A RECORD WORTH TRUMPETING

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Until Hibbie Kanka recovers from his hangover I thought you would all be interested (yawn yawn !!) to know that HIBERNIAN footie club today (31 December) hold the proud record of being top goal scorers in the Scottish Premier League.

They may be tucked in at 5th place but can trumpet the fact that they have now scored 42 league goals in 22 matches, which is one more than league leaders Celtic.

Not a bad record under the circumstances - don't you agree ?

This augers well for the run-in and the realistic aim must be to finish in 2nd place and lift the League Cup in the process.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Impartial?

A short follow-up to the Byzantine goings on at Genclerbirligi. I just noticed a small piece in the Turkish Daily News today that Atilla Aytek, the now ex-member of Genclerbirligi, has vowed to continue in his legal fight to not only get his membership of the club back but also to appeal a court decision to refuse to rehold last season's general congress.

In this post I describe how Aytek was kicked out of the club and earlier I had reported on the court decision. For further background and my views on why Aytek should be supported check out this

Back to the TDN piece and Aytek is now claiming that the judge in the court case is in fact a close friend of Genclerbirligi Chairman Ilhan Cavcav. The court decision was made on December 20 and it appears that the judge, Ahmet Pinar, showed up to the funeral of Cavcav's brother just a couple of days later.

Surely a bit too close for comfort.

This promises (unfortunately) to run and run and run.

Sir Eski gets a new job

Sir Eski Kanka Jim was complaining the other day about the cost of living in Ankara. It seems as if his main job isn't enough any more to keep him in the style in which he has become accustomed.

But did he really have to take this job to support his beer and skittles? (with apologies to EIT)

Hearts 3-2 Hibernian

Back to loosing ways for Hibs after being edged out by the odd goal in five to Hearts. The first half was a pretty dull affair with only a goal for Hearts and a bad miss for Hibs to give the fans talking points. The second half was a totally different affair as Hibs started brightly only to fall two goals behind thanks to a bad blunder by the Hibs goal keeper. A tame free kick was dropped at the feet of the Hearts striker who tapped the ball home. Hibs looked down and out before a Killen header and a Dean Sheils penalty brought Hibs level. I thought at this point that we would go on and win the game but Sheils clashed with the Hearts goalkeeper while trying to get the ball out of the back of the net and was promptly sent off. Within ten minutes Hearts had gone 3-2 up and although Hibs had a shot that hit both posts before coming back out they could not find the equaliser.

It was an entertaining game but again Hibs fail to find a run of winning games that stops them climbing the table. We have a couple of home games coming up and six points would help start the new year in a positive fashion.

Hibbee Kanka

ANKARAGUCU - A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO GENCLERBIRLIGI

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

All us ANKARAGUCU kankas and kankies would like to take this opportunity to extend Christmas greetings to all you luvvlie Gencler kankas and kankies this 25 December.

As a small token of our affection for you all we would like to remind you of some important dates in history...........

8 August 1937 - ANKARAGUCU 8 Gencler 0
20 October 1943 - ANKARAGUCU 5 Gencler 1
22 February 1953 - ANKARAGUCU 7 Gencler 3
5 September 1965 - ANKARAGUCU 5 Gencler 1
10 February 1991 - ANKARAGUCU 7 Gencler 2

Now, go on......... admit it..... you love us even more than before .... don't you ???!!!

Long may our friendship continue.

Happy New Year (2007) to all kankas, kankies, and visitors to our world famous Blog.

All the best from High in Spirits, Eski Kanka Jim

PS.... for Oz Kanka in particular...... I was NOT born before some of the above matches, so....... no derogatory remarks about my age please !!!

Hibs 5-1 St Mirren

Now that I have received the necessary coaching, I am able to pass on the exploits of Hibernians SPL exploits again.

Us Hibees supporters were a bit down this last fortnight after back to back defeats to Rangers (3-0) and Falkirk (2-1). The Rangers game was the worst one as Hibs just did not turn up, Falkirk battled hard but by all accounts Hibs only had themselves to blame after passing up a few scoring opportunities.

Today however was a different story as Hibs dominated the game and could easily have scored seven or eight. St Mirren had an attacking formation and there was no time wasting from them so we were all set for an entertaining match. Both teams moved the ball about well but it was Hibs who looked the more penatrating with a few close calls on the St Mirren goal. the first goal came from good link up play with Boozy sending Fletch er through and then being on hand to score the cut back. Dean Sheils got a rare start and showed his worth by setting up Killen for the second. Sheils start was due to Scott Brown being dropped as he needed a colonic irrigation to wash his face, the paper talk trying to sell him to the Old Firm seems to be fueling his own opinion about himself.

Anyway just as Hibs were crusing to a comfortable halftime lead they gifted a goal to St Mirren, Sutton still had a bit of work to do but made no mistake. It did not take Hibs long in the second half to kill the game off with two goals in the space of a few minutes. First Shiels scored a peach from 18 yards and then Benji set up Zemama for a easy tap in. Benji completed the scoring on 65 minutes with a cool finish after being sent through by Zemama. Hibs looked like they could score more if they upped the tempo but instead took the foot of the gas with Tuesdays derby coming up.

All in all a very satisfactory score and all with out the golden duo of Thomson and Brown. The papers are trying hard to get them to the Old Firm but Hibs Chairman is so far holding a firm line and refusing their transfer requests. Unfortunately no one wins when this siuation arises but I would be happy for Hibs to leave both players in the reserves to teach them a lesson on loyalty. Both plkayers seem to forget that they only signed new contracts in April.

The big football news in Scotland was the shock departure of Salvesen Under 11 coach to Raith Rovers. Mini Hibbee Kanka was disappointed to hear the news as Richard is an excellant coach. I am not sure what role he is filling at the Rovers but good luck to him.

Hibee Kanka

Hibs back to winning ways

After two defeats to Rangers and Falkirk, Hibs got back to winning ways by beating St Mirren 5-1 at Easter Road today.

Goals from Buezalin, Killen, Sheils, Zemama and Benji gave Hibs the points and allows them to close in on Aberdeen who lost to Rangers earlier today.

A more detailed report once I confirm this new way of blogging works.

Hibbee Kanka

Revenge is a dish best eaten cold

Five people who have given a large part of their lives to serving Genclerbirligi were on Saturday kicked out the club forever. The Genclerbirligi Disciplinary Board banned the five for bringing the club into disrepute. Two others were banned for one year and six months respectively.

Their crime? They decided to run against Chairman Ilhan Cavcav at last May's general congress. When it was obvious that Cavcav had stacked the elections in the last week through signing up some 5,000 Galatasaray supporters the "alternative management", as the group became known as, decided to take the matter to court in order to have the results overturned.

While Turkey may not be in the EU I had always thought that here people had the right to go to the courts to seek justice. Sure, the justice system here can be extremely slow and sometimes completely wrong (just take a look at the number of instances when the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Turkey's judicial processes to be less than sound) but still the right to go to court exists.

Not to the Genclerbirligi Discipline Board. Their ruling today was that merely by bringing the case to the courts the "alternative management" deserved to be kicked out of the club.

Atilla Aytek (the man who ran against Cavcav for the chairmanship), Zeki Ünaldı, Yaşar Durak, Muzaffer Özbayrak and Bülent Atlas were the five banned on Saturday. Ali Riza Onat got a one-year ban and Fatih Dagci a six-month ban.

News of the bans is only just filtering through to Gencler fans but this reaction from one poster on the Alkaralar forum sums it up so far.

"Damn".

And so Cavcav has managed to silence the opposition. Sort of reminds me of another old bloke who happened to pass away just a few days ago. Rumours that Cavcav shall soon have to referred to as Genclerbaşi and that he has plans to change the names of days and months are just that though. A revolving gold statue isn't out of the question though.

Further background on this sorry tale can be found here.

More popular than Prescott

In this dead season with no football going on in Turkey I'm slightly at a loss about what to write about. Until I found an opportunity to brag about ourselves, thanks to an article in today's Guardian.

The (British) deputy prime minister, John Prescott, told Parliament last week that his new departmental site "has recorded 2,771 separate visits and 6,836 page views since it went online in late August," the Guardian wrote.

I decided to do a check of the stats for the blog to see how we compare with the deputy prime minister's site and was very pleased to see that we are clearly more popular than John Prescott.

I decided the late August date to begin my search as 21 August and since then we have had 3,906 visitors and 7,155 page views. Admitedly some of those people came to us via google searches such as "sexi knees Ankara" (we are still at number one in google for that search) and "hurriyet reliable?" (we are in there at number 14 or something for that one), but still I'm sure Prescott also got some weird google searches for his department's site as well, perhaps "right jabs by a fatty", or "two jags".

Anyway, we are more popular than Prescott and that at least made me breath a sigh of relief.

PHOTOCAPTION: Prescott reacts to news that his departmental site is less popular than "The round ball in Ankara". Photo nicked from Orange

Glory days

Genclerbirligi 3 - Besiktas 0

Headed off to the Knight and Flight on my own Wednesday night. Ordered my beer and while the rest of the crowd were concentrating on darts I asked if we could put the big screen on.

Half way through my beer and about five minutes into the match Flying Dutchman Kanka showed up. Always good to have someone to talk to while the action on the screen was not exactly riveting.

But that is not quite what was happening. Sure the first half ended up 0-0 and it seemed that Besiktas weren't even trying but Mehmet Cakir did have a couple of bloody good chances which he should have put away. In both instances he was last on the ball, coming in from the right and instead of going straight at goal he tried to put it into the left corner. Needless to say both shots missed by millimetres.

Despite the fact that we dominated the half perhaps the best chance fell to Besiktas when someone or other got a shot on (perhaps it was a header) but Jesus reached out with his right hand and made a brilliant reflex save. Brilliant stuff.

And so at half-time it was 0-0 and having watched a million Gencler matches I was my usual pessimistic self. We had had plenty of chances but hadn't capitalised.

Second half though and it was time to party.

Flying Dutchman Kanka made the point that Besiktas were going for it. Not that any of their attacks got anywhere near the goal, but they were pressing forward, leaving huge gaps at the back.

We were playing brilliantly. Passes were sticking, we were running fast and the Besiktas keeper was looking harried.

Then we got what we were waiting for. Mehmet Cakir made a short pass to Mehmet Nas just outside the box. Nas played it wonderfully, right foot on the ball, back in with the left foot and then a lovely little pass back to Mehmet Cakir. Cakir again tried to beat the keeper's right hand but unlike his two previous attempts this one was just on target. 1-0.

With the goal the patrons at the Knight and Flight clearly knew they had a couple of Gencler fanatics on hand. The odd Besiktas supporters in there gave us the eye, but we were not to be silenced (thanks to the fact that the owner of the place is a good mate - despite his obvious personality flaw of being a Galatasaray supporter).

Still high-fiving in the American way when the second goal came in.

This one was again brilliant. On the break Cakir had got it down on the right of the Besiktas goal. He could have tried to cross it in to the strikers ready in the box (who were covered by Besiktas defenders) but he waited a second and sent it back to the edge of the box right in the middle where Engin Baytar running in at full tilt smashed it into the back of the net.

I'd had a few beers by this stage and that was clearly the reason why I fell off my chair.

Bloody hell. 2-0 up against Besiktas and by God we were playing a million times better then they were.

Lightning struck again just a few minutes later when Baytar had a shot which came off the post. Just a few feet into the field of play and Okan Ozturk found himself facing the wrong way from the goal and tried to back heel it into the goal. This attempt was saved off the line by a Besiktas defender only for it to fall straight to Draman Haminu who smashed the thing to kingdom come. 3-0.

Dancing and shouting at the Knight and Flight and who should walk in? Why it was of course Sir Eski Kanka himself. He took one look at the screen (and the score) and started his familiar line of "Ankara, Ankara".

So it was at the 64th minute mark we were 3-0 up.

It was at this point of the match when Besiktas had perhaps their best chance but Jesus made an excellent save with his wedding tackle. Play was stopped for at least five minutes while the physios did whatever was necessary to get Jesus and his tackle good again. I would go into details but there are they make me cringe just thinking about it.

Three-nil up and clearly not needing any more goals we brought on Isaac Promise. Needless to say, the few opportunities he had were wasted.

All up a fantastic performance. Our defence was very solid, Risp in particular was great, and we ran fast creating opportunities all over the place. Have to admit though, Besiktas were crap.

Sir Eski, Flying Dutchman and myself then played a few games of darts (Sir Eski Kanka whipped our arses) and we then cheered away as Kayseri E.spor smashed up Galatasaray 4-1. What a great night.

Turkish justice

Looks like we will be stuck with Ilhan Cavcav for a while yet after a court in Ankara refused to cancel last season's general congress where Cavcav signed up some 5,000 Galatasaray supporters just a week before the election for the chairman's position.

The Anatolia news agency doesn't go into much detail, my guess is that the judges reasonings for the decision won't be out for a while yet, but they refused the application made by Atilla Aytek, the man who challenged Cavcav, to have the congress results cancelled on the basis that Cavcav had illegally signed up so many people.

Depressing days.

Check out the background of the case and my opinions on the matter here

ANKARAGUCU - NAIL BITING STUFF

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Celebrations in Ankara last night. Turkish Cup Group Match.......

ANKARAGUCU 3 Bucaspor 1

It was a cold but sunny December afternoon when Maniac Kanka and I arrived at The Cappadokia Bar for pre-match refreshments. We were joined later by Huso Kanka and his beautiful girlfriend Fatma, and later by his friend Nihan.

Off to the match, and as you would expect from a Tuesday afternoon match, not a large crowd. However, Gecikondu were in full voice as usual and there was a fair crowd in Maraton where we decided to go.

A note for the fashion conscious...... I thought I was seeing things when Buca entered wearing their blue and yellow vertical striped shirts, but was assured that these were their normal colours. So, it was rather unusual to see ANKARAGUCU wearing white shirts and black shorts.

If we thought it was going to be a `stroll in the park` we were in for a rude awakening. Buca went on the attack from the kick off and ANKARAGUCU looked out of sorts, or perhaps they were shell shocked !!

It was no surprise therefore when Buca went ahead after 2 dreadful mistakes by Aytekin which presented Adnan with the easiest of chances and gave Orkun no chance.

Time to start looking at the nails and having a nibble me thought !!

The goal was a wake up call and ANKARAGUCU started to force the pace and play the ball forward to Bebbe and Agali who were both looking dangerous.

Then after 15 came the equaliser. A great ball over the defence from Abdurrahman Derili to the unmarked Murat and a classic goal.

It was still end to end stuff and all credit to Buca who obviously didn't come to Ankara to defend. They were getting stuck in and playing some clever footie.

On the half hour mark came what could easily have been a turning point in the match. Agali was pulled up for a clear offside but continued on his run to shoot past the Buca goalkeeper. Out came the yellow card quite rightly. So then a few minutes later he compounds his folly and kicks the ball out of play when the Referee awarded a free kick against him. Red card and what a W****R !! Me thinks his days may be numbered at ANKARAGUCU !!!

Into the 2nd half and I was looking at my nails again and starting to have another nibble and a chew !! ANKARAGUCU were in control but the 2nd goal wouldn't come despite the pressure and shots on goal.

We had to wait until half way through the 2nd half for the break through. A great goal by Bebbe who latched on to a loose ball after another mistake by Aytekin and fired in a fiece shot which gave Fatih in goal no chance.

Still Buca continued to take the game to ANKARAGUCU and I was looking at my nails again wondering whether to have another nibble. However, all was made safe in the 75th minute with a great solo goal from Captain Ceyhun. He weaved past 3 defender and then struck a thunderbolt with Fatih rooted to the spot. Game over and no more nail biting !!

Buca ran out of steam at this stage and it was all ANKARAGUCU in the last 10 minutes. Man of the match (again) Derili, sent in a screamer in the last minute from about 30 yards out which had the goalie beaten, but the ball hit the bar and went out of play.

So, still all to play for in the group. ANKARAGUCU has 9 points from 3 games, but still have to play Besiktas away on 14 January.

The spotlight turns on Gencler today (Wednesday) when they take on Besiktas in Ankara. This is a MUST WIN match for Gencler if they want to keep their cup aspirations alive.

A report from Oz Kanka tomorrow on that match.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

No headline necessary

Gencler ease through

Bucaspor 0 - Genclerbirligi 2

It was an away match in the Turkish Cup on Saturday for Gencler. This time it was off to Izmir to play second division Bucaspor.

Looks like it was a fairly easy match with both goals coming in the second half Engin Baytar scoring both.

The win means we have won one, lost one and still have matches against Rizespor and Besiktas left. Wins against both should mean we will go through to the next round. Rize, shure, should beat them but the tough one will be Wednesday's home match against Besiktas.

The match is at 5:30 p.m. and the plan is to meet up at the Knight and Flight Bar (on Cevre sokak from about 5 pm (ie straight from work).

Sir Eski Kanka, could you check to see if they will actually be showing the match.

THE TURKISH CUP - FURTHER CONFUSION

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

There seems to be a disconnect between the information being pushed out by Hurriyet and TRT concerning fixture dates.

The Buca V Gencler match is still on 16 December KO 2pm.

However, TRT is now saying that the ANKARAGUCU v Buca match is on Tuesday 19 December and the Gencler V Besiktas match on Wednesday 20 December. KO times not known yet.

I believe it is now time to put Oz Kanka's journalistic prowess to the test and to find out the correct information !! Over to you partner !

The last round of group matches are scheduled for 14 January. More details of these nearer the time.

Incidentally, just heard today, Friday, that Fener will be playing Flying Dutchman Kanka's team, Alkmaar, in the next round of the UEFA Cup. Interesting scenario don't you think ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

EDIT:
Oz Kanka here. According to the Turkish Football Federation website,

Ankaragucu-Buca
19 December 2 pm KO.

Gencler -Besiktas
20 December 5:30 pm KO

A day in court

A short update on the farce that never seems to end concerning Genclerbirligi's general congress last May. You can check out all the background here.

The other day the Orwellian-sounding Genclerbirligi Discipline Board decided to postpone until December 22 a decision on whether to send to Siberia six members of the club who had the nerve to actually challenge Chairman Ilhan Cavcav at the 14 May 2006 general congress.

This is rather important as some time today a court in Ankara is expected to decide on whether Cavcav's bringing in thousands of Galatasaray supporters as members of the club in the week before the general congress was in fact legal. Or perhaps the court is to rule on whether these people were actually allowed to vote.

I'm not really sure what the outcome will be but if the court rules that the general congress election was not legal then we could well have an emergency congress very soon... and with it a new chairman... possibly.

Whichever way, the six members who face being kicked out will now have their day in a real court.

Stay tuned.

EDIT: Huge anti-climax I'm afraid with the court adjourning for a later date due to the Atilla Aytek's lot asking for a different "expert report" on the club as the one prepared made some very simple mistakes and assumptions. Why don't they just ask me to be the expert witness?

FAREWELL KANKAS

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Time to bid farewell to two of our long suffering..... ooooopps..... I mean.... serving kankas.

Clueless Kankie Vicki is now back in the Yoo-Ess-ov-Ai in their Buyuk Baskent and we all wish you well on your final assignment Vicki. Vicki didn't have a clue about footie when she came to Ankara and she is still none the wiser !! However, we all forgive you for that because you are such a sweetie ! Look forward to seeing you back here in 1 to 2 years and perhaps this time we can teach you about The Round Ball.

Train Spotting Kanka Andrew returns to Ingallind on Sunday and we also wish you well too, even if you are going to a `foreign` country ! Andrew has been a stalwart at ANKARAGUCU matches, but has also attended matches to support our brother team Gencler.

We hope you too will return sometimes, preferably during the footie season, and we know you will keep in touch with us by email and through The Blog. In the meantime, we will be following the exploits of your boys in Ingallind, Colchester United, and in Bonnie Scotland, Hamilton Accies.

All the best to you both from Eski Kanka Jim on behalf of all kankas.

THE TURKISH CUP - FURTHER UPDATE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Further fixture information on the Turkish Cup matches as follows -

The Genclerbirligi match AWAY to Buca has been moved to .............

Saturday 16 December - KO 2pm

Hurriyet confirmed today that the ANKARAGUCU HOME match against Buca will be played on -

Wednesday 20 December. Awaiting KO time, but I guess it will be an afternoon match.

Concerning the Gencler V Besiktas match which TRT said was also scheduled for 20 December, I am still awaiting confirmation of that one.

More details when I have them.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - AN UNIMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE

Oh dear ! Two league defeats in a row and it’s back to the drawing board for Hikmet Bey !

Friday night in Izmir ended ………..

ANKARAGUCU 0 Fenerbahce 1

It all started in The Chopin Bar as usual with Flying Dutchman Kanka and I trying to organise tables for the expected kankas. However, the pub was heaving with bodies and completely full by the time Maniac Kanka and his entourage arrived ! We even had the welcome sight of Battle Hardened Kanka and the Bilkent crew in situ ! All in all, a good turn out for Train Spotting Kanka’s last ANKARAGUCU match…… well …… until he return as he promised for a visit with his family ?! So, we were forced to put Plan B into action and move to the Cappadokia Bar where we were all able to sit together in comfort.

Into the match and it was fairly evenly balanced in the 1st half with most of the action occurring in midfield. It was rather surprising to see Bebbe playing deep which I assumed was part of the containment tactics being employed by Hikmet Bey.

Then…… tilt …… just before half time Fener sprung the trap and made a very quick break down the left wing with Tuncay leaving ANKARAGUCU defenders in his wake. He glanced up and saw Appiah making a parallel run on the right and sent over an inch perfect cross above the two ANKARAGUCU defenders policing Appiah. With a flick of his right foot, Appiah wrong footed the two ANKARAGUCU defenders, brought the ball under control, and fired in with his left foot for a stunning goal.

It could be argued perhaps that he was fortunate that the ball took a deflection off the post to deceive Serkan, but it should not detract from the fact that it was a clinical and well created goal.

The 2nd half was generally one way traffic in Serkan’s direction with he, Emre and Sedat performing miracles to keep the score respectable.

ANKARAGUCU only had one SERIOUS attempt to equalise in the whole match when Tita blasted over when it would have been easier to score. Bloody Hell …….. even Oz Kanka would have made it !!

Kezman foolishly got himself sent off half way through the 2nd half for some clumsy tackling and I’m sure Mr Zico will be advising him to leave defending to the defenders !!

Even playing against 10 men, it has to be said that ANKARAGUCU’s powder-puff attack never looked like scoring with their old failing of that final pass going astray coming back to haunt them.

So, another depressing result against an Istanbul team which has moved ANKARAGUCU back into the bottom half of the league. The UEFA Cup dream has not disappeared ……. yet. We still have a good cup run in our sights !!

Now there’s optimism for you !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Cheers Father Christmas

Genclerbirligi 1 - Antalya 0

I managed to miss my first home match of the season today as I took Little Oz Kanka off to a Christmas party at the Red Lion Club.

Matthew received a little red car from Father Christmas while I got a 1-0 victory for Gencler.

I'm not sure how many kankas went along to the match and if you were there I wouldn't mind if you filled out some of the details missing from the report on the Milliyet newspaper website at the moment, details such as ... the second half.

But looking at Milliyet's report of the first half it looked like I made a right decision to drink beer with Father Christmas. The report has just three entries.

34th minute: Mehmet Cakir takes a freekick from outside the box and it goes out.

37th minute: Mehmet Cakir sends in a pass to Okan Ozturk who heads it straight to the keeper.

45th minute: Isaac Promise gets into the box and kicks the ball straight to the keeper.

No idea how the second half went but it seems as if Okan Ozturk scored at some stage towards the end. As I said before, if you were at the match it would be great if you could help fill in some of the details.

The win pushes us slightly higher up the table and means we finish the first half of the season in fifth place (possibly one lower depending on the results of other games). Not to bad really. While Fenerbahce are running away with the league there is still a good chance we can finish in the top three and thus earn a UEFA Cup spot for next season.

Fingers crossed.

By the way, the reason there has been no report yet on the Ankaragucu- Fenerbahce match işs because Sir Eski Kanka has been having hassles trying to post it. I'm sure he will sort this out soon.

Blog changes

For some reason the blogger software thing has moved this site over to blogger beat or something or other. It has buggered about with what you see and how us writers for the blog sign in and post etc. Please bare with me as I try and figure it all out. If any of our regular contributors ie Sir Eski or Hibee Kanka have any hassles in posting then please e-mail me.

A plea, no doubt to be lost

Last week I had of a go at Atilla Turker, a writer for Hurriyet's Ankara section, who clearly got it wrong in regards to blaming Gencler players for getting sent off.

Last week Turker clearly didn't have a clue what the hell he was talking about but this week he is spot on.

Let me give you a bit (or actually quite a lot) of background. Atilla Turker seems to be in charge of the Hurriyet newspaper's Ankara supplement sports section. In other words, we are probably the only blog, in Turkish or English, who ever looks at his work.

So Turker is very much like us. He works very hard, he has a true passion for Ankara teams, but most of his work is wasted because nobody gives a shit.

Except for us Atilla Bey! We read your articles every day! We may not always agree but we are very grateful that someone writes something about our teams.

Enough of the Atilla Turker worship.

As I said last week he wrote complete rubbish, and on to this week's subject... politics at Gencler.

"Cavcav is doing the wrong thing", was the very understated headline in Thursday's Ankara supplement, hidden down the bottom of page.

Atilla Turker talks about the latest developments at the club where Gencler Chairman Ilhan Cavcav has moved to have various "enemies" expelled.

A little history lesson. Just before the last matches of last season, Gencler needed a win to or two get us into the UEFA Cup. For whatever reason Cavcav sacked our general manager, Hasan Cetinkaya, and didn't tell the coach Mesut Bakkal. Cetinkaya was an important bloke. He spoke English and had a good rapport with the foreign players and the fans (not to mention the fact that he was a good friend of Zagreb Kanka).

In his place Cavcav brought in a mate of his who couldn't speak English and therefore our team would have been breaking UEFA rules... ie the general manager should speak English (the rules are somehow like this but please do not sue if they are not).

Bakkal, our coach, was furious when he found out about the changes from members of the team. One of the board members, Atilla Aytek was also very pissed off when he only learnt of the changes from the Bakkal. In other words, there had been no board decision on the issue, as there should have been.

So Aytek, along with a bunch of other long-serving Gencler supporters decided to stand against Cavcav.

The election was held on the morning of the last match of the season. Gencler had to win to get into the UEFA Cup.

At the election in the morning around 1,000 people voted for Aytek. Around 5,000 voted for Cavcav. A clear victory. Except that Cavcav had enrolled almost all of his suporters in the week before the election. We now have the ignomy of having a former Young Galatasaray Supporters Chairman on our board. All the people who Cavcav signed up were Galasaray supporters. Of course he offered them free season tickets and many of them took up the opportunity to watch our last home game of the season.

As I said before, the last game of last year saw us needing a win to make it into the UEFA Cup. I was sitting in Gecekondu and I was depressed as hell as we lost the match and lost the chance to be in Europe. It was clear that many of the supporters who were sitting in Maraton were also depressed but I was extremely pissed off with so many of the Gecekondu people who were actually happy because at the same time as we had lost Galatsaray had won the league.

These people were Cavcav's supporters. They were brought in to support him but they have no, absolutely no, allegiance to Gencler. I left the ground that night totally devastated, they left it delighted. These were the people who just a week or so before hand had become members of the Genclerbirligi club and voted for Cavcav.

In other words Cavcav, as chairman, had completely rattled the teamin the build up to the match and that is why we stuffed up. No one knew what was going on and whose brilliant idea was it to have the general congress on the morning of the last match of the season?

Now back to Atilla Turker in Hurriyet (and quite frankly his article is a lot shorter than this post).

Turker sets out the situation, in not quite as much detail as I have above, but does say that the Aytek faction (those opposed to Cavcav) have gone to court to try to have all of the Galatasaray-lovers kicked out. The arguement is not quite like that but more along the lines that all of these people became members of the club in the last week before the election for chairman and therefore should not be allowed to vote.

Sounds like a clear case of illegal stacking to me and Gencler Chairman Ilhan Cavcav seems to agree as he has decided to go for a pre-emptive strike.

As was reported in the Turkish press, and repeated by Atilla Turker, Cavcav has moved to have Atilla Aytek and his suporters kicked out of the club by sending them to the sinisterly named "disciplinary board". This board is to meet on December 12 and is almost certainly going to see a bunch of people who have given years and years of their life kicked out of the club they love.

So what.

Except that the courts, that is the Turkish courts, are scheduled to decide on December 14 whether Cavcav's rorting of the system was right or wrong.

With all assumptions being that the court will rule that Cavcav had rigged the election then the elections will have to be held again. Only hassle is that Aytek and his friends will by all probabililty have already been kicked out of the club at that stage and therefore won't be able to run against Cavcav.

"This is the method of Turkish democracy," Turker says in his article in today's Hurriyet.

So we are stuffed. A long time ago Ahmet Bey from the site "Turkish soccer" asked where I stood on this matter. At the time I was perhaps a little guarded. I hope it is now clear.

It is without a doubt that Cavcav has done a billion great things not just for Genclerbirligi but also for Turkish football in general (If you doubt that statement just ask any slightly intelligent taxi driver).... but,

Today is the time to ask the question whether he has lost it. My answer is: "Completely".

Time to retire Mr. Cavcav. You've lost it.

THE TURKISH CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

According to TRT, there will be some Turkish Cup matches played during the League winter break. Obviously I'm not 100% sure about thesebut it is worth putting these in your diaries and Oz Kanka and I will confirm them nearer the time.

Sunday 17 December - Buca v Genclerbirligi

Wednesday 20 December - ANKARAGUCU v Buca

Wednesday 20 December - Genclerbirligi v Besiktas

I don't have KO times yet, but if the 20 December programme is genuine, then I suppose the ANKARAGUCU match will be played in the afternoon and the Gencler match at night.

We shall see in due course.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Happy Birthday to us

Quite a few years ago Sir Eski Kanka, or just plain Eski Kanka as he was then before he was knighted for his services to Ankara football, started up an e-mail group to keep various people up to date on Ankaragucu.

At some stage I joined up with the great man and started writing about Genclerbirligi. All was well and fine but I wanted glory. So I set up this blog to bring our inane mutterings to the world.

That day was December 6, 2005, and my first post was "A sausage too far", the first of many obscure headlines which actually was in reference to my last e-mail story in which I reported that various Gencler players had been fined for stopping off to eat sausage on the way home from an away match. It also happened to be the first post in which Isaac Promise was not exactly praised.

Those first few days of blogging were rather lonely. Sir Eski Kanka still hadn't figured out how to post and the comments on the blog were few and far between. Genc Kanka Eddie was the first to post a comment.

I have no idea what our actual traffic figures were in those days but by February, when I finally added a counter thing, we had 218 visitors. Nowadays we are averaging about 1,000 visitors a month. Not exactly enormous but not too bad for a blog writing about teams that most people in Ankara, let alone Turkey or the world, couldn't give a toss for.

With such numbers Sir Eski Kanka and myself will not be retiring soon but in just the last few days we cracked 100 US dollars in advertising. I have no idea when the cheque will arrive but no doubt Sir Eski and I will spend it all at the Red Lion Club.

I've had a great time, met all sorts of new people and seen the odd good game of football, along with plenty of dross.

One thing that has surprised me though is the lack of abusive comments from supporters of other football teams. Gulay jumps in every now and then with a condescending comment but there have been very few full on abusive attacks. Clearly we aren't important enough to warrant any.

Perhaps next year.

In the mean time. Happy first birthday to us all, Genclerbirligi and Ankaragucu fans alike. Although obviously we don't wish any happiness on those evil buggers at Ankaraspor.

Hibs 2-1 Dundee Utd

Another three points for the Hibees although this time round it was a bit of a slog as Hibs never really got out of second gear. Dundee Utd packed the midfield and worked very hard in pushing up whenever the opportunity arose.

Utd opened the scoring after twenty minutes when a cross was turned into his own net by Hibs centre half Martis. Hibs other centre half Jones then equalised just before halftime and Steven Fletcher notched the winner with around twenty minutes to go.

The game itself was not the level of entertainment we regular attenders at Easter Road have become accustomed to. Dundee Utd might have set out their stall from the start with a packed midfield but Hibs should be clever enough to work around that hurdle. Another problem is that Thomson and Brown are looking through pound signs as their big money transfers come closer. Personally I would have hooked the pair of them and played players that are committed to the club. Obviously they are capable of turning the game in Hibs favour but the pair of them were certainly off the mark on Saturday.

Some players who were not off the mark however were the Under 14 AC Oxgangs team who moved through to the semi final after beating North Berwick 6-1 in Edinburgh. There were plenty of good performances but I should mention a strong midfield role played by Ciaran Macdonald and a comanding defencive display by Jake Sweeney. The game was played in horrendous conditions with rain and hail in driving rain. All that and not one of the boys asked for more money, take note Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown. I should also add that the boys from North Berwick conducted themselves to perfection and accepted the defeat with no nonsense. They obviously still bring them up well down their Jim, just like in the old days.

Hibbee Kanka

The things you can do at a Premiership ground these days...

Just saw this article by Paul Wilson in today's Observer and just had to nick it and put it here:

Say what you like about the lack of atmosphere at some modern stadiums, there is no doubt that present-day facilities offer football supporters opportunities that previous generations packed upright on the terraces could only dream about.

A couple were ejected from a Premiership ground last month for having sex in the disabled toilet. Stewards were alerted when spectators complained the door had been locked for half an hour - clearly not a case of premature ejection - and there was a suspicious amount of noise coming from inside.

Completely unabashed at being discovered, the couple accepted their punishment without demur, in all probability figuring they had already had more excitement than the actual game was going to offer.

Except the girl did have one last request. 'My boyfriend is still in his seat watching the match,' she explained, showing a steward her ticket number. 'Would you mind telling him you've thrown me out, otherwise he'll be wondering where I've gone.'

What is it with refs and giving red cards to both Gucu and Gencler?

Sakaryaspor 1 - Genclerbirligi 1

It was another away match for Genclerbirligi this weekend, this time against Sakaryaspor.

It seems that we went up in the 35th minute thanks to a good shot from Mehmet Nas but then things got hairy when Draman was sent off in the 56th minute having collected two yellow cards.
I have no idea whether these were justified but judging by the very harsh decisions given against both Gencler and Ankaragucu in the past few weeks my guess is that they were not.

A man down in an away match is not much fun and Sakarya got the equaliser a few minutes later.

In the 84th minute we had a good chance but the ball was saved off the line by a Sakarya player.
So just the one point from the match which leaves us three points behind third-placed Crap Tv Manisaspor. Still in with a chance for Euro footy.

EDIT: Tuesday. Just read this quote from Gencler press spokesman.

"Straight after the (first Gencler) goal Isaac Promise missed from a very good position. If that had of been a goal the match would have been wrapped up."

THE TURKISH CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Recalling a conversation I had with Osterrich Kanka Wolfgang last week, he informed me that the Turkish Cup matches would be played on the week following the League mid-winter break. He found this information on a German Footie Website !!

He said that Genclerbirligi would be playing Besik...spit...tas in Ankara during week commencing 11 December. So, presumably, on Wednesday 13 December ?

So, it is fair to assume that ANKARAGUCU might well be playing Bucaspor that week too ?

I am working all day tomorrow, so perhaps Oz Kanka can check this out and see if anything has be firmed-up.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU FINALLY SUCCUMB TO THE LAW OF AVERAGES

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Having gone EIGHT games without defeat, ANKARAGUCU finally lost their proud record today in Sivas by going down 2-1.

The law of averages is a powerful mathematical certainty and even ANKARAGUCU cannot by-pass this law !!

No details as I write this, but perhaps Oz Kanka can fill in the details from the `wonderful` Anatolian Press tomorrow ??!!

All the best from disappointed, but logical, Eski Kanka Jim

Oz Kanka here:
Just to add a little to the report.

Sivas were 2-0 up when Ankaragucu got another red card. This time for Aytekin. Hurriyet doesn't say why though.

As is becoming normal for Ankaragucu they then started to fight and Agali got a goal back and then Abdurrahman put the ball into the back of the net for Ankaragucu only to have the goal dissallowed for off side.

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF.......

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The best laid plans of Oz Kanka and Eski Kanka are now....... to use Mariac Kanka's vocabulary......... F*****D !!!

Hurriyet reported this morning that the TFF swords are out again for naughty teams like ANKARAGUCU, Fener and Trabzon, and they have punished all 3 clubs severely.... especially ANKARAGUCU.

Following the `supporter`, or should I say `hooligan` fighting and swearing at the Sakarya v ANKARAGUCU match last week, the TFF has decreed that the ANKARAGUCU v Fener match will NOT be played in Ankara. It is to be played in another city yet to be designated.

Boo hoo hoo hisss hisss hisss !!!

Therefore, it means that we will have to watch the match on TV. That being the case, I suggest we meet up in The Chopin Bar where there is likely to be a majority of ANKARAGUCU supporters. Whilst the Cappakokia is also a very nice meeting place, it does tend to attract a large following of supporters of Turkey's SECOND city, Istanbul, teams !!

So, presuming that we are all in agreement, we will meet in The Chopin from 7pm onwards on Friday 8 December.

Further details to follow when and if there are any more changes.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

HIBERNIAN LADIES - HOMING IN ON SILVERWARE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Hibernian Ladies kept up the pressure on their rivals last weekend with a hard earned away win 4-2 against Aberdeen Ladies. The Hibernian Ladies are quite clearly unwilling to give up their Premier League Trophy !!

Attention now turns to the Premier League Cup Final which takes place tomorrow night, Thursday 30 November, against Edinburgh Ladies. The Hibernian Ladies will obviously start favourites, but I'm sure their manager will have warned them to take nothing for granted in a local derby match, especially as it is a Cup Final.

Watch this space for the result as soon as I have it.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - NOT SO GOOD NEWS

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Rumblings and mutterings of discontent from Eski Kanka today !!

Turkey's `favourite` newspaper, Hurriyet, reported today that there is a question mark about the future of our star defender Abdurrahman Dereli.

The question posed was........... is he going to join Galatasaray ???

It surely goes without saying that this is NOT the time to be selling players when the team is on a roll in the League and Cup competitions. As I said before in a recent blog, ANKARAGUCU has the best defensive record in the league and one of the reason's for that is the excellent form of our man Dereli.

I'm hoping it is just rumour-mongering by `agents`. Watch this space for further news if any develops.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

FAREWELL FINLANDIA KANKA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It is with sadness that I report the imminent departure from these shores of Finlandia Kanka Marcus.

As most of us know, he has been a stalwart attendee at ANKARAGUCU and Gencler matches during the past 3 years and he will be sadly missed here.

I'm sure the Stadium Police will also miss him !! However, that is another story which can wait for another day !!!

There will be once last chance to meet him. He will be having farewell drinkies in The Red Lion Club tonight, Wednesday 29 November, from 5pm to 7pm. All kankas are invited.

On behalf of all the kankas, we wish you and your wife Chris well in London and I hope you will remember to visit the blog and post regularly.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Hibs 2-2 Celtic

Hibs and Celtic served up a cracker of a game on Sunday afternoon, Hibs looked to be cruising at two nil with just over twenty minutes to go but Celtic hit back with a late flurry and could actually have won. I have to admit that it felt like a defeat but once home from the game and having a chance to think about it both teams had good chances. The referee did not cover himself in glory, he seemed to have left his red card at home as at least three players should have walked (two Celts and one Hibs).

Anyway an Ivan Sproule rocket had Hibs in front after 10 minutes and Kevin Thomson extended Hibs lead on the hour with a cheeky nutmeg of the keeper. Celtic hit back with two goals in four minutes from Sno and McGeady. Kenny Miller missed a one on one with the Hibs keeper before Glass hit row Z for Hibs with the last kick of the game.

I will have to watch the highlight on TV tonight as I'm sure Neil Lennon should have got a second yellow after clashing with Scott Brown. I would like to say more about Scottish referees but I know Eski Kanka Jim gets very protective of his old friends. I will restrict myself to saying Mike McCurry earned his biscuit tin vouchers on Sunday.

Hibbee Kanka

Maniac Kanka sends in his report

Ankaragucu 1 - Antalyaspor 0

Maniac Kanka Harun has sent in this report of Sunday's match:

It's was a classic for fans of Ankara Gucu soccer (football) team.

Both teams started preciously and the first half was played mostly in the middle section of the field.

There wasn't any important significant goal positions, but the assistant referee had given at least five wrongful decisions against Ankara Gucu.

By the second half the fans of Ankara Gucu increased to around 15,000 and the first goal position came from Antalyaspor when in the 60th minute a shot was made from 30 metres only to come off the goal post.

This was the turning point of the game as from this minute on Ankara Gucu became more influential. On the 75th minute Burak was replaced by Ali Olmez and Bebbe Was replaced by Agali and we saw the first serious attack. The last five minutes were tense.

At the 88th minute Sedat was shown red card and sent off and this incident fired Ankara Gucu.

Seconds from the end Emre passed the ball to Agali who sent the ball over their goalkeeper and into the net :)

From now on we are happy and keep our hopes high for UEFA. This is our aim because we are just three points behind BJK which is in third place.

We are proud and strong and we are fans of Ankara Gucu...

Teamen go down

Rizespor 0 - Genclerbirligi 1

An win for the red and blacks today away to what Udo Steven Bassey of the Turkish Daily News likes to call the Rize Teamen.

Going by the Anatolian news agency report it was a pretty good win too with lots of shots on goal and one great save by Jesus.

The goal came in the 54th minute after Erhan Guven had a go which was deflected by their keeper onto the post. The ball came back into play and Okan Ozturk found himself with an open net.

An away win is always good and the three points put us into sixth position in the league and only 4 points behind second placed Galatasaray.

As I write this Sir Eski Kanka is interviewing Maniac Kanka Harun in order to put together some sort of report on the Ankaragucu match. Sir Eski says he will write up his post sometime on Monday.

ANKARA FOOTIE - UPCOMING FIXTURES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

As you all know, ANKARAGUCU will play Antalyaspor tomorrow (Sunday) KO 2pm. Oz Kanka and I will not be going. However, I will be meeting Maniac Kanka Harun at The Cappakokia Bar after the match. He will be there after the match and I will be there at 7pm to join him. So, if anyone is planning to go then we will see you there.

Next weekend both teams are away -

Saturday 2 December - Sivas v ANKARAGUCU - KO 2pm
Sunday 3 December - Sakarya v Genclerbirligi - KO 2pm

The programme for the last round of matches before the winter break is as follows -

Friday 8 December - ANKARAGUCU v Fenerbahce - KO 8pm
Sunday 10 December - Genclerbirligi v Antalyaspor - KO 2pm

Meeting details to be announced by Oz Kanka nearer the time.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Just filling space

Just like much of the writing on this blog, I often wonder whether much of what goes into the Ankara section of Hurriyet is more a case of filling up space rather than actually news.

One of the important stories in today's Ankara section is that two players from Ankaraspor had a birthday party. Amazing stuff.

But of slightly more importance was a little rant by Atilla Turker at Gencler's goalkeeper Jesus and also against midfielder Mehmet Nas.

Turker praises Jesus for the various fine saves he made during last Saturday's 4-1 win over Konya, but he also gets stuck into him for shouting at various players (our own) after the last second consolation goal scored by Konya.

Jesus was pretty upset at the time and at first refused to join the rest of the team who came over to where we were sitting to receive own congratulations.

"Professionalism is not just playing well... discipline and gentlemanliness are also necessary," Turker wrote.

I have to admit I was slightly confused as to why Jesus was so upset, but I guess he had just lost a bonus of a few thousand lira for failing to keep a clean sheet. Oh well.

But then Turker goes on to attack Mehmet Nas for getting two yellow cards and thus putting the team under huge pressure. He also had a go at us supporters for actually shouting out in support of Nas.

What the hell is Turker talking about? The reason why we were shouting our support for the bloke was because there was no way he deserved that second yellow card. The incident took place right in front of us: Nas went for the ball, got to it first and the opposition player fell. It was clean. When the whistle blew I actually thought we would get the foul. Instead Nas got a yellow, his second, and left the field.

Having said that, I'm sure Turker was watching from the press box and therefore didn't have a good view. On this occasion I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, probably the first time this blog has ever done such a thing.

The Hibbie Kanka family

Sir Eski Kanka sent me this photo the other day and being the internet luddite that he is he couldn't figure out how to post it on the blog. So it falls to me to explain...

This blog hasn't always been all that kind to those whom in Australia we refer to in polite conversation as the "boys in blue".

We have told the story of overzealous coppers a number of times, for example here, and even poked fun at them, for example here, but I was blown away that our offical Scottish football reporter Hibbie Kanka was actually a cop.

Anyway, Sir Eski Kanka met Hibbie Kanka out in Saudi Arabia where the two of them were working in various military type things helping to protect Saudi Arabian democracy.

Obviously, the bloke on the left in the photo is Hibbie Kanka. Seated next to him is Mini Hibbee Kanka Liam who was once sent off after scoring five goals in a match. This is what Sir Eski Kanka had to say after news of that one.

"I have seen Mini Hibbie Kanka play footie and have actually played against him in his back garden. He is far more aggressive than his father and I can understand why he received his marching orders !!! On one hand a striker needs to be strong and aggressive, however, on the other hand we have to temper our energy within the laws of the game !!!"

Unfortunately I don't have the names of the two girls next to Liam but I'm sure they will play for Hibernian Ladies in just a few years time.

I just realised that the photo is just slightly out-of-date, almost three years out of date in fact. Was this done to ensure that no one will be able to identify those in the picture? I prefer to think that Hibbee Kanka is just like Sir Eski Kanka and still hasn't figured out how to set the date on his camera.

ANKARAGUCU AND GENCLERBIRLIGI IN PUSH FOR YOORO FOOTIE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

We have to be positive, or at least optimistic, of our chances to qualify for Yooro Footie this season and bring Yooro footie back to Turkey's FIRST city Ankara.

With only 3 matches left before the winter break, both of the Ankara teams are well positioned to make a serious challenge.

Gencler is only 4 points behind 3rd placed Manisa who are beginning to lose their early season sparkle and promise. ANKARAGUCU is a further one point behind Gencler.

As they say......... all to play for !

This coming weekend Gencler is away in Rize on Sunday. ANKARAGUCU is at home to Antalyaspor and the KO is again at 2pm.

For those not suffering with St Andrew's Ball hangovers, the meeting will probably be in the Chopin at midday.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Super Six from Hibs

The Hibees turned Motherwell over on Saturday to record their biggest away win for a while. Already four goals up at half time Hibs notched another couple in the second half either side of Motherwells consolation.

A couple of wins on the trot has lifted Hibs up to fourth in the league still only three points off second place. Next weeks home game against Celtic will be crucial if we are to pressure the teams above us, personally I think Celtic are due a defeat and next week will do quite nicely.

Scott Brown opened the scoring against Motherwell after 10 minutes, Chris Killen added another after 25 minutes before Sproule double the score before half time. Big Rob Jones headed the fifth after 75, Motherwell then notched a goal for themselves before Dean Shiels completed the scoring. According to all the reports I have read the scoreline could and should have been double which is quite incredible for senior football. Already the papers are full off which HIbs players the Old Firm should be signing. I am all for players furthering their career but not with the Old Firm. I think by next year both Thomson and Brown will be plying their trade in the English Premiership. Good luck to them as I think they will be good enough to reach the highest level.

Hibbee Kanka

An apology

Genclerbirligi 4 - Konyaspor 1

A simple selection of quotes from this blog may have given the impression that Isaac Promise was not exactly the next Maradona. Phrases we have used include "all up I'd say that, as usual, Isaac Promise had a crap game", here, or, "a couple more chances in the first half, Promise fluffed one of them", here, or even "I'm not counting Isaac Promise who has proven time and again to be an absolute joke who if he was a racehorse would have been shot a long, long time ago" which can be found here

We would like to apologise for the above statements and would like to point out that we now consider the man to be an absolute genious who could do no wrong and who today scored a wonderful goal.

Apologies all round, especially to Private Eye.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm guessing it is the earlier starts that are keeping people from getting to the Chopin Pub on time but I was happy enough with my beer and newspaper. Not too long a wait until Trainspotting Kanka Andrew showed up and then a little while later Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo and his mate Jac joined us. I was just getting ready to tuck into my Inegol kofte when a man new to Ankara football gave me a call.

Scott was in the general vicinity of the Chopin but couldn't quite figure out where the bar was. I walked out of the bar thinking he was nearby. He said he was in front of the Aba Piknik kebab restaurant. So was I. I then thought he must be at another kebab place and found another Aba Piknik. Still no Scott. Bloody hell. How many bloody Aba Pikniks are there in Kizilay? Scott finally found the pub, had his single beer and then we jumped in the taxi for the stadium.

We got in a minute or two late but didn't miss much. Gencler seemed to have the vast majority of the possesion but weren't really creating too many chances. Not much difference to the last few weeks then. Despite not having much position Konya were actually getting shots on goal, fortunately Jesus in goal was playing fairly well.

We should have been given a penalty at around the 25th minute mark but the referee mysteriously ruled play on. As if to make up it he awarded us a penalty in the 35th for someone or other pulling down someone in the box. It didn't actually look like a penalty but it was justice for the earlier decision.

Okan Ozturk calmly slotted the penalty.

Then a few minutes later came what was clearly the goal of the match. Not sure who sent the ball in from the right but somehow it fell to Isaac Promise. I expected him to try and pass it on to someone else but instead he gave it a lovely whack with his left foot and it went sailing past the keeper. An excellent goal.

Almost half-time and the referee decided it was time for revenge when he gave Mehmet Nas a second yellow card for something that was not even a foul. This was truely a bad decision which had all the Gencler fans, and the players, up in arms.

Second half, a man down but 2-0 up. Nervy.

Konya obviously decided to go for it, and Gencler decided to play it defensively. Konya missed a couple of clear chances and Jesus in goal again played well. With defence in mind there wasn't much point in having Isaac Promise on and so in the 60th minute midfielder Engin Baytar replaced him.

At the time I thought it was a good move but with hindsight it may have been better to have taken Mehmet Cakir off as he was clearly very tired and not bothering to run for balls that Isaac Promise would normally easily get.

It didn't matter though because as Konya tried to press we were playing the counter-attack game. Both second half goals came from breakaways in our own half and then some nice final passing to get around the keeper and into an empty net.

These were nice team effort goals with Traore Lamine getting the first and Cakir the second.

4-0 up and we didn't really care when Konya scored a consolation game at the end of the match.

Great stuff all round. I'm sure Sir Eski Kanka will come up with something soon on what must have been match of the round: Sakarya 0-Ankaragucu 0.

EDIT: Flying Dutchman Kanka helped me out a few weeks ago in posting links to the goals each week. Well, Lig TV have gone and changed the way they do it and all previous links probably don't work. Great. I'll have to go through and change them all manually. In the meantime the following link to the goals should work. Just remember that this game was in the 14. Hafta

Will Cemal Aydin run again?

It certainly isn't the biggest surprise in the world but Ankaragucu have decided not to hold an early general congress and thus the "signals" are there that Cemal Aydin will run for chairman once again, Hurriyet reported on Wednesday.

It seems that the recent good run by the team on the park has given Aydin the confidence to keep going. As we reported earlier here, the board had previously decided to hold the congress in early December. Aydin had also promised that he would not run.

I wonder if the team's good performances will actually save Aydin. Afterall, the fans have been calling for his resignation since before the season begun and last week I noticed a group of fans in Kapali shouting "yonetim istifa" even though the team was 2-0 up and about to post its sixth-straight win.

Don't be surprised Mr. Aydin if at Ankaragucu's next home game in a couple of weeks that the entire crowd will be screaming for your scalp.

Ego trip? More like an ego trap.

When I think of the highs of writing for this blog I think of meeting up with the Bilkent Kankas, having Zagreb Kanka join us, teasing Sir Eski Kanka is always fun and of course I enjoy the riches that is the almost 100 dollars we have made out of advertising.

I have to admit though that it truely was a great ego boost when a few weeks ago a message was left on the comments section of one of our posts asking if we would be interested in helping out a UK television company in wanting to make a show about Turkish fans.

Let me repeat the original message:

"I am currently researching for a television prodcution company in the Uk. We are researching a programme concerning Turkish football. All of you here seem to be an ideal bridge for us to get a feel for everything. Would you like to help? I don't know how we can exchange email addresses. Mine is ****@****.uk.com please email me if you would like to help"

Having been guilty of it a million times in the past I ignored the spelling error in the first sentence and was instead caught by the hook... "an ideal bridge", that's us clearly. "Would we like to help?" You bet.

Since then myself and Sir Eski Kanka have been involved in more than 30 e-mails pinging back and forward between Turkey and England

I was extremely excited. Sure, getting a link from Gulay or Ahmet is great but this was over the top.

But then we started to get our suspicions:

"We are making a programme which is going to focus on the fan culture in Turkey. Obviously a large part of the programme will focus on Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas, but we are also looking to go to a different city as well, which led us to Ankara as Ankaragucu and Genclerbirligi seem to have good fan bases. We are going to look at a broad spectrum of different supporter levels. The extreme elements will play a key role too. English speakers would be best as the programme is going to be shown over here. We want to get a real feel of the culture, which fans are the most extreme, which the best etc."

Extreme? Mmmm. What are they playing at?

Our e-mail conversations continued and it was at this point that I noticed a large number of search enquiries from Google from a single service provider in the UK. The search enquiries were such things as "genclerbirligi hooliganism" or "ankaragucu street fighting" and variations on the theme. As the only English-language blog writing about such things it was little wonder they found us. Not surprising really as a search for "looking for boyfriend Ankara" will also find us near the top of the google charts.

We decided to let it go on anyway and last Sunday, before the Ankaragucu-Rize match we finally met up with these people who had flown in from the UK. Carl, the producer, and Rana, a researcher, were lovely people. They both seemed to have really enjoyed their few days here in Turkey and understood that this was a very safe country.

The only hassle was that they continually asked about all the violent incidents that we have encountered as Ankara football fans. We, of course, explained that it is more dangerous going out anywhere in London on a Saturday night than it is to go to a football match in Ankara but still they persisted.

The two of them had to go off to the airport and thus couldn't actually come to the match to see what it is really like but they did leave behind a couple of DVDs of their company's previous work.

"The Real Football Factories" is their franchise and lets just say that it does not put football fans in a nice light. You can check out one of their shows here

Trainspotting Kanka had already warned me not to have anything to do with this lot, and having seen the DVDs and the website above I can't agree more.

In other words, if you are contacted by ZigZag productions in the next few days or weeks, steer well clear. Their aim is to paint us Gencler and Ankaragucu fans with mud.

I've also posted this advice on various Ankaragucu and Genclerbirligi forums.

Having said all that, their "The Real Football Factories: Scotland" does have some interesting Hibs stuff :) But by God where on earth did they they find that presenter

ANKARAGUCU AND THE NON-LOVE AFFAIR WITH HURRIYET

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

For those of you who are unfamilier with the press in Turkey, it is my understanding that The Hurriyet has the largest circulation in Turkey (Oz Kanka will correct me if I'm wrong !!). Every Tuesday there is a Footie Panorama section which gives the league stats, team of the weekend, players of the weekend, etc.

It is therefore with disappointment that I report that after 13 weeks league footie, only 3 ANKARAGUCU players have made it into the team of the weekend, and zero times as team of the weekend.

I don't want to downgrade the achievement of Sivas in beating Besiktas and featuring as team of the weekend this week, however, it is apparent to me that The Hurriyet perhaps are unaware of the recent exploits of ANKARAGUCU.

Six wins out of six starts is surely something that demands attention, and I am sure that if our team name was ISTANBULGUCU it would be a different story !!!

If the Hurriyet sports team are reading our blog, I therefore invite you to attend the Sakarya/ANKARAGUCU match next Saturday and take your blinkers off !!!

By the way, well done Bebbe for making team of the weekend !!

All the best from Hurriyet Hater Eski Kanka Jim

Hibees back on track

Hibs beat Inverness on Saturday 2-0 to haul themselves back up the league. Goals from Steven Flether and a penalty from Chris Killen, both in the second half, saw Hibs finally beat Inverness for the first time in six matches. Hibs could easily have been behind in the first half but a tremendous double save from Zibi kept Hibs in the game. Hibs new manager John Collins had kept faith in his keeper after some costly errors and his faith was repaid in full.

Hibs never quite hit the level of performance they reached against Hearts last Wednesday but the important thing was that they managed to pick up the three points. The other SPL scores were as follows:
St Mirren 1-3 Celtic
Rangers 2-0 Dunfermline
Dundee Utd 1-0 Kilmarnock
Aberdeen 2-1 Motherwell
Falkirk v Hearts (Tonight)

Celtic might be 15 points clear of the pack but the fight for second place is making the league a bit more interesting than normal. Only three points seperate six teams. Second place will get a Champions League qualifier so there is plenty to play for.

Hibbee Kanka

Are we violent?

Ankaragucu 2 - Rizespor 0
Erciyes 0 - Genclerbirligi 2

Up at the crack of dawn this morning in order to get to the Chopin at the extremely uncivilised time of 11 am to find Trainspotting Kanka drinking his coffee and chatting away to Carl and Rana, a producer and researcher for a UK television company.

They were in town to do some background work for a show they are putting together all about Turkish football fans. It appears that their main interest is in the more violent side of football fans.

Poor guys, sure, Turkish football supporters have got a terrible reputation, thanks in large part to the English tabloids, but I've hardly seen a violent incident in years of going to Gencler and Ankaragucu games. In other words I reckon they will have a difficult time making their documentary.

Anyway, speaking of peaceful people Maniac Kanka Harun joined us, as did Dirk, Lulu and Lulu's boyfriend. Lulu has only been in Ankara for a month or so and while she was unable to come along to the match itself I'm sure she will joing us soon.

Two other long lost souls from the wilds of Bilkent also showed up, Battle-hardened Kanka Damon and Mountaineering Kanka Robbie.

All up a decent turn-out, Sir Eski Kanka was sufferring at work, poor bugger.

Off to the stadium nice and early and the crowd was quite a decent one. Bugger all Rizespor supporters of course but Maraton was pretty much full, both sides of kapali were pretty much full and the gecekondu crowd wasn't too bad either.

And were they up for it? You bet. Five wins on the trot for Ankaragucu had the fans in full voice. The atmosphere today was brilliant. Shame no one told the players.

Let's just say that despite Rize not being very good and Ankaragucu dominating it wasn't until the 24th minute before Ankaragucu had a shot on goal.

Oh I did forget that a few minutes before that Rize almost scored from a free kick which went onto Ankaragucu's forward Mustafa Ozkan who was denied an own goal by the post.

Another close shave came when the Gucu defence allowed a bald bloke from Rize a free header. Nonsense stuff.

0-0 half time and tensions were rising. Including on the terraces where for some reason a group of the Anti-X supporters started shouting stuff at a group of Genc Ankaragucu supporters. No idea what started off the handbags but the cops were having none of it. Fully tooled riot police were ordered in and although nothing happened, the atmosphere was definately tense. Perhaps that TV company are onto something.

Second half and both sides had chances. The difference was that Ankaragucu, and Tita in particular, seemed more intent on fancy passes around the box instead of actually having a shot.

Again the bald bloke from Rize was left unmarked twice were he could have scored with that shiny pate and then he really stuffed up when he was one-on-one with Serkan (who actually had a very good game).

And so it was against the run of play when Bebbe scored for Ankaragucu with a header off a corner.

A few minutes later and Ankaragucu sealed it after a lovely move down the wing which led to Ceyhun sending the ball to Bebbe who whacked it into the back of the net.

Us happy campers then went off to the Cappadocia bar to warm up.

It was here that we learnt of the other great result today. Erciyesspor 0, Genclerbirligi 2.

It was an away match and thus I have to rely on the Anatolian news agency who report that neither goal was scored by Isaac Promise. In fact, Isaac was replaced in the 74th minute and in their star report Anatolia gave Isaac one star out of a possible three (being chosen in the first 11 is enough to earn that one star).

But perhaps I'm being too tough on the young bloke because I doubt there was much need for attack considering that Engin Baytar and Okan Ozturk had both scored within 5 minutes of the match starting.

All up a great weekend which pulls both Gencler and Ankaragucu further away from the drop zone and closer towards a UEFA place. Let's keep dreaming.

The round ball in Ankaragucu Show Hibs the Way

Hibs followed Ankaragucu's example tonight and beat Hearts in the League cup quarter final by one goal to nil. The game was very one sided as Hibs corner count of 14 to 2 proves however with only one goal to show for their efforts the nerves were showing towards the end.

Hibs goal came from one of their corners, the ball fell at Rob Jones feet and he lashed it into the net. That goal came after about half an hour and was the least Hibs deserved. I do not know where Hearts usual fight was, maybe playing Hartley wide right instead of through the centre took the edge of their game. In any case Thomson, Brown, Beuzalin and Zemama had complete control and a bit more luck would surley have provided some goals.

It is a refreshing look to the semi final draw this year with no Rangers or Celtic in sight. The other quarter finals were as follows:

Rangers 0-2 St Johnstone
Celtic 1-1 Falkirk (Falkirk won on pens)
Killie 3-2 Motherwell

The semi finals are not till next March I think, plenty time to mull over the possible scenarios.

C'Mon the Hibs

ANKARAGUCU - GIMME FIVE !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I think we will have to go back (a long way ?) in time to discover the last time ANKARAGUCU won FIVE straight matches.

The Turkish Cup result today was.........

Genclerbirligi 0 ANKARAGUCU 1

Three league wins and two cup wins on the trot for ANKARAGUCU is pretty impressive, especially after their abysmal start to the season.

All the kankas were heads down at work today, with the exception of yours truly. So, I visited Maniac Kanka Harun in his Sports Shop...... advertisement time...

Esse Spor, Menekse Sokak, Balkanoglu Carsisi, No 7/32, Kizilay.

and tried to convince him that the cup match was more important than selling sports kit. That took all of 30 seconds and then we were off to Chopin for some `refreshments` !!

Arriving at the Stadium we forgot (olde age ??!!) that it was an away match for ANKARAGUCU and so we had to walk round to the other side but with only 15 minutes to KO time. We therefore decided to go to Kapali and stand with the Pegasus Group. That was an added bonus because I met Volkan (Leader) and lots of my old Pegasus friends from the good old days in Sahil.

The match kicked off with ANKARAGUCU again starting like an express train and they opened the scoring after only 5 minutes before we had time to catch our breath.

An attacking move down the left and a cross into Bebbe who did well to lose his marker. The goalkeeper committed himself but was left fumbling as Bebbe cut the ball back for the incoming Tita and he almost burst the net with his gift from Bebbe.

Jumping up and down and singing time and we were all in full voice.

ANKARAGUCU continued to press forward with the ocassional breakaway from Gencler, but in all honesty there should have been more goals from ANKARAGUCU. The fact that Ceyhun and Mustafa (the 2 top goalscorers) were being rested perhaps contributed to that situation.

Gencler started the 2nd half in more determined fashion but most of their efforts were long range. There was one scare for ANKARAGUCU though when Serkan came running off his line to punch a clearance but it went straight to a Gencler forward who drove it in for a sure fire goal. However, the ever reliable Sedat was on the line to head clear.

ANKARAGUCU's Murat had 2 clear cut chances to put the game beyond doubt but declined to score at the invitation of an open goal. He decided to blast the ball over the bar !!

The noise in the 2nd half was unbelieveable. I kid you not that the Gecikondu boys (and us in Pegasus) sang the same song about following ANKARAGUCU through wind, rain, snow and any other weather front for the whole of the 2nd half. You really had to be there to appreciate the passion of these supporters. I can't find the words to do them justice.

Oh...... sorry.... I forgot to mention the Gencler supporters who cheered their team when they came out for the 2nd half. Maniac Kanka and I counted the supporters but we disagreed on the number. He said 38, but I'm sure it was only 37 !!!!

The last 10 minutes of the match was all about ANKARAGUCU holding on to what they had and that really wasn't a problem for Serkan, Sedat, Emre, Dereli and Petrov. However, we did receive a few yellow cards for time wasting tactics.... tut tut tut !!!

It was off to the Cappadokia after the match for more amber nectar and some comisserations to the owner who supports Gencler. He was asking why Oz Kanka was absent ??!!!

ANKARAGUCU now lead the group stage with 6 points from 2 matches and are looking good to join either Gencler or Besiktas in the final stages. Incidentally, Buca of the 2nd Division beat Rize today to more or less eliminate Rize from further interest in the group.

Wednesday afternoon footie is not quite the same as weekend footie but there was a fair sized ANKARAGUCU crowd today to at least bring some atmosphere to the match.

Back to league footie at the weekend.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU SUPPORTERS - PRAISE INDEED

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It is not often that we hear about ANKARAGUCU supporters receiving praise for any quarter, particularly from the Press.

Therefore, it is with pleasure that I read a report in The Hurriyet this morning written by Mehmet Buyukborekci on the subject of a meeting held in Ankara on 4 November to support the Turkish Republic and against those people who want to introduce and promote religion into politics.

There were lots of different groups in attendance, eg, civil servants, private business, etc., and........ a group of ANKARAGUCU supporters.

Mr Buyukborekci went on to praise the ANKARAGUCU supporters for their support and also posed the question..... where were the supporter groups from the other Ankara teams, and the Istanbul `Big 3`.

I'm not sure which ANKARAGUCU supporter group it was. However, whoever they were ..... a big WELL DONE from me on behalf of us all at The Round Ball in Ankara.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Is Bakkal too agressive?

I'm not sure if this is all a beat up by the media but Hurriyet's Ankara section today ran a story with the headline "Bestepe'de Bakkal Krizi" or "Coach Bakkal Crisis at Bestepe (the Gencler training facilities)".

Apparently the other day after the 0-1 loss away to Galatasaray our chairman Ilhan Cavcav said something like "You are shouting too much at the players. You are very aggressive. You may destroy the confidence of our young players. Be more careful".

The paper goes on to say there has been a significant cooling of relations between Cavcav and Bakkal.

Cavcav has since gone on the record saying that he won't be sacking Bakkal and that he can stay at the club as long as he likes. I'm not really sure what is going on.

But I was wondering if Bakkal has been taken a leaf out of the book written by former Leyton Orient manager John Sitton. Have a look at this video of Sitton's attempts to gee up his players at half time. (warning lots of swearing).

HIBERNIAN LADIES - STILL ON SONG

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ladies footie returns to the blog with a latest update on the super girls of the Hibernian Ladies team.

The ladies are obviously determined to retain their Premier League title after their two recent wins. Last week they thrashed Lochee United 7-0, and this week they kept another clean sheet by beating Forfar 3-0.

Kim Little was again the star of the show against Forfar, scoring 2 to take her tally to 17 for the season.

Well done ladies and good luck in the League Cup later this month.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Hibees Struggle

Hibs have only managed two points from their last two games and find themselves stuck in the middle of the table. When Rangers and Hearts have been dropping points Hibs could have been closing the gap but instead lost 2-1 away to Aberdeen and then drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock on Saturday. The draw with Kilmarnock was John Collins first game in charge and he will probably be looking back to Monaco for a goalkeeper as Hibs weakest position came back to haunt them.

The defeat up at Aberdeen was a sore one to take as the winning goal came in the dying seconds of the game, Hibs had been reduced to 10 men (again) and looked comfortable in holding on for a draw when Scott Severin hit a 25 yarder past Zibi. I believe the draw with Kilmarnock was a fair result, I am still not getting to the games due to other committments but after next Saturday will be able to give a better account of the game.

Hibs play Hearts on Wednesday in the League cup quarter final, hopefully we will see a win for a change.

Hibbee Kanka

THE TURKISH CUP AND UPCOMING LEAGUE FIXTURES

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The Turkish Cup sectional matches continue this week and the BIG ONE is right here in Ankara. Another helping of Genclerbirligi and ANKARAGUCU.

Wednesday 8 November KO 2pm.

Not a particularly good time to stage another local derby match, however, having missed yesterday's great ANKARAGUCU win, I will be going to this one. Gencler is the home team again, so if you are coming, then please remember which end of the Stadium you will use. Meeting in The Chopin Bar at about 12 noon and going to the Stadium at 1pm.

Next weekend sees Gencler playing away against Erciyes, but ANKARAGUCU is at home.

Sunday 12 November KO 2pm. More details of meeting venue nearer the time.

Hope some of you can come on Wednesday and join me. All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Not as cold as we thought

Genclerbirligi 1- Ankaragucu 2

At 10 o'clock Sunday morning the snow was coming down and the wind was howling. It was bleak. But that wasn't going to stop us from going to the match and so wrapped up for a Siberian winter we headed down to the Chopin for pre-match beers and then off to the 19 Mayis stadium. By the time we got to the stadium however the weather seemed to have changed completely. We were sitting in the sun and it was actually quite warm. Weird.

Ten of us made it today for the match, unfortunately the Ankaragucu Kanka crowd were thin on the ground, only Casanova Kanka Gokhan made it for the sari-lacivert side, but us Gencler supporters were out in force including Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo, Spine, Legal Kanka Saadet, Jac, Roger, Arja, Oguz and Viking Kanka Jens.

On to the football and it was nice to see Ankara's two top teams gathering pre-kick-off to salute the crowd together. After all, this may have been a a damn important derby but in the end the real enemies are all in Istanbul.

First half and Gencler were definately on top. The Ankaragucu keeper was never really challenged but that is not because he shouldn't have been. Yet again, this blog's favourite striker, yes, Mr. Isaac Promise, buggered up in front. We should have been one, possibly, two in front by half time.

At the same time I have no idea what the hell our keeper Jesus was thinking. At one stage he came off the line attempting to punch a ball, buggered it up and went running off towards the corner post to clean it up. At this stage he was beaten by a 'Gucu player and if it wasn't for luck the ball would have ended in the back of the net.

If they served beer at the 19 Mayis stadium, we would have been crying into them.

Second half and Gencler had clearly taken a sedative or 11. It was dire stuff. Midfield rubbish, defence... oh dear.

In the 56th and the 64th minute Ankaragucu pounced, with Ceyhun and Mustafa Ozkan scoring. The second goal in particular was nice with Mustafa scoring from what we thought was an impossible angle.

As for the first goal, was it offside. I guess we will have to look at the replays (which I shall put up as a link here soon).

2-0 down and Ankaragucu started to play act, players were falling down left, right and centre in an attempt to run down the clock.

One might have thought that our keeper Jesus might actually have wanted to speed things up a bit at this point, but no, he took his time whenever we had goalkick and did Promise have any idea what the score was when he was so so so rightly replaced towards the end.

Promise! If your team is 2-0 down and you are replaced your job is to bloody well run off the field, not saunter off as if you had just scored a hat-trick!

After Promise was replaced we finally started to play some football and it resulted in a goal from Mehmet Cakir in the 76th.

It was all Genclerbirligi for the rest of the match but to no avail.

Depressed we trudged, not unlike Isaac Promise, out of the stadium and off to the Red Lion Club to watch England get slaughtered by the All Blacks. At about half-time we finally came across some Ankaragucu Kankas in the form of Maniac Kanka Harun, his mates and Sir Eski Kanka Jim.

Smug would probably be the best word to sum them up.

EDIT: Just fixed up the spelling of Arja. Sorry about that.

Real footy weather

As you may deduce from the photo taken from my window a few minutes ago it is a little snowy in Ankara and thus I'd advise everyone coming to the match later today to wear appropriate clothing (in fact just put on everything you own) . To think it was only 10 weeks ago or so that we were wearing shorts to the football. They say that rain is a leveller in football. What do they say about snow?

The Ankara derby details

Forget about the over-hyped Spanish siesta that is Real Madrid versus Barcelona, Chelsea-Arsenal is a yawn attended only by sponsors and those with much too much money, and who on earth cares about ancient religious squabbles that most of the world has managed to leave behind except for Rangers and Celtic fans.

Yep, those matches are just media beat-ups because the toughest derby of them all is on this week: Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu.

Gencler go into the match on a bit of a low. Last week saw them play dissapointingly, losing 1-0 away to Galatasaray. That loss came after a brilliant 3-0 drubbing of Trabzonspor.

Ankaragucu are flying high. After a dismal start to the season the sari-lacivert boys have won their last two league matches, both by impressive scores.

Of course, this is the match that pitches mate against mate, kanka versus kanka with Sir Eski Kanka leading the Ankaragucu crowd and yours truely rallying the Gencler troops.

The match kicks off on Sunday at 2 p.m. and in the spirit of love and peace all kankas, whether they be Ankaragucu or Gencler supporters, are invited to be at the Chopin bar at midday for pre-battle drinks.

Those details again:
Sunday November 5
Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu
Kick-off 2 p.m.
Meeting at Chopin at Midday

Also, if any of you guys or girls with Gencler season tickets aren't coming to the match please tell me so I can collect them off you. You Ankaragucu lot, have fun in the away section.

EDIT: Wednesday afternoon. It has just been announced that the match has been put back to 3pm. How nice of them to give us an extra hour at the pub. ie still meeting at midday.

HIBERNIAN APPOINT A NEW MANAGER

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The following article was nicked from the Hibs Web Site (with apologies !!)....


`Hibernian FC today announce the appointment of John Collins as Manager. John emerged from a group of strong candidates following a rigorous process conducted by the Club. John has agreed a 3 year managerial contract.

Chairman Rod Petrie said: “John is a man with talent, ambition, drive and determination. A footballer of international renown, whose playing career spans five clubs in three countries over 19 years, his achievements make him a role model for our players.

“John has spent three years preparing for today. He has all the technical qualifications, including a UEFA Pro Licence, which means he could be considered for any job in Europe. John decided that he wanted to be a manager in his own right and turned down a number of opportunities to become a coaching assistant.

“John has the ambition and character to be a top manager. We have a talented group of players and a tremendous infrastructure at the Club. John joins us at an exciting time.

“Hibernian gave John his start as a professional footballer. However he is not being appointed for what he achieved here as a player but for what he can achieve here as a manager.”

John Collins said: “I am delighted to be taking up the managerial position at Hibernian and returning to the Club where I started my football career. This is a Club of tremendous stature with a great tradition for playing entertaining and attacking football.

“I would like to let the supporters know that my philosophy is all about playing a passing game with passion, enthusiasm and commitment. Supporters want to win and they want to be entertained. It is our job to give them that.”

Eski Kanka said......On a personal note, I have seen John Collins play for Hibs many times and he was always the true professional and well respected by players and fans alike.

However, I am unsure of what he has been doing recently. So, perhaps Hibbie Kanka Athole can fill us in. Also, the reaction from the fans on the appointment.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU ......... ON FIRE ..... AT LAST !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Good news at last…… ANKARAGUCU are now realising their potential. I’m not saying that they are the `finished article` but it is beginning to come together. Today…….

ANKARAGUCU 4 Erciyes of Kayseri 1

The day started out slowly……. in The Chopin Bar. Yours truly, Huso Kanka and Nuri Kanka, met and conversed for over an hour in our broken Turkish and English. We made it though. Perhaps the EFES helped a little ??!! It’s amazing what you can achieve when there isn’t a translator (Oz Kanka) there to make it easy !!! Maniac Kanka was at a Volleyball match with his daughter and couldn’t come and so he was forgiven. However, what about all the other Ankara Kankas who are (were ?) so famous in Ankara ? Where were they today ??!! Marash Kanka Hakan came late and joined us just as we were leaving for the Stadium.

Off we went to Maraton again and met up with Maniac Kanka Harun and his beautiful daughter Hazal, who will NOT be called Little Maniac Kankie ! Her name is Melek (Angel) Kankie and she is now the official Kanka Mascot.. For those of you who have never met an angel before then you need look no more. Just meet Melek Kankie and you will have met your first angel !!

ANKARAGUCU started with the same line up as in the past 2 matches and again their tactics were similar…….. attack …….. attack ! I have to take my hat off to Hikmet Bey. Since his arrival, the team are really all fired up.

The match was only 5 minutes old when Mustafa put ANKARAGUCU into the lead after some nice work down the left wing and a cross ball in which Mustafa met unmarked.

The Gecikondu End was full, Maraton was almost full and Kapali was almost full. So, the volume of the singing increased as the crowd anticipated more……… and it came. Five minutes later and the moment we were all praying for after many weeks……. a goal for Bebbe ! Good passing (Hikmet is NOW reading our blog !!) put Bebbe clear and he struck an unstoppable shot to open his account for the season.

What a start. Could it continue ? Good question. 10 minutes later came the answer and yet another ANKARAGUCU attack down the right wing with Abdulrahman Dereli involved. With everyone expecting a cross, he fired in an angled fierce shot which screamed into the top left hand corner of the goal with the goalkeeper clawing air !

3 – 0 up after 20 minutes and we were all jumping up and down shouting, singing, dancing and kissing each other. Was there more to come we were thinking ???

Actually, no. The pace slowed down a little and Erciyes came more into the match leading up to the half time whistle, but that’s how it stayed.

Into the 2nd half and it was more end to end stuff now and all credit to Erciyes for not throwing in the towel. However, after only 10 minutes came the goal of the match. Ceyhun disposessed the Erciyes full back, who was in half a mind what to do with the ball, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, cut it back for the incoming Bebbe to slot it home for his 2nd goal of the match. The Stadium errupted at this stage and Bebbe’s name was resounding around the Stadium. This must have been sweet music in his ears after so many near misses and frustrations over the past few weeks.

The pace of the game slowed even further as ANKARAGUCU made 3 substitutions with the match well won. However, a bad mistake from the normally reliable Emre gifted a chance to Erciyes in the last few minutes which they took very well.

This was more like the ANKARAGUCU of old. Attacking and scoring, and defending in depth. Running off the ball, passing accurately and playing as a team. An excellent performance which will be leaving Genclerbirligi supporters trembling in fear as next Sunday’s local derby match approaches.

Moving up into the mid-table region now and……… thinking SERIOUSLY about the UEFA Cup next season !!!!

After the match it was to The Cappakokia Bar for celebration drinks and lots of toasts to Bebbe, the hero for the day !!

Details of the Gencler V ANKARAGUCU match next Sunday coming up from Oz Kanka in an email soon.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim……… still on a high !

The goals can be seen here