Some publicity for us and "The Curse"

Got a text on my mobile this morning from Spine asking me whether I had seen today's edition of the Turkish Daily News. Amazing stuff. The TDN did an entire article concerning just Genclerbirligi. No mention of any of those Istanbul buggers, just Gencler.

Ozgur Korkmaz, a silent but regular reader of the blog wrote a very nice piece concerning the latest tragedy that is the seemingly normal life nowadays at Genclerbirligi.

"Coach departure induces fan protest at Genclerbirligi" was the title of Ozgur's piece where he interviews Bulent Atlas on the reaction of the fans to the latest fiasco. Ozgur sums up my feelings exactly in the following paragraph:

Over the last 30 years, (Cavcav) has made a well-deserved name in the business side of football, especially in finding young, talented players, mostly from Africa, and selling them to bigger clubs. But with lots money in the bank, and excellent training facilities, Gençlerbirliği fans think it is time to take a further step and they want to have a team that aims for the top.

Then, just near the end, was the following paragraph:

Gençlerbirliği has never had a great number of supporters, but it seems that the next season will even be tougher for the club. As a blogger, dubbed “Oz Kanka”, wrote in the blog for foreign football enthusiasts in Ankara, “The round ball in Ankara” (http://ankarafootball.blogspot.com/); “‘Cavcav paranın turşusunu kur' (Cavcav pickle your money), will no doubt ring loud throughout next season's matches. That's if we have any fans left.”

Cool stuff. Got a bit of a bump in traffic today to the blog thanks to the article. Sure, Nathan over at Fenerbahce Worldwide got a couple of articles about his site into Hurriyet but that was a lifestyle-type story, still cool though Nathan :). We however are being quoted on the news, as it happens... a fair and balanced view may I add.

The Curse of "The round ball in Ankara"

This is becoming scary. This blog is now responsible for the departure from Ankara teams of three coaches.

Victim 1: Vlado Bozinoski
Bozinoski was appointed coach of Ankaragucu at the beginning of the season. Being an Aussie we thought we should get an interview. After numerous attempts I finally managed to get his mobile number and was about to ring him when he was sacked.

Victim 2: Mesut Bakkal
Lanky Kanka Jorg organised a football match between the German/Austrian Embassy football team FC Stiefel and the Genclerbirligi management. Gencler coach Bakkal was going to be there so we could interview him for the blog. Within minutes of Lanky Kanka confirming that the interview was on, Bakkal resigned as coach.

Victim 3: Ersun Yanal
Yanal appointed coach and what with the Kanka BBQ on this Saturday we thought this would be a great opportunity to invite him along and interview him for the blog. Yanal resigned two days ago. Today I received confirmation from Lanky Kanka that Yanal had actually said "yes" and was going to come to the BBQ.

Victim 4: ???????