Jose Mourinho has Fenerbahce looking to the future with hope and optimism

Fenerbahce won 99 points from 38 Super Lig games this season. The Istanbul giants from the Asian side of Europe’s biggest city scored a league-best 99 goals and had a goal difference of 68. Fenerbahce lost only one game – at home to Trabzonspor in November.

The side featuring Fred, Dusan Tadic, Michy Batshuayi and captain Edin Dzeko took four points off their main rivals Galatasaray, including a 1-0 away win in the penultimate game of the season, despite being down to 10 men for most of the match.

Lifelong Fenerbahce fan Dincer, 43, from Istanbul, was watching the game with friends in a restaurant. He goes to all Fenerbahce home games.

“When Fenerbahce scored I left the restaurant and spent the rest of the game walking back and forwards,” he told The National. “I was too nervous to go on watching. Twenty minutes is a long time to walk nowhere, but when it was safe to go back to the restaurant I enjoyed the moment with my friends knowing that we had won and Galatasaray had not won the league.”

But Fenerbahce didn’t win the league. Galatasaray did, with 102 points. Fenerbahce’s six drawn games cost them. Their May 19 win at Galatasaray prevented their rivals winning the league at home and took the title race to the final week of the season, but Galatasaray ultimately retained the title.

Fenerbahce haven’t been Turkish champions for a decade and keep finishing second. Even if that’s 32 points ahead of third as was the case last season, it’s still second.

Ismail Kartal, in his third spell managing the club, stepped down last week. A popular coach, he was making way for what happened next which made global headlines: the appointment of Jose Mourinho on a two-year contract.

If history is anything to go by, he’ll be