Kit Symons was handed the job as Fulham manager after a historically poor start to the campaign in the Championship under Felix Magath.
Far from the days of Marco Silva and the Premier League, Fulham were in contention to suffer back-to-back relegations after a horrendous top-flight campaign in 2013/14.
Speaking on the Fulhamish Podcast, Kit Symons shared some of the details from his time in charge at Craven Cottage.
A flurry of different managers couldn’t save Fulham back in 2014 with Felix Magath the man in charge on that fateful day at the Bet365 Stadium when the club’s fate was sealed.
The German stayed in charge over the summer but the horror stories that have come out of the club since may explain why he lasted just seven league games in the second tier.
Fulham turned to Kit Symons to take over as manager, promoting him from his role with the Under-21s.
He had a huge squad to deal with and while he couldn’t guide the Whites to promotion during his time at the club, it can’t be underestimated what a mess Fulham was when he first started.
Symons had to do plenty of unfashionable work behind the scenes that helped Slavisa Jokanovic thrive as his successor.
One job Symons immediately had to do was re-integrate three key players into the squad.
Magath had chosen to play an incredibly young team at the start of that season, but Symons recognised that experience was needed to survive in the Championship.
Symons shares story of the Three Amigos while Fulham manager
Speaking about taking over at the club and a trio of players who had previously been frozen out, Symons said: “As I said, there was Bryan [Ruiz], Fernando [Amorebieta] and Hugo [Rodallega] had been treated really, really badly.
“I don’t know why, but for whatever reason why weren’t allowed to train with the first-team squad, which was a massive first-team squad of about 30 players.
“Those three were put on the side of the pitch playing head tennis every day alongside the first team.
“I mean, I think they would have rathered it, it would have been better if they were sent over to me taking the Under-21s, they would have got some proper training.
“So, they weren’t happy by the way they were treated by the club as they saw it and I don’t blame them as it was wrong.”
All three players Symons mentions had a mixed time at Fulham but put a shift in during his time as manager.
Ruiz managed more than a century of appearances for the Whites and will always be one of the classiest operators to ever play in the Championship.
Rodallega nearly matched his tally of appearances and scored some important goals during his time with the club as he competed for minutes with Ross McCormack and Moussa Dembele.
However, Amorebieta will always be remembered for his tendency to pick up a booking – and the occasional red card – as well as being penalised for taking foul throws more than any other player I’ve seen in professional football.
The Spanish-speaking trio – known to Symons as the Three Amigos – all made their unique impact at Craven Cottage.
During a very tough period for the club, the Welshman did a fine job laying the foundations for the success enjoyed under Jokanovic.