Former Turkey national football team coach Fatih Terim has claimed that he did not resign from the top job but was in fact sacked by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
Earlier on July 26, the TFF in a statement said: "Some non-football issues are weighing down our football director Fatih Terim and the TFF management. So, we have agreed that it would be healthier for the both parties to part ways."
However, the former Fiorentina, AC Milan, and Galatasaray coach took to social media on Sunday and said that contrary to the TFF's claims, he was forced out of the job.
Terim on his official Twitter account wrote: "I did not resign from the duty I have been carrying out for three and a half years. Let me be clearer, I was sacked by Turkish Football Federation (TFF)."
The 63-year-old's recently made headlines for being involved in a restaurant brawl in Alaçatı, Turkey. The incident has seemingly lead to his downfall.
Terim claimed that he had offered to resign from his post following the incident but was declined by the TFF.
"After the incident, I told the TFF President Yıldırım Demirören that I was ready to quit if the incident is going to hurt people and the establishment's image. But, Demirören hugged me and said that we had a lot of work ahead. So, I continued our preparations for the World Cup qualifiers. But, on July 26, TFF administrator Ali Dürüst came to my office and said they have decided to relieve me of my duties because the public opinion was hurting our images. This is what happened," he said.
Terim has had three separate stints each with the national team and Galatasaray. He helped Galatasaray to their historic 2000 UEFA Cup title.
During his second term with Turkey, he led them to the Euro 2008 semi-finals where they lost 3-2 to Germany. In his latest stint, Turkey failed to get past the group stages of Euro 2016, and are now placed third in their qualifying group for 2018 Russia World Cup. They are trailing Croatia and Iceland by two points and are level on 11 points with Ukraine after six matches.