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Afolabi Ezekiel - June 19, 2025
By all outward appearances, Fenerbahce’s 2024–25 season was supposed to be a rebirth, a spectacle of redemption under the luminous shadow of one of football’s most polarizing masterminds, Jose Mourinho.
But less than a year into his tenure, the aura of triumph has dissolved into a storm of accusations, paranoia, and growing dissent. The club finds itself at a combustible crossroads, weighed down by internal fractures, questions of leadership, and a deepening mistrust of the system meant to govern Turkish football.
What began as a historic appointment, Mourinho’s unveiling greeted with frenzied crowds and fire-lit optimism has unraveled into a cautionary tale of how a club’s desperation to reclaim its past glories can spiral into institutional chaos.
The turbulence surrounding Fenerbahce isn’t limited to on-pitch struggles. The club is now demanding a formal investigation into leaked WhatsApp messages allegedly sent by members of the Turkish Football Federation’s Professional Football Disciplinary Board (PFDK). These messages, unverified but explosive in implication, were said to express hostile and vengeful attitudes toward Fenerbahce, a clear violation of the impartiality expected from officials governing the sport.
In a strongly worded letter, Fenerbahce’s board called for the TFF to uphold its responsibility to fairness, claiming the incident damages the credibility of Turkish football itself. “This hostile mentality has no place in Turkish sports,” the statement read.
The scandal touches a nerve in a country where football is already steeped in suspicion and tribalism. If true, the messages reinforce long-held beliefs among fans that powerful forces conspire behind the scenes, tipping the scales in favor of rivals like Galatasaray.
Ironically, Mourinho who is infamous for invoking conspiracy narratives wherever he goes has leaned into this paranoia. He often deflects criticism of his tactics or results by alluding to unfair treatment, a strategy now amplified by these leaks. But this time, it’s not just media bluster, the headlines are real, and the institutional rot may run deeper than even he imagined.
While the disciplinary leak controversy brews off the pitch, Mourinho’s troubles on it have escalated. Despite only three league losses all season, Fenerbahce finished second for a fourth consecutive campaign, a position that might satisfy other clubs but is seen as humiliating by a fanbase starving of success since 2014.
Worse still, two of those losses came against arch-rivals Galatasaray. The mocking cartoons, the viral videos, and the metaphorical straitjackets, Mourinho has become a figure of ridicule in Turkish football’s most heated rivalry. His aggressive outbursts, touchline bans, and inflammatory comments have done little to turn the tide. Instead, they’ve fed the drama machine while yielding few results.
Yet, bizarrely, he stays. Not because of performance. Not because of public faith. But because of politics and money.
Club president Ali Koc whose popularity is plummeting, tied his legacy to Mourinho in a last-ditch effort to win re-election. The “Special One” was meant to be the ace card, the turnaround architect, the symbol of renewed ambition. Sacking him now, so soon after his theatrical arrival, would be an admission of complete failure. And Koc, already facing an emergency election campaign, can’t afford that. Not financially. Not politically.
There’s a simple economic reason Mourinho remains, his contract. With a reported €10 million annual salary and a multi-year deal, the cost of dismissal is steep. But the deeper truth lies in the tangled web of internal power plays.
Ali Koc’s presidency has been marked by managerial churn, fan unrest, and no major silverware. With critics circling, the president is buying time and delaying elections until after the transfer window closes, trying to rebuild credibility with signings rather than results.
But fan groups, including influential figures like Emrah Tunay of the Fenerbahce Volunteers Association, are rallying for change. If enough signatures are gathered, a new election could happen as soon as this summer, potentially returning former president Aziz Yildirim to power, the very man who also tried to bring in Mourinho before Koc beat him to the punch.
In a twist of fate, Mourinho could find himself discarded by the man who originally wanted him, now tarnished by his association with failure.
What Fenerbahce is enduring goes beyond one man’s managerial shortcomings or a few controversial messages. It’s the result of a decade of mismanagement, inflated expectations, and a governing body that now faces accusations of bias and corruption.
Turkish football is at an inflection point. The Mourinho experiment was supposed to bring global attention and competitive prestige. Instead, it has laid bare the fragility of the system and exposed just how brittle things have become.
Fenerbahce fans must now ask if this is a temporary storm, or is their beloved club trapped in a cycle of dysfunction from which even the most decorated of managers cannot save them?
One thing is clear with Mourinho still in the dugout, and a furious fanbase at the gates, the fireworks at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium may not be over yet. And if the leaked messages are just the tip of the iceberg, Turkish football’s reckoning may only be beginning.
For now, Mourinho stays, not because he’s succeeded, but because Fenerbahce cannot afford the cost, in euros or in pride, of admitting another failure. The TFF’s integrity hangs in the balance, with leaked messages threatening to strip away what little faith remains in impartiality and justice. And for the fans, disillusioned, angry, but ever passionate, the hope lies in fresh leadership and a return to purpose.
Until that happens, Fenerbahce may remain not a club chasing glory, but one trapped in perpetual turbulence with chaos as its most consistent companion.
In the end, Fenerbahce’s current crisis is not just about Mourinho or even the Turkish Football Federation. It is the culmination of years of structural rot, hasty decisions, political entanglements, and unmet expectations.
What was sold as a renaissance under José Mourinho has turned into a sobering reminder that even football’s grandest names cannot paper over institutional cracks.
