ANKARAGUCU - DAYLIGHT APPEARING

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu is gradually putting daylight between themselves and the bottom 5 clubs - 8 points ahead of 3rd bottom Diyabakir. However, we can't breathe a sigh of relief just yet !

The bottom 4 all have difficult matches next weekend, but ...... are there any easy ones these days ?!

Ankaragucu's match also falls into the difficult category, especially after we witnessed Besiktas pull back a 0-2 deficit last weekend against Eskisehir. They are fast and so it MUST be full-on from Ankaragucu for 90 minutes plus !

That said, Ankaragucu can still be confident of taking on Besiktas and restoring much needed pride against this hated club and their shit supporters.

It's a Friday night KO at 8pm in (and I'm reliably informed about this) 19 Mayis Stadium.

Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend this match due to work commitments, but I'll be free-ed up to watch it in the Beer Bus Bar.

For the kankas who will be going, I suggest getting to the Stadium earlyish - it is sure to be a full house.

Prediction ...... this is Vassel's opportunity to make a name for himself and what better time to do it than against 'that lot' and to give Bursa a helping hand to the league title. Oh yes, and put Ankaragucu further up into mid-table security.

See you in the Beer Bus Bar post-match for victoreeeeee celebrations ??!!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Got 'em

I've been out all day at a cricket umpiring course and didn't even hear the result of today's match until well after the final whistle. In the end though I heard that Gencler won. "Hooray" from me. "Football hooligan" came the the word from my cricket teacher.

Of course, the above is not true, the cricket teacher telling me off that is. The true bıt is that we won.

No in length reports tonight just the score. But still, a great win for Gencler.

Genclerbirligi 1 -0 Diyarbakirspor



I lost count how many times we hit the post.

Cliche headline about match fixing in Turkey

The Turkish football world was rocked to its foundations on Wednesday as police in 26 provinces were kept busy taking a total of 46 people into custody in relation to a match-fixing scandal in which dozens of matches in various leagues are alleged to have been fiddled.

As we reported back in January, one of the matches alleged to have been fixed was the Istanbul BBS - Genclerbirligi match towards the end of last season. Our goalkeeper at the time, Recep Ozturk, was yesterday arrested in Konya and flown to Istanbul. Others involved in the match that were taken into custody included Istanbul BBS trainer Arif Erdem, their goalkeeper Kenan Hasagic and Taner Gulleri.

Some of the other big names who were questioned yesterday included former Galatasaray player Fatih Aykel, Erman Kılıç of Sivasspor and Kayserispor's Umut Koçin and Durmuş Bayram. Savaş Polat, the man who allegedly the man who transfered the money to the players on the make, was arrested in Antalya.

Knock knock

Whilst most were taken into custody during early morning raids, according to a report in Hurriyet, Istanbul police were watching the televised funeral of former Galatasaray Chairman Ozhan Canaydin when they saw some of the "wanted". They called Bursa police and the unnamed players or trainers or whoever were arrested after the funeral. Seven people are still being sought by The Bill.

The Turkish Football Federation said yesterday that it had made the request for an investigation in August last year and had been co-operating with the Sariyer Prosecutor's Office and the Istanbul Financial Crimes Office throughout the eight-month investigation.

The TFF statement said they had suspicions about three games and that later the investigation was widened after news that German prosecutors were looking into match-fixing in Turkey. A police team then went to Bochum in Germany and came home with lots of translation homework.

All in all quite a story, and we still don't really know very much. The Financial Crimes police weren't saying much yesterday but one thing we do know is that if true quite a few people will end up behind bars. As there is as yet no actual crime on the Turkish law books on match-fixing, Sports Minister Faruk Ozak said yesterday that he would be sending one to the cabinet very soon, those involved are most likely to be prosecuted under anti-organised crime laws.

Oh, and one last thing. Recep Ozturk isn't Ilhan Cavcav's son-in-law (as was reported today in at least one paper) - at least not in a legal sense. As we quoted Cavcav back in January when the allegations against Ozterk first became public. "Keeper Recep is our son-in-law (damat). He's married to the daughter of a close friend of mine."

UPDATE: 4:30pm on Thursday. A total of 56 people have now been helping police with their enquires and six, including Fatih Aykel and Recep Ozturk have both taken to court to probably be charged.

UPDATE: 6:39 pm on Thursday. Fatih Aykel has been charged with fraud and membership of an illegal organisation.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: 11:08 pm on Thursday. Recep Öztürk and Tepecikspor Chairman Temel Eyüpoğlu have now also been charged with fraud and membership of a criminal organisation.

JUST ONE MORE UPDATE: 11:53 pm on Friday. More developments today with 11 more people being charged, bringing the total to 15. Not a lot of detail though and no one really famous.

Former Gencler keeper helping police with their enquiries

A short report on news that 15 people were taken into custody today as part of a police investigation into match fixing which we first reported about back in January (well, actually it was Milliyet which broke the story and I didn't even see it until Today's Zaman did a report - but finally we packaged it up together on Ankara's favourite blog.)

There isn't a lot of information out there at the moment, but players from Kayserispor and Sivasspor have been taken into custody, as has former Galatasaray player (now a trainer at Istanbul BBS) Arif Erdem and former Genclerbirligi keeper Recep Ozturk.

Check out the link above for the allegations regarding Ozturk. I will no doubt update this story tomorrow when we have a bit more info.

Three out of three for everyone at Gencler

I had a cricket captains' meeting today and so wasn't able to listen to the Genclerbirligi - Sivas match on the radio. In fact it wasn't until afterwards when having a late lunch with the Mrs and Little Oz Kanka at Cepa that I even remembered that a match was on. It was at that point that Little Oz noticed NTV spor was on and the scores were rolling across the screen. The Ankaragucu result came up first. "Wow" was my comment and the the Gencler score. "YEEESSSSSSSS!" Little Oz and myself shouted, as Mrs. Oz curled up in embarassment.

Sivasspor 0 - 2 Genclerbirligi

From the short notes that the Anatolian news agency reported I figured out the following.

Sivas had the first chances with two shots in the first 15 minutes but Gencler went ahead in the 24th minute thanks to an "organised attack" which ended up with Mustafa Pektemek one-on-one with the keeper. He shot and it was in.

Sivas continued to attack with our keeper saving at least a few more shots before half-time.

The home side continued to attack but Serdar and the defence held firm before Kahe found himself in front and found the back of the net in the 83rd.

And that was that. A great result against a team that last year was fighting for the title but this year fighting to avoid the drop. For the first time in a long time Anatolia gave three stars out of three for every Gencler player, including the reserves.

Gençlerbirliği: Serdar xxx, Orhan xxx, İlhan xxx, Aykut xxx, Radeljic xxx, Vranjes xxx (Dk. 67 Kerem xxx), Sandro xxx (Dk. 79 Hurşit xxx), Tozo xxx, Mustafa xxx, Cem Can xxx, Serkan xxx (Dk. 67 Kahe xxx)

Next week we are at home to Diyarbakirspor. I'm off doing an umpires course and won't be able to make it but I'll inform you all as to details etc.

I'll put up a youtube video of the goals as soon as someone uploads them.

And here it is:

ANKARAGUCU GET OUT OF JAIL !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Something to celebrate tonight me thinks !

ANKARAGUCU 3 Kayserispor 0

I wasn't so happy yesterday when I saw that Dee-eye-bay-kir and Manisa both won, so today's result is defo a get out of jail for Ankaragucu.

More good news ...... Gencler went to Sivas and won 2-0. Thanks to our brother team and look forward to Oz Kanka's upbeat report later.

All we need to hear now is that Trabzon beat Galatasaray tonight and ..... with apologies to Bellshill Kanka Nadeem ....... that St Mirren beat Rangers in the Scottish League Cup Final !!

Probably Lemerre read Nadeem's team selection on our Blog yesterday ! However, I'll give team news and scorers tomorrow as an edit.

For now ....... let's celebrate (at last) yesssssssssss !

I'm on my balcony and just about to crack open my 2nd Efes wooooopeeee !!

All the best from a relieved Eski Kanka Jim


EDIT - 22 March

Lemerre's team selection was unsurprising and I hope Nadeem will not be too upset that Broggi was omitted !!

Serkan
Geremi, Koray, Rajnoch and El-Yasa
Mehmet, Hurriyet, Sapara and Rothen
Vassel and Vittek

2nd half subs used - Cihan, Bilal and Adem

As Connect Kanka reported in the comments section, Geremi scored with a penalty on 26 mins, and Vitek scored the other two on 41 and 82 mins.

So, next weekend Ankaragucu will win 3-0 against Ankaraspor !!! Also, if the following results go to form ......

Antalya beat Manisa
Antep beat Sivas
Gencler beat Diyabakir

then ..... Ankaragucu can go EIGHT points clear of 3rd bottom Sivas and Diyabakir.

This will then give Ankaragucu the 'cushion' they need going into the last part of the season and hopefully avoid those nerve jangling last few games when points are do or die !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - PUNISHED TOMORROW

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

More doom and gloom to report !

You saw in the previous post that Ankaragucu would be punished by the TFF for the 'naughty' behaviour of our 'fans' in Istanbul last week.

Well, Oz Kanka has informed me that the punishment will take effect tomorrow for the Kayseri match.

It will be played in the 19 Mayis Stadium to an empty stadium !

I doubt very much if Lig TV will screen it, but if they do, I'll get word around to you tomorrow morning.

Here's hoping I have some good news to report tomorrow night ..... for a change !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Deep in enemy territory, we endure a rough one

It was a happy coincidence that Phillie Kanka and I were in Istanbul for our friend Andy's 30th birthday on the same weekend as the Ankaragücü-Galatasaray match. How great it would be, we thought at the time, if we could witness another stunning upset of Cimbon, but this time in its own backyard.

With high hopes in mind, we each forked over 45TL for a ticket and made our way to Mecidiyeköy for what would inevitably be an eventful affair. Unfortunately, Ankaragücü was on the opposite side of the blowout this time, a performance that surely ranks amongst the most disheartening I've seen in my time supporting this club.

Galatasaray 3 - Ankaragücü 0

Outside the stadium, Phillie Kanka and I felt as if we were spies dropped deep into enemy territory, stealthily making our way to the visitor's kale through the mobs of orange-and-yellow-clad supporters.

We often joke on this blog about the deteriorating condition of 19 Mayis or hellish location of Yenikent, but let it be known to all that Ali Sami Yen takes the cake. The place is an absolute shithole. Our entrance at the back of the stadium went through something akin to a refugee camp, complete with dilapidated tin shacks and piles of burning tires.

Unsurprisingly, Ankaragücü graffiti was present on nearly every building. When inside, we were greeted with a steel deathtrap. Think of the seating prevalent in UK stadiums during the 70s and 80s, the same enclosed-on-all-sides design that led to scores of deaths on several tragic occasions, and that's what we were sitting in for Sunday's match.

Ankaragücü supporters came out in impressive numbers. The visitor's section was about 85 percent full, a definite accomplishment given the exorbitantly high ticket price.

Although the cost kept out many of the unemployed and unemployable in our lot, the crowd in attendance wasn't the smallest bit docile and put on a show with their typical unadulterated enthusiasm. Chants of "Ankaragücü: we will fuck you" echoed throughout the stadium well before kickoff. Someday Turkish football will become a family affair, but I suspect our supporters will not be overly amendable to that process.

Eski Kanka's initial report from last night aptly summarizes match: zero shots on goal and lots of hapless ball movement in the middle of the field. Vassell had a few runs that appeared promising from a distance, but failed to yield a substantive chance.

I wouldn't characterize Galatasaray's performance as anything remarkable, but they created numerous opportunities and capitalized on them. Such is the hallmark of a championship-caliber team.

The best action for much of the match was found in the stands. After the second goal, our supporters became quite vocal in declaring what I believe would be translated as "Galatasaray, you will not be champions," then followed by cheers in support of Bursaspor.

This agitated Cinbon to no end. At one point, a lone Galatasaray supporter near the visitor's section stood and yelled something offensive enough to prompt at least fifty fans to rabidly start shaking the fence and climbing up after him. The fellow sat down rather quickly.

Bedlam continued at half time when a group of rather ingenious supporters managed to smash open the gate between the home and away sections, only to be forced back by the riot police. In true Ankaragücü fashion, this led to a barrage of dislodged seats. The half-time catharsis settled the crowd a bit, and spirited chants continued throughout the second half despite impending defeat.

With the loss to Galatasaray, Ankaragücü stands five points out of relegation. This is a reasonable buffer given the current troubles that have fallen upon Diyarbakırspor. But I think all of us have been hoping for something more than the mere avoidance of complete and total disaster.

With all the the talent that has been acquired over the past months, it's deeply frustrating to see Ankaragücü languishing at the bottom of the table. Some improvement at next week's home match against Kayseri will be a good indication of our prospects for the rest of the season.

Connect Kanka

So that's why Tyler didn't join us at the match

I had an interesting e-mail conversation during the week with a Canadian who is living here in Ankara about how he wanted to join up with the Kankas for the Fenerbahce match. He asked about how to get Gencler gear and tickets. All was fine and dandy until the last minute when he said he couldn't make it thanks to some game he himself had to play. All a bit annoying really, until I read today this photograph in the Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.

Tyler Bilton of Canada poses with the Turkish ice hockey Super League’s awards for top goaltender and most valuable player.

Congratulations and hope to see you at a Gencler game soon Tyler.

You can read the rest of the story here

ANKARAGUCU GO DOWN WITH A WHIMPER !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Sad news to report ........

Galatasaray 3 ANKARAGUCU 0

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I watched the match in The Beer Bus and the most damning of statistics was that Franco didn't have one save to make during the entire 90 minutes !

Lot's of possession by Ankaragucu in their own half and in midfield, but .... as we all know, possession doesn't necessarily win matches !!

I'll leave the detailed report of he match to our two kanka stalwarts who were at the match (Connect Kanka Steve and Phillie Kanka Jamie). At the same time, hoping they made it back to Ankara without any 'battle scars' ?!!

Details of meeting arrangements for next weekend's home match at 'Hell' against Kayseri will be given during the next week.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

We'll take that

It was a lovely spring day but started to get a bit chilly by the time we showed up to the Beer Bus. Orcan and myself had just started to drink our first beer when we heard a football chant off in the distance. Wasn't long before a crowd of around 50 Gencler supporters marched past us singing away. Nothing unusual you may think but for us Gencler fans it was great to see, especially as the majority of people in the pubs in Kizilay support the big Istanbul teams.

Not long later we were joined by Spine, Oguz, Ambo Kanka and Little Ambo Kanka. Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo was off watching the rugby (he ended up getting to the stadium but we didn't see him).

Conversation on Orcan's imminent life changing experience. ie off to do his military service at the age of 34, followed and then off to the match.

Huge queues greeted us and while we were able to get in on time there were no seats. In the end we stood right at the back of the stand and after a few minutes Little Ambo Kanka and myself found a concrete jutting to stand on. Perfect views for us... not so sure about the others.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Fenerbahce

First half and ... YET AGAIN... a penalty denied. For the third time in three weeks the referee refused to give us a clear cut penalty. I cannot believe the utter uselessness of the Turkish referees.

"I think if you look carefully sir, you will find that that was a penalty", shouts Little Ambo Kanka Patrick from atop a concrete block. At least that was the gist of what he said.

Fenerbahce were pretty crap, sending shots into the heavens. At the same time though they looked very dangerous.

I can't be bothered to give an in depth play-by-play account, except to say that we held our own.

Second half though and I think we were clearly the better team. We forced the Fener goalkeeper to make some good saves and we were very unlucky at times. Right at the death though I was sure that Fener were going to grab the winner... but it was not to be.

For a 0-0 draw it was a great game. Opportunities for both sides, rubbish decisions by the refereee and the linesmen and a great full crowd.

We all had to applaud just towards the end as the Fener crowd started chanting "Fener goal, Fener goal, şampiyonluk gidiyor". There were are a few cries of "Bursa şampiyon" from our lot and then some swearing at Fener. The veteran Gencler fans tried to stop the swearing... we are a gentleman's team after all, but Spine told me afterwards that when some fans tried to stop the swearing chants against Fenerbahce's Emre, Serkan of the Alkaralar group told them that Emre was "serbest". Too damn right, because he is a little ...

All up a good result for us. Next week away to Sivas. Fingers crossed we can actually grab the three points.

Turkish football podcast

I just happened to come across an English-language podcast thingy on Turkish football. Ata Dizdar and Bugra Demirbag have set up a weekly podcast (for Eski: a podcast is like radio, but on the intertubes and can be listened to whenever you like) in which they discuss the latest week's action, title prospects etc.

You can check out the latest one here.

ANKARAGUCU EMERGE FROM THE RELEGATION ZONE .... SLOW, BUT SURE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Further to last night's brief post ....

There were only TWO kankas brave enough to tackle the journey to Hell and back yesterday for the 'non-match'.

ANKARAGUCU 0 Gaziantepspor 0

'The Terrific Two', (Phillie Kanka Jamie and yours truly) met up in the Beer Bus and then took off to 19 Mayis to board our 'Great Chairman's' buses to Hell.

It was an unusually warm sunny day for March so I had to buy yet another Ankaragucu hat to protect my delicate skin from the UVs !

We entered the Stadium over an hour before KO and passed the time, among other things, of counting all the security guards in the Stadium. We gave up counting at 200, but there were certainly more than that !

As a matter of interest, we were wondering what their function is ? Apart from telling supporters (me included ...tut tut tut) not to smoke cigarettes in the Stadium, they did little else. Phillie posed the question ...... why did they not allow smoking in the outdoor part of the Stadium, but they allow it in the staircase which is an enclosed area ?! Answers not required !!!

There was a large crowd with all the Tribunes represented. We found ourselves surrounded by the Sokak Group and the least said about their behaviour the better ! A serious fight broke out in the 2nd half near us which took some considerable time for the Police to react to, with the 'security guards' standing in their appointed positions like statues oblivious to the chaos going on around them !

As for the match, the less said about that too the better !

The Ankaragucu line-up was -

Serkan
Geremi, Rajnoch, Muhammet and El-Yasa
Kagan, Hurriyet, Sapara and Murat
Vassel and Vitek

Substitutes used - Weeks, Bilal and Koray

Both teams huffed and puffed in the 1st half with Ankaragucu scorning a few reasonable chances. As for Serkan, he was a spectator for most of the half. The half time whistle came as a relief to the boredom.

The 2nd half was a different story. Five minutes in, and an Antep breakaway with a one-on-one situation developing and Serkan looking like the loser. However, Rajnoch chasing back hauled the attacker down as he was about to shoot.

Says I to Phillie .... 'it's a red card', and so it proved. It was about the only correct decision made by a poor referee, Abdullah Yilmaz, who lost the plot on numerous occasions with some strange decisions and his failure on a few occasions to play the 'advantage rule' when it quite obviously was on.

From this point in the match, Antep gradually took control and but for some great defending by the Back Three (minus Rajnoch), and heroics from Serkan, it would have been zero points !

Videk had a poor match up front and Vassell spent most of his time chasing lost causes. Murat Duruer was his usual self, ie, creating nothing and achieving nothing ! He was eventually moved back to defence because he was a waste of space up front !

When Weeks came on for Vitek halfway through the 2nd half there was at least some urgency in Ankaragucu's play, but with 10 men defending one point, he had no support up front when he broke away. The Antep defence had an easy task sweeping up the few breakaways by Ankaragucu.

The final whistle was a relief, and Ankaragucu continue their slow, but sure, climb out of the relegation zone. However, on this poor performance I am not very optimistic about next week's visit to Galatasaray.

Philly mentioned that he and Connect Kanka Steve would try to attend this match while they are in Istanbul on other business. It will be on Sunday KO 7pm. As for the rest of us, we will watch it in The Beer Bus.

Well, one thing is for sure ............. Ankaragucu can't possibly play any worse than the did against a very average Antep team. Galatasaray will certainly be asking more questions than Antep !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - ONE POINT WON, BUT ..... NOT ..REPEAT ...NOT TWO POINTS LOST !!

Greeting Kankas and Kankies.

What a come-down after last weeks's encouraging performance against Gencler.

ANKARAGUCU 0 Gaziantepspor 0

To use the old cliche ..... a match of two halves or halfs !!!

Ankaragucu should have buried Antep in the first half but ........ they didn't, and when Rajnoc was sent off just minutes into the 2nd half (and quite rightly I have to admit) it was all downhill from there.

Antep dominated the 2nd half and Serkan (again !) saved out ass.

I'm just back from The Beer Bus and Platin and so I'm in no frame of mind to give a full report .......... understandably I can hear you say !!

Full report tomorrow from ..... The Terrific Two (ie, Jamie and Jimmy) .... there are sunny day kankas and there again there are rainy day kankas !!! Where is the loyalty to Ankaragucu I have to ask ??!! Question .... haven't you been to 'Hell' before and still survived ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Yet another crap ref sinks Gencler

Yet again I'm going to give the referee crap. Yet again we were robbed. Perhaps we weren't the best team on the pitch but for the second week in a row we were denied a penalty right at the death.

Trabzonspor 3 - 1 Genclerbirligi

Spine, Dr. Who and myself joined a group of around 30-40 Gencler fans at the Beer Bus to find it was allowing smoking. Humph. Oh well, at least we didn't have to leave every five minutes.

The match itself started off with Trabzon attacking full on. They looked like scoring from pretty much the kick-off but somehow we kept them out with Serdar pulling off some pretty good saves.

Plenty of crappy football and them we got them on the backfoot with a wonderful goal by Sandro in the 25th. We had the ball near the box and I thought it was yet another case of no one from Gencler prepared to have a shot. Sandro passed it to Eureka, who sent it back to Sandro who gave it a nice whack. 1-0 up and the Beer Bus erupted.

Just seconds later Trabzon almost scored as one of their players managed to sort of lob it over Serdar. The ball was almost in when Orhan Sam raced back and cleared. Sighs of relief all round.

Then came the equaliser in horribly unlucky circumstances. A Trabzon player was put through and Serdar was forced off his line. Aykut came with what in any other circumstances would have been a brilliant tackle, only to see the ball come off the attacker, past Serdar and into the goal. Arrgggh.

We had a few good shots but the rest of the match seemed a bit of a an Efes-induced blur until just near the end.

How on earth did the referee not give a penalty (check the video at 2:36) I have no idea idea. Then just seconds later Trabzon counterattacked and scored. Evil stuff. With the stuffing kicked out of them, Trabzon then scored another.

We dropped Dr. Who off and then returned to Spine's place to annoy French Kanka, play some darts and drink some more. I still haven't recovered, from the alcohol, nor the match.

Ankaragucu sinks to a new low

Mountaineering Kanka Robbie and his good lady Mrs Mountaineering Kanka Judy have been sinking Ankaragucu to new depths as part of their scheme to claim all sorts of geographical points for Ankaragucu. Here we see him planting the Ankaragucu flag on the bottom of the sea under the Artic ice*. Check out our photo archive (whıch can always be accessed via a link on the right hand side of the page) to check out other weird and wonderful places our Kankas have had their photos taken in Ankaragucu or Genclerbirligi gear.

* It was 28 metres below the sea but as Robbie didn't actually say which sea, I just assumed it must have been the Artic. Lots of oil there you know, and it is now all Ankaragucu's. Take that Canada!