Fulham Fire Felix Magath: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

Things have gone from bad to worse for Fulham. After being relegated last season, the club have opened their Championship campaign in just about the worst way possible, with six losses and a draw in their first seven matches.    

Given the horrific start, Fulham have decided to part ways with manager Felix Magath. The club released the following statement on their website:

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Fulham Chairman Shahid Khan today named Kit Symons as Caretaker Manager of Fulham Football Club and will personally and immediately lead a thorough search for the new First Team Manager of the Club.

Symons, the Under-21s Manager at Fulham, replaces Felix Magath. Mr. Khan today thanked Mr. Magath for his efforts through the final three months of last season in the Barclays Premier League and the first seven matches this season in the Sky Bet Championship.

'This is an unfortunate but necessary change,' Mr Khan said. 'I am doing what I feel is right and needed for Fulham Football Club, for today as well as tomorrow. I thank our supporters for standing by us during these most difficult of times on the pitch, and promise better days ahead.'

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Given the shoddy start to the season and Magath's struggles with the club in general, this hardly comes as a shock. In fact, the only person who seems surprised by this at all is the manager himself, per Kevin Palmer of ESPN:

As WhoScored.com noted on Twitter, Magath's record with the club was atrocious:

And Sam Tighe of Bleacher Report felt the manager's tenure had mercifully drawn to a close:

These are painful days for Fulham supporters. After 13 years in a row of top-flight football in the Premier League they were relegated last season. Still, many fans likely thought the demotion would be a one-year circumstance and the club and its players would soon enough be plying their trade at the top level.   

Instead, after seven games Fulham already find themselves 12 points outside of the last playoff spot. Thankfully they have the majority of the season to reverse course, but the hole they've dug for themselves is formidable.

In other words, Symons has a huge task ahead of him, as even after this start anything less than a place in the playoffs will be deemed a failure for Fulham. At this point, however, there's nowhere to go but up.