Failure and dismissal

Jose Mourinho lost his job at the start of the season. Fenerbahce fired the “Special One” early on the morning of August 29 (local time), just over 24 hours after the team was eliminated in the Champions League play-off round.

A year ago, when Mourinho had just arrived, Fenerbahce was also stopped by Lille in the third qualifying round.

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Mourinho was fired by Fenerbahce. Photo: EFE

This time, Benfica, where Mourinho began his professional coaching career, are the ones standing in the way.

Mourinho, who won Europe's most prestigious tournament twice with two different clubs (with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010 - becoming the first and only Italian team to win the treble), had to play in the Europa League - a "consolation tournament" that he was not happy about when last season he was eliminated by Rangers in the round of 16.

But this time the Portuguese coach lost his job even before the "consolation" match was played.

Mourinho signed a two-year contract in the summer of 2024 with the task of reviving a title-hungry club.

Fenerbahce , the team that boasts the largest fan base in Turkey, has not won the national championship since 2014. During that time, Galatasaray has won the title six times, widening the gap in the achievement table.

In that context, chairman Ali Koc – a wealthy businessman – often had public clashes with Mourinho.

Recently, right before the second leg against Benfica, the Portuguese coach spoke up: "Where are the new contracts? This club has no plans. I don't believe they have a transfer list."

Meanwhile, vice-president Hamdi Akin, Koc's right-hand man, boldly declared that the team would win "easily" in Lisbon.

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Mourinho has not made much of an impression in Türkiye. Photo: A Bola

Mourinho responded: “Believe it or not, I don’t even know who he (Akin) is. Honestly, I have no idea about him, I don’t know what influence he has or what position he has in the club. For me, in the structure of the club, no one has ever introduced him. I have absolutely no idea.”

No longer special

Koc, who met Mourinho in London earlier this summer and was considering leaving him, is known for his decisiveness.

So this time he did not hesitate to make a decision without caring about the contract compensation.

Since Koc took over in 2018, Fenerbahce's coaching position has changed constantly: Phillip Cocu, Erwin Koeman, Ersun Yanal, Zeki Murat Gole, Tahir Karapınar, Erol Bulut, Emre Belozoglu, Vitor Pereira, Ismail Kartal, Jorge Jesus and now Mourinho - the second longest-serving manager (62 games; 37 wins).

The appearance of the "Special One" led to a wave of heavy spending in the transfer market: more than 100 million euros for new contracts.

These include En-Nesyri, Diego Carlos, Soyuncu, Saint-Maximin, Amrabat, Skriniar, Jhon Duran, Nelson Semedo or Dorgeles Nene - the winger recently bought from Salzburg for 18 million euros.

Mourinho left Türkiye empty-handed. Last season, Fenerbahce finished second in the table, far behind Galatasaray – who did the double by eliminating them in the cup and leaving them 11 points behind in the league.

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No title, but lots of controversy. Photo: EFE

The halo of the "Special One" seems to have faded: in the past 10 years, he has only won the Europa League, League Cup and Community Shield with MU in the 2016/17 season; the Conference League championship with Roma in the 2021/22 season.

This season, after four of his associates left, Mourinho called back two long-time "close associates": Rui Faria (who had failed in his ambition to become a head coach) and fitness expert Carlos Lalin. Now, all of them have to find new destinations.

Thus, since leaving Real Madrid in 2013 (agreement to terminate the contract), Mourinho has always been fired wherever he has stopped: 2nd term at Chelsea, MU, Tottenham, AS Roma and most recently Fenerbahce.

Mourinho's stay in Istanbul lasted 424 days, the 62-year-old's shortest stint since he started his career as a coach at Porto in 2004.

Mourinho's glory days are over. He no longer has the qualities that earned him the nickname "The Special One".

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/jose-mourinho-bi-fenerbahce-sa-thai-nguoi-dac-biet-het-thoi-2437832.html