Guus Hiddink Out As Turkey Manager

In a move that's surprising nobody at all, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) and veteran manager Guus Hiddink have parted ways after the Dutchman's disappointing fifteen-month spell in charge of Turkey's national team in which he failed to achieve qualification to the the 2012 European Championships. Granted, Turkey were in a strong group that featured Germany and Belgium and did relatively well to finish in second place, but they were demolished at home in the playoffs by Croatia and will therefore miss out on the summer's championships.

For a team that reached the semifinals in 2008, that's not a good result at all, and although you could argue that one slip-up against Croatia is all that went wrong with the qualification campaign (without Nuri Sahin, no less), Hiddink was brought in take Turkey to the Euros. He didn't and now everyone has to move on. The fact that the two sides have parted company, with the TFF presumably having to pay out the remainder of Hiddink's contract, is pretty interesting in light of Chelsea's approach for the manager last summer: Turkey could have made money off letting Hiddink go in June, but instead they'll have to pay through the nose to get him to go away.

So what's next for Hiddink? It's difficult to say, considering he so often goes somewhere unexpected. But until he does sign up with a new side, get ready to hear his name in connection with every vacant managerial spot (and some non-vacant ones) in top-level football.