Graeme Souness has admitted that he misses seeing Jose Mourinho managing within the Premier League, whereas suggesting that Turkey has gained a terrific character following the Portuguese boss’ transfer to Fenerbahce final summer season.
Mourinho, who has spent a decade within the Premier League managing Chelsea , Manchester United and Tottenham , joined Fenerbahce in the beginning of the 2024/25 season seeking to assist them get better from a heartbreaking marketing campaign wherein they completed second to rivals Galatasaray within the Tremendous Lig regardless of accumulating 99 factors.
However whereas Graeme Souness spent a season managing in Turkey with Galatsaray 30 years in the past, the Scotsman continues to be an enormous fan of Mourinho and provides him some essential recommendation ought to his over-zealous nature get the higher of him…
Graeme Souness would like to see Jose Mourinho again within the Premier League
Souness and Mourinho managing towards one another (Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
“I recognize this may sound fairly wealthy coming from me, however I’ve really received some phrases of recommendation for Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho so he can navigate Turkish soccer’s uneven waters,” Souness informed FourFourTwo . “If you’re going to coach one of many large golf equipment in Istanbul, you must lead from the entrance due to the distinctive pressures in a one-off metropolis, and that’s precisely what Jose has completed all through his adorned profession at Porto , Chelsea, Inter and extra.
“He’s in essentially the most magical of cities and the house of Turkey’s large three groups – Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas – all commanding devotion and determined for native bragging rights. There’s an excellent likelihood Jose will carry Fenerbahce honours, however there’s one factor he wants to keep in mind if anybody ever fingers him a flag within the Turkish Tremendous Lig: ensure you’ve received your trainers on, you already know the place the exits are, after which do your finest Usain Bolt impression to your personal security.
Fenerbahce’s gamers pile onto Mourinho throughout celebrations (Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
“Rightly or wrongly, however fully understandably, it’s that flag incident which is able to come to folks’s minds after they suppose again to my time in Turkey as Gala’s head coach. However regardless of all of the brouhaha it triggered, I don’t remorse it one bit. I’ve by no means recognized whether or not to chuckle or cry in terms of Jose Mourinho’s antics, and that’s actually the case now he’s plying his commerce in Turkey, however I miss him. The Premier League’s loss is their acquire, surely.”
Souness admits that he’s apprehensive Mourinho could have an analogous impression on Turkish soccer in the identical approach he did on the Premier League 20 years in the past. That is not taking place at this second in time, with Fenerbahce going through a battle to qualify for the Europa League knockout levels and are trailing rivals Galatasaray – who’re presently unbeaten – within the Tremendous Lig, however there’s nonetheless an opportunity he’ll flip issues round sharply.
Regardless, it is Mourinho’s character that has left Souness enamoured, with it completely fitted to Turkish soccer.
“The best way he took English soccer by storm with Chelsea, aside from when Rafael Benitez received the higher of him within the Champions League , was galling for folks of a Liverpool persuasion like me,” Souness highlights. “The very fact he joined Manchester United had me apprehensive for some time that he would get them again on their perch at Liverpool’s expense.
“Lately, I’m extra involved about Jose’s prospects of serving to Fenerbahce acquire the higher hand resulting from my hyperlinks with Galatasaray, as a result of I do know Jose is completely suited to soccer on both aspect of the Bosphorus. He’s a supervisor I’ve had the utmost respect for since he burst onto the scene along with his knee slide at Previous Trafford in 2004, when Porto knocked United out of the Champions League. The best way he tried to recreate his well-known celebration when Fenerbahce scored a 102nd-minute winner towards Trabzonspor this season jogged my memory that he’s pure field workplace.
“It was inelegant theatre in comparison with his Previous Trafford shenanigans, but it surely proved to me – and I do know from first-hand expertise – that Mourinho will recognize Turkey, all of its ardour and volatility, and even the aggression of the drivers in Istanbul.
“My 12 months on Turkish soccer’s frontline will go down as one of many happiest of my profession in administration. I genuinely imply that. I’ll all the time maintain an eye fixed out for Gala outcomes, and whereas I hope Jose enjoys Turkey as a lot as me, I hope he’s not too profitable.”
