Al Fayed sacks Fulham chief Langham

Mystery last night surrounded Fulham's second boardroom shake-up in a week, with the man standing in for sacked chief executive, Bruce Langham, revealing he had no idea he would get the job.

The Cottagers chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, who bought out the shares of his vice-chairman, Bill Muddyman, and director Andy Muddyman on Friday, yesterday fired Langham 18 months after he started in the post. In a statement, the club said the axing of Langham, who had spoken on many occasions of his close relationship with Al Fayed, was a "management restructure".

However, the deputy managing director, Lee Hoos, who has taken over the day-to-day running along with the finance director, Andy Ambler, said the news came out of the blue. "I had absolutely no idea about it," he said. "I just learned about it today."

Fulham refused to give any further official explanation for the departure of Langham, the former Telewest business expert, who was seen chatting with colleagues at the home defeat by Liverpool on Sunday.

A statement from the club read: "Fulham today announce Bruce Langham has had his contract as chief executive officer terminated on notice. Mr Langham's departure is part of a management restructuring which will see the appointment of a new CEO within the next few weeks."

Langham cleared his desk at Fulham's Motspur Park training complex in south-west London and will not return to work. His departure is surprising given his key role in persuading Lee Clark and Louis Saha to become the latest members of Chris Coleman's squad to sign long-term contracts.

The Cottagers want the midfielder Clark and striker Saha to follow the example of Steed Malbranque, Luis Boa Morte and Sylvain Legwinski, who have all extended their deals during the last month. Malbranque stretched his contract from 2006 to 2007, while Boa Morte and Legwinski also added a year to their deals which now run until 2006.

Clark, 31, is back to his best after two injury-ravaged seasons and has been the captain for most of this term.

Saha, 25, has been in impressive form in the last two games as Fulham won 3-1 at Manchester United and then pushed Liverpool all the way before losing 2-1 at home on Sunday. But the Frenchman's performance at Old Trafford sparked reports of a possible £5m bid from Sir Alex Ferguson.

Another player who will be at the centre of contract talks during forthcoming weeks is the on-loan Arsenal right-back, Moritz Volz. The 20-year-old is on a season-long deal but can be recalled at 24 hours' notice - something the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, may consider due to Lauren's four-match suspension which begins later this month.