Felix Magath was a hired as a last-ditch attempt to keep Fulham in the Premier League - and it backfired gloriously.

The club were all too aware of his reputation as a tough nut when he took over from Rene Meulensteen in February 2014.

Indeed, the Whites board encouraged a ‘hand grenade’ to be thrown at the squad, as an insider put it.

The need to detonate a lack-lustre effort was thought paramount, but it dawned soon enough the loaded gun was primed to explode in their faces.

'Hand grenade' Magath

The plan to shake up the side was a desperate move, but when it failed, the club had no option but to back the manager.

Magath won few new friends when he let go the likes of Brede Hangeland and Steve Sidwell - ideal stalwarts for the fight back, when both would have stayed with a bit of encouragement.

Thoughts of hiring a fourth manager in seven months would have been pure knee-jerk from the board.

So instead, a posse of mostly players from the German’s past were allowed to be fetched for a league about which Magath knew absolutely nothing.

It took all of the first 20 minutes in the season’s opener at Ipswich (see gallery above) to know the immediate future. A wide open defence? The Kansas plains looked smaller.

Overweight? Ross McCormack (C) begs to differ

Rumours were rife about Magath’s military methods, with man management at a premium. Ask top scorer Ross McCormack what he thought about the manager's comments on the striker's weight.

The look on players’ faces after the 3-0 defeat to Reading in September (see gallery below) said the coach had lost the dressing room.

Fulham went bottom with just a single point to show for their efforts after six games.

One defeat more at Nottingham Forest, and the man who had fallen off his bike days earlier was told to get back on it and make for the exit.

Magath won just four times in his 19-game stay - and one of those a Capital Cup tie at Brentford.

Fulham learned their lesson by appointing a five-man committee including legends Brian McBride and Danny Murphy to decide the next manager.

Man alone: Kit Symons

Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh was redeployed to focus on commercial matters and projects as well as the expansion of the Motspur Park training ground.

Kit Symons was in the right place at the right time, bearing in mind it would have been hard to make a bigger hash than the one Magath left.

But, and this baffles me a bit, there has been a constant stream of Symons bashing over the last three months.

We are talking about a former playing hero and a coach with proven success in the Whites academy, but on whom Fulham fans turned.

Choice: Fulham owner Shahid Khan (C) with CEO Alistair Mackintosh (R)

Social media, as well as in games, Whites supporters chanted: ‘you don’t know what you’re doing.’

The man himself, (’Ive grown a thick skin’) begs to differ, but billionaire owner Shahid Khan didn’t make his pile by sitting around.

Recruitment is everything this summer, and if Symons flirts with the bottom half come October, no doubt the hiring five will get a second call.