Eleven football clubs out of the 18 in the Turkish top-tier Spor Toto Super League have parted ways with coaches in the first half of the 2018-2019 season.
Akhisarspor, Atiker Konyaspor, Aytemiz Alanyaspor, Büyükşehir Belediye Erzurumspor, Çaykur Rizespor, Demir Grup Sivasspor, Fenerbahçe, Göztepe, Kasımpaşa, Kayserispor and MKE Ankaragücü all parted ways with their coaches, in a season that has been so far dominated not by the traditional superpowers but by the traditional underdogs.
Fenerbahçe - one of Turkey's traditional "Big Three" - worked with three different coaches in the first half, including Dutch coaches Phillip Cocu, his assistant Erwin Koeman before finally appointing Turkish coach Ersun Yanal, but failed to manage to move out of the drop zone.
Antalyaspor, Beşiktaş, Bursaspor, Evkur Yeni Malatyaspor, Galatasaray, Medipol Başakşehir and Trabzonspor were the only clubs that completed the first half of the season under the same coaches.
Among the newly promoted sides, Çaykur Rizespor's journey with coach İbrahim Üzülmez only lasted four weeks. Üzülmez had led the club to Super Toto 1. League title but failed to shine in the top tier, earning just two points in the first four weeks and finished the first half of the season anchored to the bottom of the table.
For newly promoted Büyükşehir Belediye Erzurumspor the story was not much different. It picked up only two points in the first six weeks. The club soon parted ways with coach Mehmet Altıparmak, who had carried the club to the top-tier. Altıparmak was replaced by Mehmet Özdilek, knowns also as Şifo Mehmet from his times as a player in Beşiktaş.
Demır Grup Sivasspor also parted ways with its coach Tamer Tuna as of game week 11. After Tuna's departure, the club continued with deputy coach Hakan Keleş. Under his guidance, the club picked up 13 points in six games.
The Super League season has had three foreign, Fenerbahçe's Dutch Cocu and Koeman, and Akhisarspor's Safet Susic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. But none of them survived and all the top tier teams now have Turkish coaches.
Fenerbahçe was able to win only two games in the first 10 weeks. The club also saw three ties and five losses and picked up only nine points in the first 10 weeks.
Following Cocu's departure, Koeman also failed to salvage the ship and the Yellow Canaries found themselves in the relegation zone after game week 15.
