit of an overcompensation from last year - a happy medium would be better.

There is a difference between knowing that Felix trains his players harder than most other clubs do and knowing that he has the wrong balance between the exertion and the recovery period. No one on here is denying the former; I am curious to know what you know that gives credence to the latter.

Nothing, it seems.

Do you know what routines the training consists of? It seems not. Do you know the length of the recovery period between routines? It seems not. Is this particular criticism of Magath unfounded? It seems so.

Oh, come on.  You guys are the saddest bunch of Magath defenders I have ever seen!

You obviously didn't watch Stek, Riether, Hangeland & Riise at Cardiff last season.

[Peabody]

The question is, how many other Magath defenders have you seen?

[jags24]

The question is, how many other Magath defenders have you seen?

How many do I want to see?

[jags24]

There is a difference between knowing that Felix trains his players harder than most other clubs do and knowing that he has the wrong balance between the exertion and the recovery period. No one on here is denying the former; I am curious to know what you know that gives credence to the latter.

I know that a lot of players have complained about it, and that practically the entire team has left the club.  Isn't that kind of a hint?

[TonyGilroy]

The players who left were giving how much value? Were any of them worth the money they were paid? Who, on their form of last season, was missed on Saturday?

We all want a successful team with young ambitious players constantly improving and being well organised. I think there's a chance that might acrually happen under Magath but if not it can hardly be worse than the "entertainment" we've been treated to for the last couple of seasons.

Why not wait to see how it pans out.