This season has been brutal for coaches in Turkey’s top flight with 11 of the 18 clubs replacing their coaches so far. Some barely lasted four weeks.
Eleven out of the eighteen clubs in the Turkish Super Lig have replaced their managers in the first half of the 2018/2019 season.
Akhisarspor, Konyaspor, Alanyaspor, Erzurumspor, Rizespor, Sivasspor, Fenerbahce, Goztepe, Kasimpasa, Kayserispor and Ankaragücü all parted ways with their coaches, in a season that has been, so far, dominated not by the traditional heavyweights but by the underdogs.
Fenerbahce worked with three different coaches in the first half, including Dutch coaches Phillip Cocu and his assistant Erwin Koeman before replacing them with Turkish coach Ersun Yanal, who has the tough task of making sure the Yellow Canaries avoid relegation.
Antalyaspor, Besiktas, Bursaspor, Malatyaspor, Galatasaray, Istanbul Basaksehir and Trabzonspor were the only clubs that completed the first half of the season with the same coaches they had at the start of the campaign.
Among the newly promoted sides, Rizespor’s journey with coach Ibrahim Uzulmez lasted just four weeks. He had led the club to the 1.Lig title last season but failed to replicate his success in the Turkish top flight picking up just two points in the first four weeks and finished the first half of the season anchored to the bottom of the table.
Erzurumspor, one of the other newcomers, followed them on a similar path. It picked up just two points in the first six weeks. The club soon parted ways with coach Mehmet Altiparmak, who had gotten the club promoted the Super Lig last season. He was replaced by Mehmet Ozdilek, known also as Sifo Mehmet from his times as a player with Besiktas.
Sivasspor also severed ties with their coach, Tamer Tuna, as of game week 11. After Tuna’s departure, the club continued with interim caretaker Hakan Keles. Under his guidance, the club picked up 13 points in six games.
So far, the 2018/2019 season has had three foreign coaches; Fenerbahce’s Dutch duo Cocu and Koeman, and Akhisarspor’s Safet Susic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. But none of them lasted, despite being appointed in the summer, and all the top tier teams now have Turkish coaches.
Fenerbahce was able to win only two games in the first 10 weeks. The club also had three draws and five losses and picked up only 9 points in the first 10 weeks.
Following Cocu’s departure, Koeman also failed to salvage the ship and the Yellow Canaries found themselves in the relegation zone after game week 15.