The fact that Fatih Terim was forced to resign after a restaurant brawl rather than his clearly unsuccessful work as Turkey's football director can be explained with just one word: tragicomic. Terim has always been known for his anger, masculine behavior and gigantic ego, and his reply to the former goalkeeper of FC Barcelona and Turkish national team goalkeeper Rüştü Rençber's article, in which Rençber criticized him, is clear proof of this. Terim insulted the ex-goalkeeper and threatened him by saying that he could also say things that Rençber would not want to hear.
Nevertheless, considering his failure at EURO 2016 and World Cup qualifiers so far, he should have already resigned and it is clearly beneficial for the Turkish national team that he is no longer the coach.First of all, Terim clearly lacks a work ethic as a coach, he always blames his players when defeated and demands praise for only himself when victorious. He was not ashamed to attribute his failures to Turkish politics and terror, topics that can make you invulnerable if used properly. There are even rumors that Terim pushed his players to attack the Swiss players after a game in which Switzerland eliminated Turkey from the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
Serhat Akın, who played as a striker for Fenerbahçe and Anderlecht described Terim's thusly: "Fatih Terim motivated us in a way that I made me think it was the last game of my career, we were going to war. Later Volkan Demirel (goalkeeper) and Fatih Akyel (defender) broke into the referee's room, if I had not intervened, the referee could have been lynched." Remember the part about Fatih Terim in Andrea Pirlo's autobiography: "It was obvious he wasn't going to stay for long. He didn't have any respect for Milanese cultural things like dinners. And his tactics were confusing at best, non-existent at most. His whole game plan was motivational speaking. You needed more than that to stay at Milan."
Terim not only terrorized the field by filling his players with hatred, but also manipulated his players with his speeches while he had nothing in terms of strategy and tactics. Of course, Pirlo was right and no country except Turkey would have welcomed Terim's irrational and egocentric style, that is why the ones who call him "the emperor" should think about this quote.However, why exactly has Turkey always welcomed Terim and what has he brought to this country? Except the UEFA Cup championship with Galatasaray seventeen years ago, Terim's success has been questionable, especially in the last decade.
The semi-final place at Euro 2008 came at the price of heavy injuries for almost every player in the squad, because, despite the players just finishing a long season, Terim forced them to work as if it were a preseason camp. The result was asking UEFA whether the third goalkeeper could play in other areas because no one in the squad was left healthy. Furthermore, his successive championships in the Turkish Super League with Galatasaray four years ago came after huge short-term investments, for which Galatasaray is suffering right now. Terim and the ex-chairman Ünal Aysal enjoyed the fruits of reckless spending and then disappeared after the money dried up and the club was drowning in debt.
To sum up, I feel truly happy and optimistic after Terim's resignation, because it is now proven that no other manager like Terim can work for the national team. Now, the Turkish Football Federation must plan the next 10 years of Turkish football, and appoint a coach who can appreciate science, strategy and morals. Neither the country nor the national team can survive another Terim case, and we need to act fast before it is too late to catch the opponents.
