José Mourinho's stint in charge at Fenerbahce has come to an abrupt end with the club announcing on Friday that they had parted company with their manager just two games into the Turkish Super Lig season.
The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss was first appointed by Fenerbahce last summer, and finished second in the league in his first year in Istanbul, 11 points behind champions and bitter city rivals Galatasaray. But a failure to qualify for the Champions League following a playoff elimination at the hands of Benfica has led to the 62-year-old leaving his post at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium with immediate effect.
The infamously pugnacious Portuguese coach spent just over 450 days in the job. Yet still he managed to pack plenty of thrills, spills and controversy into his brief tenure, regularly finding himself in hot water with the Turkish footballing authorities.
An antagonistic presence from the start, Mourinho was making headlines mere minutes into his first game as Fenerbahce coach and things snowballed from there: disciplinary issues, continued protests against match officials, expert pantomime villainy and even legal action brought about by rival clubs.
With the fleeting and suitably hectic Mourinho era now over at Fener, perhaps now is a good time to look back on the impressive litany of capers and consternation he was responsible for during his 14-month stint in the Turkish Süper Lig.
Mourinho was offered a swift introduction to the bitter rivalry between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray when his new side lost in his first Istanbul derby. Fener were beaten 3-1 at home -- the Super Lig leaders handing their rivals their first league defeat of the season -- and then rubbed it in even further by mocking Mou on social media in the aftermath by labelling him "The Crying One" in reference to his self-appointed "Special One" nickname.
No stranger to hubris, Mourinho took the bait ahead of Fenerbahce's crucial Champions League qualification playoff against Benfica when it was pointed out to him at a news conference that he had a superior record over the Lisbon club as a coach.
He had won six and lost only one of nine previous matches against them -- one for Uniao Leiria, six for FC Porto and two for Manchester United. Although Mourinho did move to downplay the significance of that record, he allowed himself to say: "I always beat Benfica because my FC Porto was much better than Benfica."
Unfortunately, that record did not help him as Benfica won 1-0 over two legs to send Fener out of the competition. Mourinho admitted that his team were put out by a "much better" side in what proved to be his final postmatch news conference as Fenerbahce coach.