Fulham hit panic button in bid to stay up as Magath appointed
Published:Fulham’s tumultuous season took another twist as they moved on to their third manager of the season with Rene Meulensteen axed and former Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath appointed as his replacement.
It appears Fulham chairman Shahid Khan lost patience with former Manchester United coach Meulensteen, who only managed to oversee four wins from 17 games, last losing out to Liverpool in a 3-2 defeat.
Khan said: “With 12 matches remaining, we certainly can no longer post empty results. Action was required.”
Coming into the smouldering Craven Cottage hotseat is 60-year-old German Magath, who has already been installed at 20/1 with Ladbrokes to be the next Premier League manager to leave – ahead of the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (25/1) and 28/1 Gus Poyet.
Magath has a rich history in German football, twice leading Bayern to consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2005 and 2006, before orchestrating Wolfsburg ‘s famous 2009 title triumph.
That remains Magath’s last post as a manager where he parted company in 2012, before penning an 18 month contract with the Cottagers.
With Fulham lying bottom of the Premier League pile there is no doubting the German manager will have his work cut out to save the Londoner’s top-flight skins this season – though there is still only four points between them and safety with a dozen games to go.
Although the floundering Whites are the current 1/3 favourites to sink into the second tier, their relatively short odds of 9/4 to stay up reflect the tightness of the situation and give plenty of reason for optimism.
Magath will have to use all his expertise to steer them around, it just remains to be seen whether the latest upheaval will have the required affect or just the opposite.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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