Jose Mourinho’s tenure at any club is guaranteed to be colourful, but his eight-month reign as Fenerbahce manager is turning caustic.
The 62-year-old Portuguese has repeatedly revisited his favourite subject of refereeing – an issue Turkish football has struggled with of late – which led to him being accused of racism on Monday night.
BBC Sport breaks down the latest chapter in Jose v Turkish football.
What happened?
Monday’s Istanbul derby between the country’s two biggest clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce ended in a not-so-thrilling 0-0 draw – the fireworks coming afterwards in Mourinho’s media conference when he accused the Galatasaray bench of “jumping like monkeys”.
Galatasaray responded by accusing Mourinho of racism – something Fenerbahce deny, with the club’s vice-president insisting Mourinho’s comments were “100% nothing to do with racism. In this situation [Galatasaray are] trying to manipulate simply just resembling [animals]”.
So far, so messy.
Experienced Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic had been drafted in to take charge of the domestic match – the first in nearly 50 years by a foreign official – following a request from both clubs., external
Mourinho thanked Vincic in his post-match media conference for not booking a Fenerbahce player early in the game – believing many refereeing decisions are heavily influenced by Galatasaray.
He then aimed a dig at the Turkish fourth official, in which he is reported to have said: “If you were a referee this match would be a disaster.”
All of which follows months of complaints by Mourinho about officiating in the Turkish Super Lig, including saying he would not have taken the Fenerbahce job if he had known the standards of officiating.
“Fenerbahce must have known what they were getting into when they hired Jose Mourinho. He is no stranger to headlines,” says BBC Sport chief football news reporter Simon Stone.
“As recently as October, he stated a desire to return to England – and join a club that didn’t compete in Uefa competition as he believed his red card against former club Manchester United was confirmation of an agenda against him.
“The following month he was banned for a game and fined £15,000 by the Turkish FA for an attack on the impartiality of Super Lig officials.
“He maintains to this day his Roma side were badly treated in their Europa League final defeat by Sevilla in 2023, a game when 13 players were booked. Mourinho waited for referee Anthony Taylor in the car park as he was leaving the stadium and expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the Premier League official had handled the game.
“Taylor and his family were subsequently attacked by Roma fans at Budapest airport. Uefa gave Mourinho a four-match ban.”
