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

 

"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.

 

Farfán had set the tone earlier in the week with an interview in Sport Bild. "All managers who Schalke have had in the last few years gave something to the club," the 27-year-old claimed, "the only coach who didn't leave anything positive behind was Magath. He only left behind fines [for the players]." Farfán went on to question the manager's "militaristic methods" and wondered about a lack of "humanity" in his approach. "I can laugh now but it was a tough time," he said.

 

His current squad probably share that view. Ten days ago, Magath had them running through the Wolfsburg woods (again) and when they had finished, they found that most of their water bottles had been emptied on purpose by the coach. Magath tried to justify this exercise in sadism as an "educational measure" afterwards – "I wanted them to learn to share resources as a team," he claimed – but the episode is symptomatic of a course that has seen him veer dangerously close to caricature of himself. "The last dictator in Europe," as Jan Age Fjortoft once called him, should slowly realise that random acts of unkindness are no substitute for a coherent strategy on and off the pitch.

 

Wolfsburg went down 3-0 at Schalke, without as much as a whimper of resistance. "We don't find the right way to play together at the moment," said the Brazilian midfielder Diego. But how could they? Magath has already used 21 different players out of his ridiculously large squad of 32, and the constant tactical changes and different lineups are only betraying a lack of any ideas.

 

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.

 

Their third defeat in a row has seen them slip to 17th place. What was supposed to be a challenge for European places in turning into a relegation battle. "The new slogan at the club is 'football is everything'," recalled Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, "but at the moment it's anything but football here".

 

Magath still feels secure enough to insist that his dictatorial rule at the Volkswagen club will go on – "it's not necessary (to involve more people in the decision-making process)," he said – but the owners surely can't tolerate this rotten run forever. In fact, it's a complete mystery why the company has acquiesced in Magath's particular type of waste management this far.

 

Talking points

 

• "Saddam," as Magath used to be called behind his back by some players, wasn't the only manager having a hard time this weekend, however. Stuttgart boss, Bruno Labbadia, lost his cool following his side's 2-2 draw with Leverkusen in light of the crowd's disapproval of his substitution of youngster Raphael Holzhauser. "He told me he was injured," explained Labbadia, before ranting against "untruthful reporting" by the local press. "As a Bundesliga manager, you have to ask yourself, do I take this hard, difficult path or do I say 'kiss my ass?'", he wondered. "We are not the rubbish bins for everyone else, we are not idiots. It can't go on like that."

 

This will end well for all at Fulham

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Actually, imo the type of manager that might help them stay up.

Looked uninspiring under Meulensteen and Magath wont let any player rest at least.

 

Could be sort of a Di Canio effect that it´s good short term in this situation, but might not be as good long term...

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If you count caretaker managers then, yes, plenty.

 

Ummm they were terrible but I thought they were marginally improving in last couple if games.

 

Just shows how lucky we are at the moment. Ponch gets a few things wrong but not many and particularly recently is really learning who to bring on for who and when...

He is even learning to leave Cork on the field!

Can't fault Ponch at the moment - sorry seem to have drifted off subject ! :-))

Yes - Fulham - pity because they are a nice club but with a team if very average to older below average players so what do they do.....Too late for a rebuild even though they brought in - five players was it in the window....

I think the game we played them at St Mary's was the most one sided game I have ever seen us play, 8-0 wouldn't have flattered us, Fulham were truly appalling.

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For me over the two games they were the worst team we have played this year by a distance.

True, they were horrific at St. Mary's. How we only won 2-0 was a mystery. I watched that game with the head scout of a PL side but who is a Fulham fan and he was utterly embarrassed with them and couldn't believe they had got themselves into such a situation with so many old, overpaid and not good enough players.

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For me over the two games they were the worst team we have played this year by a distance.

 

Was Jol in charge when they played at SMS? Rene's record was horrendous, 14 losses in 17 wasn't it? As someone has said lots of older players who will be hard to shift, will need a complete rebuilding job.

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All a bit strange. Being that they're almost certainly down anyway, why not save a few quid and let ol' Curbs do it.

 

Can't see he could be any worse and would more than likely get them in reasonable shape to come back up.

 

Saints have got a lot to answer for with all these lower tier Prem clubs employing rent-a-foreigner managers.

 

Taking bread off Gary Megson's table, the lot of em.

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Going down might be the best thing for them

 

It's going to be a massive shock for their yank owner who owns one of the worst franchises in the NFL (not his fault as its a recent acquisition) and has absolutely no clue about relegation.

 

Arguably the fact that he's panicking now is a sign of that.

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The couple of Fulham fans I know will be disappointed. They had accepted they were going down but were seeing improvement and looking forward to bringing on their younger players and getting rid of the older over paid players. They have very good records at U18 and U21, but Hodgson and Jol did not give the younger players a chance. They do have all our ex academy staff up there, so they are doing something right!

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https://twitter.com/JanAageFjortoft (player who has played under Magath) has been tweeting some old stories

 

Jan Aage Fjortoft ‏@JanAageFjortoft 22m

Magath being the doctor in Frankfurt. If a player was injured (he didn't always believe them) - they had to run around the pitch 2 hours

 

Jan Aage Fjortoft ‏@JanAageFjortoft 31m

Magath Fines 2 In Schalke 2 players changed position at a corner. At the halftime!! Magath gave both players a 10 000 euro fine

 

Magath fines! In Wolfsburg a player got 10 000 euro fine for not being loyal to the tactic

 

Jan Aage Fjortoft ‏@JanAageFjortoft 48m

Magath's "Why we did we loose?" "Heard you singing in the shower (he was serious) after training this morning, Jan (10 hours before game"

 

His antics may at least entertain fans of every other team in the league.

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I went to their game against Liverpool on Wednesday and for long periods they were the better team. Getting a point at Old Trafford followed by nearly doing the same against the most in-form team in the league suggests they were starting to get it together, with an £11m striker to come into the side next week.

 

Arguably the most impressive feat Meulensteen achieved was to coax an excellent performance out of Darren Bent.

 

Magath is a disciplinarian type of manager, but he's no mug either. Fulham's new signings give them a strong chance of staying up regardless of who's in charge. Kvist and Holtby have been superb since they arrived, Tunnicliffe looked decent on Wednesday and Mitroglou bagged a couple for the U21s in midweek as he returns to full fitness. For all the people saying they collapse too easily, this is true, but also inevitable when you base your central midfield around Steve Sidwell (31), Scott Parker (33), Damien Duff (34) and Georgios Karagounis (36), that's hardly surprising. Holtby and Kvist will make a huge difference there, IMO.

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All a bit strange. Being that they're almost certainly down anyway, why not save a few quid and let ol' Curbs do it.

 

Can't see he could be any worse and would more than likely get them in reasonable shape to come back up.

 

Saints have got a lot to answer for with all these lower tier Prem clubs employing rent-a-foreigner managers.

 

Taking bread off Gary Megson's table, the lot of em.

 

 

I am putting you on my ignore list. You write such tripe !

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If you and your friends sat down to construct the Premier League's 'overrated XI', you'd come damn near close to picking the Fulham first team. Parker, Sidwell, Hangeland, Senderos and Berbatov earlier on in the season, Bent (albeit only nowadays now that he's lost his burst of pace)... incredible really

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If you and your friends sat down to construct the Premier League's 'overrated XI', you'd come damn near close to picking the Fulham first team. Parker, Sidwell, Hangeland, Senderos and Berbatov earlier on in the season, Bent (albeit only nowadays now that he's lost his burst of pace)... incredible really
IMO I thought they were quite good against us at the Cottage. It was just Boruc who kept us in it the first half and their ageing squad that we picked apart in the second half.

They were brilliant against Manure and Sidwell was outstanding, I would have him in our team above any Manure midfielder anyday. I think the age and the lack of legs in the team was their problem and RM was addressing that. The new ex Bayern coach I hope will keep them up as it's a great place to go away to.

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Ummm they were terrible but I thought they were marginally improving in last couple if games.

 

Just shows how lucky we are at the moment. Ponch gets a few things wrong but not many and particularly recently is really learning who to bring on for who and when...

He is even learning to leave Cork on the field!

Can't fault Ponch at the moment - sorry seem to have drifted off subject ! :-))

Yes - Fulham - pity because they are a nice club but with a team if very average to older below average players so what do they do.....Too late for a rebuild even though they brought in - five players was it in the window....

I think the game we played them at St Mary's was the most one sided game I have ever seen us play, 8-0 wouldn't have flattered us, Fulham were truly appalling.

 

Are you watching Saints or reruns of CHiPS?

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Not the same and don't think it will be as bad but the PL clubs are showing many of the signs that led to the decline of the Spanish league.

 

Floating in money, many had extravagant nouveau riche shareholders and managerial changes were (in some ways still are) extremely often even in teams that weren't doing very badly. Eventually you had expensive, good-on-paper teams full of imports from other leagues (mainly from South America) that really didn't add that much, ditto for coaches (Spanish managers were never really in charge of signings or other club aspects than tactics and team selection/training , the trend in England shows a similar behavior with head coaches being appointed rather than "managers"), and a national team that was underachieving despite the success of the league where some of the stars were indeed Spanish (read England today).

 

Eventually some odd relegations happened (read Celta Vigo, Zaragoza, Betis, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Real Sociedad), debts accumulated and when the call came a vast number of clubs crumbled Pompey-style.

 

A warning if there every was one, not that Scudamore will care. Meanwhile the football agents (i.e. the property developers of the pre global recession) rejoice. Not for long.

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