Fulham chief executive Alastair Mackintosh drove the appointment of new manager Felix Magath.

The Daily Mail says Mackintosh had developed a relationship with Magath some years back when the former German international was combining the roles of head coach and director of football at Wolfsburg.

If you wanted to buy a Wolfsburg player it was to Magath that someone in Mackintosh's role would speak, and the two men got on well.

So, when faced with an owner, Shahid Khan, who does not want to see the value of his new football club plummet, Mackintosh thought immediately of Magath - out of work since October 2012 - and a meeting in London was arranged for Thursday.