They always say that all good things must come to an end. But in football, it’s also particularly true that some things just simply HAVE to end. It’s just when, not if.
In my first blog of this series, I proclaimed that Jose Mourinho would love it in Turkish football. He would be the ‘king of the castle’, he would be the biggest football fish in a relatively smaller pond than the oceans he has found himself in in the past. But one thing I was always confident about, was that Jose would do things one way, just as he always has, his way. For better, or for worst, he is indeed Jose Mourinho, and he will not change.
It was always going to be tough to combat the now 3x consecutive champions from across the city of Istanbul, but naturally a challenge is something that appeals to Jose; if he succeeds he is a hero, if he fails he can use many excuses (and naturally he is good at finding those when he needs to). Fenerbahce haven’t won the Turkish Super Lig since 2014, so really even with Mourinho at the helm, where they ever going to top Galatasaray? The seemingly close gap from last season (when both teams finished level on points, only for Gala to claim the title) has now been widened, largely down to a magical Nigerian leading the line for Fener’s city rivals. And add that to a somewhat disappointing elimination to Rangers in the Europa League, and it becomes hard on the face of it to find much that can point to this season being a success for Fenerbahce or Jose Mourinho.
I will make the point again, Jose always does things his way. Has that been to the detriment of Fenerbahce this season?…
Any faint hopes of a late chase of their great rivals was pretty much put to bed, at the hands of another rival in Besiktas. Of course, the team led by one Ole Gunnar got the better of Fener at the start of May. And as if losing to the man who replaced him at Manchester United wasn’t enough of a blow for Jose, the goalscorer was another man with a link to the Portuguese… fellow countryman Gedson Fernandes, who pretty much flopped under Mourinho at Spurs, got the only goal of the game.
It was quite the victory for Solskjaer, who became the first foreign Besiktas manager to win away at Fenerbahce in TWENTY TWO YEARS! And effectively ended Mourinho’s faint hopes of claiming another country’s league title.
They didn’t let this get them down though, as they next got a 4-1 win away to city neighbours Istanbul Basaksehir. But it was not the impressive victory that caught the most attention, but instead a response from Jose when he was asked about how he selects his teams, given the number of frequent changes he makes…
I guess the old adage rings true, ask a silly question and get a silly answer…
If you have read the blogs I have done in this series, you’ll know I have not exactly been confident in the chances of Mourinho being Fener manager for the long term. And once again he has been linked with a job elsewhere. And that was once again the case, and once again with a job he has been linked with more than any other in his entire career. And I think he will be until the day comes when he takes the job finally!
Jose Mourinho ‘reaches agreement’ to take shock managerial job amid Man Utd links
Could he… finally?
Fenerbahce then got a 2-1 win at home to Eyupsor. But sadly, it didn’t matter. This was the night the dream died, as across the city, it was party time…
With Galatasaray 2-0 up and coasting towards being crowned champions once more, they were awarded a penalty kick. And I am not sure if this is a warm tribute to a legend, or adding insult to their rivals’ injuries. But the decision was made for an unlikely taker to be handled the responsibility of converting it and putting the cherry on top of the cake.
Fernando Muslera, after 14 years at the club, looks set to leave Gala, and did so by wrapping up the match, and the Super Lig championship. For Galatasaray, champions again. Second place for Fenerbahce, again.
We then had more speculation on Mourinho’s future. With the man himself speaking on it:
“Yes, I can deny that I had any meeting with the Portuguese Football Federation. I am a loyal person.”
“The only time I had direct contact with a club I informed Fenerbahce. It wasn’t now, it was in January. I had a meeting with the [unnamed] club. I didn’t accept the offer. But I informed my club even before the meeting.”
I would not want to put money on who the club in question is here, but I could have a guess of which part of the world they are based in… more specifically the country…
And now for the first time, we have reports of how Fenerbahce as a club plan to move forward. And although it seems from this report as if the club are planning to aid Mourinho, I read it differently…
Fenerbahce considers club legend for assistant role under Mourinho – Türkiye Today
Now you can focus on them wanting to bring in someone to help, or you (like I do) read this as them noticing that Mourinho is causing issues, and they want to bring in someone to firstly appease the fans, but MAYBE… to one day replace Jose when it all inevitably ends in tears. It should be noted that the article also mentions that the club has presidential elections this coming September, which may or may not influence who the manager of the club is going forward. But don’t be shocked if Volkan Demirel is not just a future Fenerbahce assistant coach, but the club’s main man in charge. And don’t be shocked if that happens sooner rather than later…
And so with the season dying somewhat of a sad death towards the end of it, that feeling was only compounded with their penultimate match of the season… against already relegated Hatayspor.
And of course, as you can guess by now if you have read any of the blogs in this series, Jose took this result well…
“In the last 7 years, I have played in 2 European finals. That means I have played in more finals in Europe over the last 7 years than Turkish football has seen in its entire history.”
He also reaffirmed his commitment to the club for a second season, adding:
“If you ask me if I’m going to be here next season, I refer to the last [Fenerbahce] president’s appearance on TV a couple of weeks ago, where the president said that he wants me to stay and he is counting on me to stay for the next season. That is public. That’s it. I think he was clear. If anything changes from that day, I was not told. I can confirm that these words were exactly the same words that I was told when we met. So that for me is a very clear situation.”
Hmm… I still would not be shocked to see a change. If not in the off season, then within months of the new season commencing.
But before any of that, there was still one final match to play of a pretty drab 24/25 season. And although mid-table Konyaspor weren’t supposed to cause any problems, they did take an early lead at the Ülker Stadium. But sure enough, Fener got out of jail thanks to Kahveci and En-Nesyri goals giving them a 2-1 win.
But… as so often has been the case with Jose Mourinho during his entire managerial career, let alone his sole season in Turkey, the real story came about not on the football pitch, but in the media and via press reports…
Two of Fener’s more prominent players this season have been the experienced duo of Edin Dzeko and Dusan Tadic. Both players are to leave the club this summer, and so a farewell was expected… However, the Fener fans didn’t get one that they may have liked. Instead, due to apparent fears over ‘fan unrest’, the players didn’t even play and instead a low-key presentation took place at the club’s training ground.
And doesn’t Mourinho just look DELIGHTED to be there…
In recent weeks we have seen plenty of ceremonial farewells and each of them with their own bit of theatre and spectacle; Jamie Vardy at Leicester, Luke Modric at Real Madrid, Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City, even across the city we saw goalkeeper Fernando Muslera given a heroes farewell. So denying the Fenerbahce faithful the chance to wave goodbye to their own departees did not go down so well. So much so, that Tadic was forced to speak in the aftermath, saying that:
“It was a decision we made together with Dzeko not to play in the last match. We didn’t want to damage Fenerbahce’s image. The fans have always supported us. The way he said goodbye is not a problem for me. I would have preferred it to be in the stadium, but the ambiance is not very good at the moment. That’s why it’s better to be that way.”
So… read into that what you will. But as someone who first hand witnessed a relegated team STILL give a very public send off to a club legend in front of the fans, I can safely say it is not wise to upset an already disappointed fanbase any further. A very… odd… decision.
But that’s kind of been the theme of Mourinho’s season in Turkey… a little odd… I don’t know what Jose or the club expected from the season, but it surely can’t have been this? Perhaps a little blindsided by Galatasaray’s capture of their famous Nigerian, but as soon as Victor Osimhen donned that Orange and Burgundy kit, you may as well have handed them the Turkish Super Lig trophy for the season there and then. And maybe Fener couldn’t been expected to finish behind the champions, but given we went from goal difference last season to ELEVEN points this, I don’t think you call the season as anything other than a failure.
And it will be interesting to see how Mourinho responds to this. The first season can sometimes be tricky, but it has been the second at times where the chickens have really come to roost (Porto won the Champions League, Inter the same, Madrid won the title, the second spell at Chelsea saw another league winners medal added… But also, the more recent jobs haven’t gone that well in season 2 (Roma season2 ended in shame with a furious outburst at the officials of a losing effort in the Europa League final, at Spurs he was sacked in season 2, albeit days before a Caribao Cup final). So all in all, I cannot say I am too confident that Mourinho can lead Fenerbahce to glory and to overthrow their great rivals in the process. That’s if… he even makes it that far…
And with that, my series covering Jose Mourinho’s inaugural season as Fenerbahce manager is over. It has been a lot of fun covering a team from another land for a season, and naturally I have had plenty to write about. He certainly never disappoints in that way does Mr Mourinho. But if he is still truly the ‘Special One’ or the special ONCE remains to be seen. IF he was to remain at Fenerbahce, and IF he was to lead them to the Turkish domestic crown, it may well go down as one of his most Special triumphs of them all.
Josh.