Martin Jol: Bobby Zamora leaked to the media while at Fulham

The Fulham manager has denied being unpopular with his team (AP)

Martin Jol, the Fulham manager, has hit back at the club's former striker Bobby Zamora for suggesting "the vast majority" of the west London club's squad do not like him.

The 31-year-old was sold to Queen's Park Rangers at the end of January's transfer window after a period in which reports frequently suggested he did not get on with the Dutchman. Zamora broke his silence this week and claimed he was not the only one to have a problem with Jol, who was surprised that his former charge decided to make such comments.

"It is probably sour grapes," Jol said when asked about it. "I think nothing is what it seems. Everyone knows me. The players know me so one player will say this, another player will say that.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care. For me, the most important thing is we get the results so you will have to ask the players. If they do well and work hard, I try to get a good relationship with them. If not, I don't. Insiders here know that this probably started after two weeks of me being here.

"There was [sic] a few leaks in the paper and I asked him and he said: 'No, it wasn't me'. I knew it was him and his agent 100 per cent.

"He said: 'No, it wasn't me, I hate the press'. He hated defence and later said he hated crosses as well and that was the moment I thought maybe it is better to sell and that is what we did."

Zamora was followed out of Fulham, who travel to Southampton today, this summer by a number of key players, including Mousa Dembélé, Clint Dempsey, Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson and Dickson Etuhu.

Asked if he had an issue with any of those players, the normally-reserved manager added: "If you take Clint Dempsey, it is different from Mousa Dembélé. Mousa was phoning me after his move and thanking me for everything. Every player is different.

"Clint wanted to move so then the relationship would not be great. Danny Murphy I wanted to keep so ask him. There were no issues at all.

"With Bobby it started after a couple of weeks. Everybody knew and now he has moved on. I don't think it is typically English to make comments after a year or eight months."