Bundesliga Blog: Mad Magath imposes his crazy rule over Wolfsburg

Even by his own generous standards, Wolfsburg manager Felix Magath appears to have lost his mind. A €1,000 fine for any player attempting an "unnecessary backpass"?!

By Emmet Purcell

There's no manager quite like VfL Wolfsburg boss Felix Magath, who is alternately brilliant and bonkers in equal measure.

He's a guy whose torturous training ground methods (namely, the use of intense physical conditioning and his beloved medicine balls) are legendary, as is the kind of wheeler-dealing that would make Harry Redknapp swoon.

This summer alone Magath oversaw 23 transfers within the club, with 12 newcomers for the Wolves (including Alexander Hleb and Thomas Hitzlsperger) and 11 on the move.

In other words, he's been a busy boy and yet he's not doing his reputation in Germany any favours with recent behaviour, as many believe he arrives at every role, brings new players, brings success and burns bridge with staff members and player before being sent off less than years later.

As Phillip Lahm wrote in his recent controversial autobiography, "Under Magath the players never knew where they stood. At first, that prompted the players to give their best because they wanted to play, but after a while the players knew where they stood and Magath no longer received the same effect."

On paper though, Magath's record is formidable, as he won the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal (German Cup) double at Bayern in 2005 and 2006, while he won the Bundesliga at this first visit to Wolfsburg in 2008.

Even last season, he was fired from Schalke despite getting the side to the DFB Pokal final and Champions League semi final - because he was too damn insufferable for the day-to-day running of the club.

Magath and Helmes - not exactly best mates

Now, surprise surprise, Magath has already ran riot at his new club, although rather confusingly, he appears to have lost the plot before any of the typical preceding success manifested itself.

Magath was the third manager last season for Wolfsburg, ordered to help steer a sinking ship following the poor managerial spell of Steve McLaren and then Pierre Littbarski. Finishing just one spot above the relegation play-offs (in Germany, the third-last Bundesliga team plays the third-placed team in the second division over two legs), there was hope that Magath could turn the team into Bundesliga contenders after getting out the chequebook this summer.

Now after four games of the new season, Wolfsburg are four spots from the bottom of the league, with just one win and three losses, all of which from their last three games.

Following their last defeat, 4-1 against Borussia M'gladbach, Magath took the unprecedented step of fining two players (Thomas Helmes, Mario Mandzukic) €10,000 for failing to follow his tactical instructions.

Helmes, originally intended to be the side's replacement for Edin Dzeko, has especially came under criticism from his boss and even been banned from recent first-team training. In response, the player's agent has said that "Magath is destroying the funds of the club and I am pretty sure such a major company like Volkswagen [Wolfsburg's owners] does not treat employees that way. Felix Magath is just cynical."

Code of conduct

It gets worse. This week it has emerged that Magath's punishments have gone even further, with the disciplinarian allegedly imposing a code of conduct for all of his players.

Late for training? That'll be a €100 fine for every minute until you show up. Wearing headphones on the team bus? €250 please. On the pitch, any player that delivers an "unnecessary backpass" will have to pay up €1,000, while a defender that lets the ball bounce in front of him rather than clearing it directly can expect an imposition of €500. Yes, Magath is actually that crazy.

Ulf Baranowsky from the Player's Union VDV has since chimed in to express his disgust at the impositions, stating that "to impose a monetary penalty because a player has performed poorly, is strictly prohibited [by law]". Worse still, the code of conduct, if true, can only be seen as a massive psychological boulder around the neck's of the team's already struggling players.

Magath, however, has a big chance to prove his former employers wrong this coming Sunday, as Wolfsburg entertain Schalke in the late Sunday afternoon tie. Win and he gets to prove the top brass of Schalke wrong but lose and he edges ever-closer to receiving his marching orders, having radically overhauled Wolfsburg at great expense in just five months.

Actually, if he loses we genuinely fear for the safety and wellbeing of those players at his disposal, not to mention their wage packets - so let's all hope for a nice draw instead, shall we?

Fixtures:

Fri - FC Augsburg v Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Sat - Borussia Dortmund v Hertha BSC Berlin, FC Bayern Munich v SC Freiburg, FSV Mainz 05 v 1899 Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart v Hannover 96, Borussia M'gladbach v FC Kaiserslautern, SV Werder Bremen v Hamburger SV,

Sun - FC Köln v FC Nuremberg, VfL Wolfsburg v FC Schalke 04 (Live on ESPN, 16:30)