Declared a genius as the new Besiktas coach. Then came a tough month of April with “disaster!” headlines in the Turkish media. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not get carried away or torn down when the going gets tough. Besiktas are now getting paid well for this. The last three games have been a 5-1 win, a win against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce away from home, so again a 4-1 winis on Sunday. All league games, which has got Besiktas up to the place that was the goal when the “Eagle of the North” signed in January.
The Besiktas president has supported Solskjaer all the way, with good reason. Even through some tough and unnecessary losses, Solskjaer has not lost touch with 3rd place in the Süper Lig and Europa League ticket, which was the stated goal in January. At the time, this looked like an optimistic goal, but on Sunday Besiktas will be there. Now there are three games left of the season. With one point ahead of Samsunspor in 4th place, Besiktas can steer this towards a podium place.
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What is equally important is that Solskjaer has proven he is the coach who can keep the “promise” of a league title over the next few seasons. With the “Eagle of the North”, Besiktas have beaten Galatasaray and Fernebahche, city rivals and the two best clubs in the league. Solskjaer has now also shown he can win games against the supposedly weaker clubs in the league.
In the Europa League, Solskjaer showed that after a few days on the job, he could lead a kneeling Besiktas team to a 4-1 victory against Athletic Bilbao, the club that went all the way to the semi-finals.
Besiktas have won 16 Süper Lig titles and 11 cup titles. This is the club that is the only one in history to have won the Turkish league undefeated (199192). In the Champions League and Europa League, Besiktas have previously been a feared opponent. With Solskjaer at the helm, supporters have once again seen potential greatness they haven’t seen in the 2020/21 season.
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For far too long, Besiktas have been dormant, with frequent changes of coach being the answer to adversity. With Solskjaer in place, the “Eagle of the North” has woken up the sleeping club giant.
