If Felix Magath Was Still Manager

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

We would probably be a non league club by now. Or gone into administration.

Amazing what he did To the club, surely he was on a mission to destroy us.

Heres the glorious day when he got the sack, with one point after seven games...

https://youtu.be/bUqgOQQqeWs

Anyone miss him ?

[Woolly Mammoth]

Like a hole in the head.
I also missed him when I threw my season ticket at him, but only by a couple of inches.

[bog]

I miss him like clueless Clegg from politics.

092.gif

[FFCFOREVER]

It makes my stomach churn to think of that wolly as still being in charge of our team.He destroyed us beyond belief with his crazy signings ( McCormack apart ) and mad cap training regimes.Wow , what a mess the club was in back then.We would probably have done what Sunderland have but on a more epic scale and possibly never returned.An absolute nightmare.But we have risen again so we can all breathe easy.COYW

[S.F.Sorrow]

Old school manager from a different culture. A recipe for disaster.

It would have taken a miracle to save us from relegation but I suspect he seriously underestimated the level of the Championship. That first game against Ipswich... Boys vs men. He more or less ruined the career of one of our promising youngsters in that single game.

[Milo]

I disagree.

I think Magath came in at a time when we were relegated... and there were multiple calls on here and throughout the club for us to play our youth team players and start a fresh.

He came in, did exactly that, and unsurprisingly they struggled.

The training regimes.. up Scottish mountains etc. So what? So it's not some tropical paradise? It's Britain.. it's a beautiful part of the country.. and it's Magaths style. The style that won him multiple Bundesligas (ie equivalent of winning the Prem multiple times!!). Jokanovic has a style that hasn't always worked but he's stuck to.. Magath had a style that didn't work to start (what.. 7 games?) but he didn't have the chance to see if it worked like Hodgson etc had before him.

He rightly said at the time that "why do you ask Risse and Hangeland about my methods when you should ask Raul etc who are Champions League top scorers?". These old players who wanted to retire in their early thirties playing in second gear and not be forced to become fit by jogging up mountains. Unsurprisingly they kicked up a fuss and we all patted them on the head and let them force him out. What we should've done is realise Magaths plans were to use his previous methods in a league with 46 games where fitness was key. This season shows how vital it is to have that extra fitness at the end of the year.

I think without the situation we were in with the strong fan pressure to play all youth... with more time to make it work.. and less out-spoken over the hill players causing trouble.. it would have all turned out considerably better. But he never had the chance and he eventually lost the dressing room. A big opportunity lost for the club in my opinion.  092.gif

[Woolly Mammoth]

He was a control freak who underestimated English football, and had no experience of the football culture in this country.
He was brought in to save the club from relegation, and failed miserably, and at the same time, reduced morale lower than a snakes belly.
Playing Dan Burn at right back at Stoke said it all. No wonder we got stuffed 4 1. Another 3 points down the drain.
When we were 2 0 up at home to Hull, he took off a midfielder and brought on Darren Bent who contributed to us drawing 2 2 and another 2 precious points lost.
Did not want his methods questioned so he decimated the team by offloading the experienced players, and only brought in youth because he knew they were more likely to toe the line.
Just when we needed the players to come together as a unit, one for all and all for one. He did the complete opposite, his policy was to divide and rule.
That is why he lost the dressing room almost immediately.
Then if that was not enough to tell the club, we have employed a right one here.
They allowed him to continue to decimate the club on and off the pitch the following season.
He had a completely fresh start he did not deserve, and due to his methods and poor man management, he lost I believe 7 out of first 8 League Matches.
He was the worst possible nightmare, who should have been sacked at the end of the season he relegated us. Instead of waiting until a damp Autumn Tuesday evening when we lost at Forest.
Fulham should have sued him for impersonating a Football Manager.

[Johnh]

Milo and Statto sound serious 😂, Magath was just wrong for us, and his methods were just wrong for this era, brilliant or good managers adapt to changing football, Magath...he just couldn't get around tgat things had changed, not even in China where he unsuccessfully went to after us.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Shandong Luneng are still in shock. 🆘

[filham]

Oh dear, if I listen to what Milo and Stato are saying then when Jocanovic leaves it could just be possible to employ another manager like Magath with the blessing of some fans. We must hang on to Jocanovic for a good while until we are all convinced of the right type of manager for Fulham.

[Twig]

his methods were just wrong for this era

his methods were working very well until about 2010 if not even later, so i'd be interested to know when "this era" began

A decade ago around about 2008, beyond which he was a dinosaur seeing out his time. Since leaving Fulham he has achieved the square root of not a lot.

[Woolly Mammoth]

That's because no decent club will touch him with a barge pole. In fact come to think of it, no club will touch him with a barge pole. Not even a wooden club.
Even his wife boos him every time she sees him.

[Lighthouse]

Felix had no idea about the Championship and thought it was a second rate league as they have throughout Europe. The owners were ignorant as well. The fact that Felix never learned from his mistake and continued to treat his players poorly as if they too were as stupid of the facts as he was just made things worse. When the list of the worst managers to manage Fulham ever comes up. Then the answer is always Felix. Which is a shame because before that there were a few in with a chance.

[Fulham 442]

Thank you Lighthouse.  The voice of reason!

[FFCFOREVER]

Agree with you Milo

People have probably selectively forgotten this but he did actually have the kids passing the ball around very well. ok there was little end product, but nor was there during wobbly spells under Jokanovic when everyone just wanted Matt Smith brought on

His only real mistake IMO was massively underestimating the standard of the English Championship but I could forgive any foreign manager for that, based on the general standard of second tier leagues throughout Europe

Even excluding his achievements as a player he had, as far as I'm aware, the best CV of any manager we've appointed in our history or that we're likely to appoint in the future

Wtf??Please get real. He came in , signed mostly a load of nobody's , and played dull football with , as you have said  no end product and which is the aim if you want to win.The sheer fact that he put those kids in the team who" passed the ball around with no end product " shows how poor he was at managing as they were clearly not ready and could have ruined their careers.And then he tells our captain to strap cheese to his thigh to aid his recovery from injury.Sorry but that is NOT someone I deem capable of running a kids little league team let alone Fulham FC. Oh yeah and ONE point from 7 league games with the leagues most prolific striker tells its own story.

[Fulham 442]

I cannot believe anyone could have anything positive to say about Magath.  End of!

[SWSixer]

The Hangeland Cheese story is a classic though.

I can laugh about it now.

[love4ffc]

Friendly reminder to all that this forum is based on opinions and not all opinions will be popular ones or, one that you agree with.  Still, please be respectful of other members regardless of their opinions. 

[New Kid on the Block]

Why on earth are we bringing up past managers now? It was 4 years ago!

Let's enjoy the present, for goodness sake.

[Fulham 442]

I realise that perhaps I shouldn't have commented on this thread as I really don't see the point of discussing Magath as he is firmly in our past and will never return.  I don't understand how some posters can get so animated on the subject either but as has been pointed out this is a forum and people have differing opinions.  It was still a shock to see him defended by some though!