Felix Magath has said that he is "very sad" to see Fulham relegated from the Premier League after 13 seasons in the top flight.
A 4-1 defeat to Stoke City has confirmed the Cottagers place in the bottom three with one game still to play this season.
"I've never been relegated until today. I feel very sad. I have to apologise for not managing the situation. The club asked me to come, I tried," BBC Sport quotes the manager as saying.
"At the end it was better than before but not good enough. Regarding today, the only thing I can imagine there was too much pressure for the players. There was no reason for that performance, it's the worst game since I've been here. I didn't expect it. We were fighting against relegation. I told the team, today was a great chance but we never took the chance.
"The thing is you can never say any player would like to see relegation, but they didn't fight enough, especially today. It's hard for everybody who likes Fulham. I like it at Fulham, the club and the English way of playing football. I want to build a new team, that was the idea when I came here."
Fulham will play Crystal Palace in their final Premier League match next weekend.
Sian Cowper
