Mourinho & Fenerbahce: A Match Made in Heaven?

Mourinho & Fenerbahce: A Match Made in Heaven?

Fenerbahce have gone all-in on Jose Mourinho as the man to lead them to a first Super Lig title in 10 years.

The most volatile coach in the world, has joined the most volatile club in the world, in the most volatile league in the world. Anything and everything is possible over the next ten months on beIN SPORTS with Jose Mourinho on the bench for Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig.

The final few months of the most recent season in Türkiye were eventful to say the least for Fenerbahce. Supporters met at the stadium for a rally in April to vote on whether to leave the Super Lig entirely, after complaints and conspiracies of favoritism towards Galatasaray from the Powers-that-Be. That trigger was not pulled, so Fenerbahce fans had to sit through a tense title fight that was eventually won by their accursed city rivals, to rub more salt in the wounds.

That's not to say that Fenerbahce did not push Galatasaray all the way. 99 league points were racked up, 99 goals were scored with just a single league game lost all year. However, those figures were still not enough to win a first Super Lig title for ten years, an unacceptable drought for passionate fans with little patience. Galatasaray's victory saw the departure of head coach, Ismail Kartal, who took the team close to glory, but not close enough.

Fenerbahce's bosses then gathered their chips and put every single one on a famous football figure whose tenures are binary: boom or bust – Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese provoker was out of work having left Roma in January and was lured to the cauldron of the Super Lig with a reported salary of $11.4 million a year.

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Supporters certainly approved of the signature signing, filling their stadium to welcome their new manager to the Istanbul club. "Normally, a coach is loved after victories. In this case, I feel that I am loved before victories. Your dreams are now my dreams," said Mourinho, dusting off the same spiel used in recent years at Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Roma.

In a league of rammed with conspiracy theories, grudges, fist-throwing owners, and supporters who are not shy of taking the law into their own hands, Fenerbahce have found their Pirate King. Mourinho is a figure who will gain every advantage possible, pull at every thread, and chip away both on and off the pitch to gain any advantage imaginable in the title race.

The Super Lig is a different universe to the leagues where Mourinho has coached before. How well the Special One handles it sees a campaign of must-watch matches on beIN SPORTS.