Dirk Kuyt is named interim manager, beats Liverpool, immediately departs. It’d be a heck of a tagline if it wasn’t for the pesky fact that Kuyt actually managed a league match before the Turkish club’s 3-2 mid-week win over the club he spent so much of his playing career at.
His departure is also being made official after Fenerbahce played their first game under new full time manager Emre Belözoğlu, who the club came to an agreement with after Kuyt lost that first league match 2-1 to Göztepe but whose
signing wasn’t fully finalized until after the Liverpool match.
Kuyt played 130 games for Fenerbahce as a player after leaving Liverpool and joined up with them as an assistant to İsmail Kartal this past summer. When Kartal struggled to win games and to win over the fans to start the year, he was quickly sacked and Kuyt was left to cover.
If the victory over Liverpool had come first, it’s easy to imagine Kuyt—who has managed smaller club in Belgium and the Netherlands—taking over full time. With Fenerbahce always viewing Belözoğlu as the top target, though, that first game defeat was only ever going to lock in their thinking.
“Thank you, Dirk Kuyt!” read the statement from Fenerbahce announcing his departure. “Our story began years ago and the bond between us has never broken. You stood for us on the pitch and the sidelines, and your loyalty has ensured you have a place in the hearts of all supporters.
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you have done and meant to this club. Today we say goodbye, but your place within our big family will never change, and sometimes a farewell is not a final goodbye but a sign of a bond that will last forever.”
