I played under former Bayern Munich and Fulham boss who had ‘awful’ punishment for players

Darren Bent has recalled the punishment that made Felix Magath ‘lose the dressing room’ at Fulham.

Bent signed for the Cottagers on a season-long loan from Premier League rivals Aston Villa ahead of the 2013/14 campaign.

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Magath, formerly of Bayern Munich, was appointed as their manager in February as relegation to the Championship emerged as a real possibility.

However, he was unable to help secure Fulham’s top flight status and sacked early on in the following season with just four wins from 20.

Speaking on talkSPORT Drive, co-host Bent was asked about the worst individual or team punishment he faced during his career.

And it was one of Magath’s disciplinary methods during his stint at Fulham that took the number one spot.

“The worst punishment I’ve had… I mean, Magath’s were bad, some of them,” Bent revealed.

“There was that one, standing on the pitch, there were even ones where he’d make you come in on a Sunday, which wasn’t a problem but you played 90 minutes on the Saturday.

“And if you didn’t play well, he’d come in with the ball and go, ‘Ah’, show us the ball and go, ‘Ah’. Once we’re out for training, he’s like, ‘Ah, we’re not going to use this today. You didn’t want to play any football yesterday, so you’re not going to use it today.’

“And he’d blow the whistle and just say, ‘Run’, with the fitness guy, and it was called ‘fartleks’. It’s like a stride to jog, that’s what a fartlek is, do you know what I mean?

“So he blew the whistle, and we had to stride out fast. He’d blow the whistle, we’d slow it down, jog for however long, he’d blow it again, and we did this for an hour.

“Senior players like Scott Parker, Brede Hangeland, Steve Sidwell, myself, all senior players, John Arne Riise, these guys [played] 90 minutes on the Saturday and had to just come in and do that. Honestly, awful.”

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“I’m guessing those players would think, ‘I’m not playing for him,’” said his co-host Andy Goldstein, and Bent replied: “100 per cent.

“He lost the dressing room, we got relegated, lost the dressing room.”

Magath left Fulham in September 2014 after they lost six of their opening seven games in the Championship.

He went on to manage Chinese side Shandong Taishan FC before a short spell at Hertha Berlin in Germany.

Despite his struggles at Fulham, Magath won two Bundesliga titles with Bayern and another with Wolfsburg, managing a total of 11 different clubs.