Felix Magath and his lawyer have moved to deny various claims of the German coach's bizarre working practice made in a report about his ill-fated time in charge of Fulham.
Magath arrived at Craven Cottage in February 2014 with a reputation for eccentricities, but a report in British newspaper The Observer on Sunday contained some alleged details of ways in which the German -- who failed to save the club from relegation and was eventually sacked last week -- would deal with his players that were remarkable even by his strict standards of discipline.
The report claimed that the former Bayern Munich and Schalke boss invited players into his office only to stare at them in silence for minutes at a time, and also that he ordered defender Brede Hangeland to treat a leg injury by strapping cheese soaked in alcohol onto the affected area.
Former Fulham captain Danny Murphy backed up the latter claim, but Magath himself told German news agency dpa that he did not overrule club medics by prescribing that treatment.
Fulham say farewell to the crazy (and cheese-involved) world of Felix Magath. The @DTguardian column http://t.co/79BvsfWe7r #ffc
- Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) September 21, 2014
"That's cheese," Magath was quoted as saying, using a German expression which can also mean something is nonsense, and explained that he only advised Hangeland to try and cure his injury with the "traditional homemade remedy of 'quark' [curd] cheese," which has been used by athletes such as Olympic gold medal-winning skier Lindsey Vonn in the past.
"I would never tell a doctor what he has to do," he added.
The accusations of staring were also denied by Magath's lawyer, Ralf Hocker.
"That's totally fabricated," Hocker told dpa, who also revealed he would issue a cease-and-desist notice regarding the article. "My client doesn't stare at players. And he also does not remain silent, and tests whether they blink or not. If it wasn't so sad that this nonsense is published, you could laugh about it."
Magath was sacked last Thursday with Fulham bottom of the Championship after earning just one point from their opening seven games of the 2014-15 campaign.
ESPN FC's Germany correspondent Stephan Uersfeld contributed to this report