Fulham fire Magath as manager after poor start to Championship season
LONDON --
Felix Magath was fired as Fulham manager on Thursday after overseeing the club's relegation from the Premier League and failing to stop its slide in a dreadful start to the season in England's second tier.
Magath, who won Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg in Germany, lasted seven months in his first spell in English football.
Fulham is bottom of the League Championship standings on one point from seven games.
''This is an unfortunate but necessary change,'' Fulham chairman Shahid Khan said. ''I am doing what I feel is right and needed for Fulham . for today as well as tomorrow.''
Magath arrived in Fulham in February on an 18-month contract and with a reputation for brutal training and fitness methods, which earned him the nickname ''Torturer.''
Fulham was bottom of the Premier League with 12 matches remaining, but Magath couldn't keep the team up.
In 20 matches under Magath, Fulham won only four.
''I thank our supporters for standing by us during these most difficult of times on the pitch,'' Khan said, ''and promise better days ahead.''
Khan is searching for his fourth manager in less than a year.
Magath was the second League Championship manager to lose his job on Thursday, after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff.
