Turkish coach improves his world record

Yılmaz Vural, 62, started his career in the same year that legendary Premier League coach Alex Ferguson took charge of Manchester United, back in 1986. While Ferguson's time at the club led him to become regarded as one of the most successful, admired and respected managers in the history of the game, the Turkish coach spent the 29 years of his career managing 26 different clubs. Gençlerbirliği President İlhan Cavcav, who hired Vural, also set another world record himself by hiring a new coach for the 60th time. Gençlerbirliği also gave the top job to Vural for the second time. While Alex Ferguson successfully managed just one team for 27 years before he retired over two years ago, Vural has been signed 33 times if taking into account the times he was resigned by the same team, and has endured 11 relegations. Among his many clubs, he has been in charge of Bursaspor three times, and he is a charismatic media pundit.

"I started in the same year Sir Alex Ferguson started out at Manchester United," Vural told Sportsmail. "We set out together but he became a pensioner with one team and I have managed 26 teams. I don't think there's a coach in Europe with more teams. I think Roy Hodgson is the next. For me, this is not a particularly good record to have. But this is the nature of Turkish football."

Although he stands out because of his likeable character, his reputation has been mostly built around his unhealthy habit of relegating his teams. During the 2010-11 season, Vural signed with Konyaspor after resigning from Kasımpaşaspor, and both teams dropped from the Super League to the First League. By causing both teams to drop from the league, Vural broke another record in world football. Among the 26 teams that Vural has managed, 11 clubs - Sarıyer, Konyaspor, Çanakkale Dardenel, Denizlispor, Diyarbakırspor, Adanaspor, Çaykur Rizespor, Kocaelispor, Kasımpaşaspor and Kocaelispor - were relegated on his watch. Vural has only managed to coach one team for two years, and he undertook coaching positions at Konyaspor, Bursaspor, Antalyaspor, Adanaspor and Gençlerbirliği twice in his career. He has never managed any of Turkey's three giants - Galatasaray, Beşiktaş or Fenerbahçe - although he did once strike a deal to manage Fenerbahçe, only for the deal to collapse.

He is famed for his extraordinary energy on the touchline and his unusual antics. He once kicked one of his own players in the butt as his team celebrated a goal, something he later explained as trying to get them back on the pitch and focused on the rest of the game. He almost even snagged a job in the English Premier League. In 2013, Vural was in London for a week, sparking theories in Turkey that the popular coach might be set to make the next move of his colorful career to England. At that point, he had been out of work following his exit at Elazığspor at the end of the season, and he and his representatives were understood to have met with one Barclays Premier League club to discuss a future together.Vural, who has German citizenship and qualified as a coach while working at the Cologne Academy, is never short of offers. His new team, Gençlerbirliği, were in 16th place in the Spor Toto Super League.