New Fulham manager Felix Magath is paranoid and a control freak, says Bayern Munich chief Uli Hoeness

The president of the Bavarian giants says that the new Cottagers boss is hated by his players and will never manage in Germany again

Thomas Niedermueller
Felix Felicis: Will Fulham get lucky with Magath?

Fulham's shellshocked players have been warned they face a torturous training regime from hardline new boss Felix Magath.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who sacked Magath in 2007, says Rene Meulensteen’s Craven Cottage successor is a sadistic control freak who was hated by players.

Three of Fulham’s first team have already played under Magath – and as players swapped phone calls Fulham sack Rene Meulensteen: Felix Magath for beginners - who is the Cottagers' new boss? , it became apparent they were in for the shock of their lives.

Lewis Holtby, on loan at Fulham from Tottenham, played under Magath at Schalke, while Sascha Riether and Ashkan Dejagah operated under him at Wolfsburg.

Sunday Mirror Sport revealed last week that Meulensteen would be sacked after the midweek game against Liverpool unless results improved.

Meulensteen’s loyalty to his No 2 Ray Wilkins, who left the dug-out during the 3-2 defeat by Liverpool after a bust-up with Brendan Rodgers, is also believed to be a factor in the Dutchman’s downfall.

Technical director Alan Curbishley who had been sounded out as a potential successor to Meulensteen, is due to meet Magath today to discuss his future.

Yet Bayern president Hoeness insists 60-year-old Magath, who has only worked in Germany until now, could never manage a club in his homeland again.

Hoeness said: “I knew Felix would pop up again somewhere as manager. But not in Germany. Here there is no future for him. I thought his only chance would be abroad, where they don’t know him well.

“He goes well beyond the limits of physical challenges with players.

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“He is pushing players to a ridiculous stage. Well over the edge.

“For him it is natural to squeeze the body of a professional player like a lemon to the final drop. It goes well beyond the stage where it gets unhealthy for the body of a player. This can lead to a short revival but in the long term it leads to disaster. Felix Magath has proved that at every club he has been.

“The way he operates and works with players has nothing to do with getting results. I would never want to treat human beings like he does. I would never want to hurt a player as much as he does.

“When players run so little in a match they are either absolutely exhausted from training or they are playing against their own manager.

“He should ask himself why all the players at the clubs where he worked throw a massive party when he has left. Even when he was successful, they still had a blast once he was out the door.”

Jan Age Fjortoft, the former Middlesbrough striker who played under Magath at Eintracht Frankfurt, said: “Magath was capable of a lot. I am not sure if he could have saved the Titanic, but the survivors would have been in a top fit condition.’’

Wolfsburg’s Brazilian striker Grafite collapsed in July 2008 in the Austrian Alps on an afternoon where Magath ordered his players to walk to the top of a mountain.

Because of the hard pre-season work they had done, he had promised the squad of Wolfsburg a free day. But in the afternoon he changed his mind and told the players to do a four-hour walk to the top of the mountain. After two and a half hours Grafite collapsed.

Holtby, who has been in fine form in his first three games on loan for Fulham, has previously admitted that he did well to survive the Magath regime at Schalke.

Alex Grimm

Magath speaks little English, although a large number of Fulham’s squad are German speakers.

The veteran boss has just 12 games to get his message across and save the Premier League’s bottom club from relegation.

And Hoeness has also warned that Magath will want to have complete control at Craven Cottage.

He said: “Felix wants total power. He is also a very suspicious guy. He sees ghosts and is convinced everyone is always talking about him.

“This is why, at every club, he wants to become manager, director, coach, and even print the match day programmes.”

Meulensteen was personally popular with Fulham players but many have been dismayed by the constantly changing nature of the managerial and coaching staff this season.

Meulensteen was appointed as head coach when Martin Jol was still in charge at the Cottage only for his fellow Dutchman to be sacked two games later.

Then Under-21s coach Kit Symons was added to the first-team coaching staff only to be dropped from that role when Curbishley and Wilkins joined the staff.

Now Meulensteen is gone after just 72 days and Fulham’s players are facing up to their toughest challenge of all when they return to training tomorrow under Magath, who won Bundesliga titles with Bayern and Wolfsburg, but is known as one of football’s harshest disciplinarians.

And Hoeness added: “Yes, Magath did win the title with Bayern but if you are still able to create a situation where 80 per cent of the players are against you in a year that you win the Championship, like he did at Bayern, then there really is something wrong. And that was not just the case at Bayern, apparently it was like this at Wolfsburg too.’’