Heard this one before?

It was a while ago but @SpineSideburn told me he was sick of reports which basically said, "we played well but still lost". I'm afraid this is one of those reports.

Kayserispor 1 - 0 Genclerbirligi

It was Muzo and Aylin's baby's 1st birthday on Sunday. So naturally we all went to the pub to celebrate. A few beers and we got the James Cook Pub to put the match on the telly. No sound though as this was a baby birthday party.

And bang. We started off great. In total control and shots happening from the off. We were totally confident and then the pub changed to the Man. City - Man. United match. Quickly got them to turn back and then a minute later they went back to the English stuff.

This time we couldn't get it back. No one in the James Cook wanted the English stuff but there were a bunch of Poms at the pub next door who wanted it. Seems as if the pubs illegally share the Lig TV subscription. Arrgghhh.

We left, of course, and by the time I got home and turned on the radio we were one down just after half-time. Damn it. Still Gencler attacked and attacked. We had umpteen shots either saved, hitting the post or just out.

And that was how it ended. Frustrating.

Ankaragucu vs Bucaspor match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Izmir at the weekend as they take on Bucaspor hoping to restore some pride after the 5-1 defeat in Ankara. With the team almost certainly heading for league 2 Manager Mustafa Kaplan will need to start building for next season. Last weekends 1-1 draw at relegation rivals Kartalspor leaves Ankaragucu with a mountain to climb if they have any chance of survival.

Even the most optimistic Ankaragucu fan will concede the season is over, in order to stay up Ankaragucu would need to put a run of consecutive wins together, something which they haven't done for over 2 years. Bucaspor find themselves just outside the play off positions and have only lost 1 out of their last 5 games.

Mustafa Kaplan has some very promising young players in Emre Tasdemir, Gokhan Akkan, Hasan Ayaroglu, Enes Kubat, Koray Kantemir to name a few, if he can keep these players next season they will be more than good enough to fight for promotion. The likes of Timur Ozgoz, Gokhan Akkan, Bayram Olgun, Kaan Kanak are all out of contract and to lose any of them will be a huge blow. Mehmet Yiginir claimed today the fight against the struggle continues on his twitter page.

Bucaspor have some dangerous players in their squad, Mehmet Batdal and Mohamed Dahmane destroyed the Ankaragucu defence the last time the two sides met, both are the type of player who either look unstoppable, or they have never played football before. The Ankaragucu defence will need to show concentration for the full 90 minutes and avoid errors like the goal last week at Kartalspor.

The talent in the Ankaragucu starting line up isn't that far off the teams above them, the problem is to many costly errors in defence and poor finishing has let them down. With the team being so young it lacks in experience. Enes Kubat has come into the team and looks a really good player. He brings pace to the team and is also good on the ball. In the last couple of years its all been doom and gloom around the club, but the scouts and coaching staff can hold their head high with the job they have done with the youngsters at the club.  Hasan Ayaroglu and Emre Tasdemir have both been called up to the International youth side.

Unfortunaly i cant see anything other than a Bucaspor victory in this one, the players should just go out and enjoy themselves between now and the end of the season. One thing that surprised me, Mert Erdogan has been axed as captain and Gurkan Alver who has only been involved in 11 games is the new club captain.

ANKARAGUCU 'ACCEPTS' ONE POINT ?!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Headline nicked from The Hurriyet newspaper, and if its to be believed, it doesn't bode well for what's left of this disappointing and frustrating season.

Kartal  1    ANKARAGUCU   1

Team - Bayram, Bilal, Volkan, Kaan, Aytac, Mehmet, Gurkan, Timur, Enes, Gokhan E and Serkan

Substitutes used - Orhan, Gokhan A and Mert

Enes put Ankaragucu ahead on the 11 minute mark and Eser equalised just before half time.

So, the bottom line is that Ankaragucu remain 9 points adrift of 4th bottom Kartal and failed to grasp the nettle yesterday.

At this stage of the season 9 points is a vast chasm and Ankaragucu will now need a miracle to bridge it, and as we all know, miracles are in short supply these days !

Not good reading I'm afraid, but that has generally been the situation for us Ankaragucu reporters (and supporters) over the past 2 seasons.

What next ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - THE ACID TEST !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I've lost count of how many times I've said ..... 'this is a MUST win match' ..... over the past few years, but you are going to hear it again !

Ankaragucu kick-off their away match against 4th bottom Kartal today in just under 3 hours time and it really is a 'Six Pointer'.    Kartal is 9 points ahead of Ankaragucu so this really is a MUST win match and Ankaragucu's last chance to stay with the bottom pack to fight it out over the run-in.

In other words, the Acid Test for this young team who have given their all this season.

I will be out on other business today and will be unable to put anything up here until tomorrow, so please check 'livescore' at about 3pm (Turkish Time) for the result.

Bellshill Kanka Nadeem is still 'over the Pond' and we wish him a speedy return to the Blog.

C'mon Ankaragucu ...... givvuzzzz something to cheer about today !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - RELEGATION BECKONS

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Apologies for delayed report this week, but as I said a few days ago, all three Ankaragucu reporters were tied-up on other business this weekend.

Not much I can say that the headline doesn't say !!

ANKARAGUCU  0   Sanliurfa   1

Team -

Bayram, Enes, Volkan, Aytac, Mehmet, Kaan, Serkan, Bilal, Gokhan, Teoman and Timur

Substitutes used - Hasan and Umut

According to the Hurriyet newspaper, the Man of the Match was Urfa's goalkeeper, Atacan, and that was probably due to the fact that he saved a penalty from Timur !

Urfa scored their goal through Kivanc near the end, which must have had a devastating effect on the young Ankaragucu players who perhaps thought that they were at least going to win one point.

As it is, after Kartal won their match today, Ankaragucu is now drifting further away from the 4th bottom team and are now 9 points adrift.

As Nadeem and Damon mentioned recently, we are all resigned to Ankaragucu's relegation to the 2nd League (Beyaz or Kirimzi) at the end of this season.    The main concern now is ........ how many players will be left (if any) to form a team next season ??!!

Not a happy report.   However, if you would like to be cheered-up a little, then go one post back and read Oz Kanka's report of Gencler's victoreeeeeee

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

1,000 home goals as Genclerbirligi rout Mersin

I had no idea until after I got home but it seems as if Ermin Zec today scored Genclerbirligi's 1,000^th home goal. Useless statistic? Yes. Do I care? No. All I gave a damn about was the result and that has brought a big smile to my face. 

Genclerbirligi 3 – 1 Mersin Idmanyurdu

Last week I was out bicycling around, soaking up the sun around Eymir lake. Watching the ducks frolic about and generally being thankful for the man-made climate change that had turned the usual dog-days of February into an idyllic spring festival.

All that has changed though and so it was with gloves and scarves and jackets and thermal underwear and other stuff that @Spinesideburn and Bernard joined me at the Beer Bus for today's match.

Oz Kanka and Bernard pre-match. Photo by @Sidesideburn

It was a pretty decent crowd considering the temperatures and the opposition. The same sort of match a couple of years ago would have got us a few hundred supporters, today there were a few thousand.

Onto the match and well.... er... 

Mersin seemed to attack at the start, but nothing really eventuated. Gencler sort of passed it about a bit but didn't look too sharp. Bjorn had a decent chance at about the 13^th but it was converted for a corner.

It was all a bit “meh” even though we started to dominate the half. Then the spark that the match needed come from a corner from Tomic in about the 32nd which found Bjorn's head and was in.

One-nil up and half-time came around. The consensus was that the match wasn't the best but we certainly deserved to be ahead.

Second-half and we put the knife in.

Except for some strange refereeing decisions, cards to Aykut and Ante could prove to be annoying later on, we were pretty much in control. Then a free kick outside the box that was beautifully taken by Jimmy and beat the keeper.

Not that much later Ermin Zec was brought on and within seconds he latched onto a defensive mistake near the half-way line, ran through and struck it left-footed just inside the left hand side of the box... the keeper had no chance.

Half-time and the mood is confident. Photo by @Spinesideburn

Three-nil up and still a good 30 minutes to play. I reckon we should have scored some more but... well... I don't care we were still 3-0 up.

Sort of towards the end Mersin were awarded a penalty (I'm not sure if it was deserved) and they finally got onto the scoreboard. Mersin kept up the attacks and Ramazan was finally forced to make some saves but generally Mersin didn't look very threatening.

And so Gencler stay in the hunt for that glorified place that is ninth on the table.

All up a great Sunday.  

Ankaragucu vs Sanliurfaspor match preview !

This weeks match preview is a couple of days early as i fly out to New York tomorrow :-). Ankaragucu host Sanliurfaspor on Saturday afternoon and will be hoping to restore some pride after a disappointing performance at Manisaspor last night. Manisa showed exactly why they are at the top of the table with a deadly performance and winning 4-0.

On paper no one would have predicted that Ankaragucu could have beaten Manisa, but after two excellent performances against Adanaspor and Karsiyaka many believed Ankaragucu could have taken a point from the game. It wasn't to be as an early mistake from Bayram, was followed up by poor defending and Mert Erdogan being sent off giving the visitors no chance of taking anything from the game.

Mert Erdogan will miss Saturdays game through suspension and will be disappointed as the replay showed the Manisaspor player taking a dive for Merts second yellow. The good news is that Timur will return to the starting line up, Ankaragucu missed his running and experience up front last night. Young Umut Nayir looks a long was off being ready for first team football.

The Ankaragucu team need to go out and just enjoy their football from now until the end of the season. Any hope of survival is over as there is nothing to show that this young team can go on a run of wins to climb the table. A win here and there isn't good enough and the gap is to big for Ankaragucu to pull back. Some important players like Bayram Olgun, Mehmet Tasci, Timur Ozgoz and Gokhan Erdogan are all out of contract at the end of the season too.

The visitors Sanliurfaspor are starting to put a decent run together and are still hoping to make the play off places. They will have to do without former Ankaragucu winger Tonia Tisdell who is suspended after being sent off during the weekends 1-1 draw at Kartalspor. They can still however rely on the midfield powerhouse Alfred Sankoh and another former Ankaragucu winger in Serdar Ozkan. Teteh Bangura signed for the club from Bursaspor during the transfer window and will also be a threat.

It looks like Mehmet Tasci will also miss the match for Ankaragucu through injury, so there could be a place for Emre Tasdemir who attracted interest from Galatasaray, Bursaspor and Trabzonspor in January. This will be the first Ankaragucu match i have missed on TV for a few years, ill be hoping for a nice surprise when i check my phone in New York.

Manisaspor 4-0 Ankaragucu live blogging !

1930 -  Ankaragucu take on Manisaspor tonight knowing they have to take something from the game to keep touching distance with their relegation rivals. They will have to do without the suspended Timur which is a huge blow but the good news is that Mert and Kaan have passed fitness tests and will start.

Confirmed Teams:

Ankaragucu - Bayram, Bilal, Volkan, Aytac, Mehmet, Gurkan, Mert, Enes, Gokhan, Kaan, Umut Nayir

Manisaspor - Volkann, Ismail, Hikment, Huseyin, Murat, Iwanski, Kahe, Tousn, Benjamin, Cem, Eray


1955 - Teams enter the field for the national anthem, its worth mentioning the rain is pretty heavy which will make the game interesting for the goalkeepers.

1 - Early corner for Ankaragucu, ball eventually finds its way to Umit Nayir whose weak shot easily held by Volkan.

4 - Positive start for Ankaragucu and good atmosphere from the Manisa fans. Ankaragucu fans also in good voice.

5 - Volkan clears for a corner, Ankaragucu defence clear the ball to safety.

9 - Corner Ankaragucu, Kaan takes but cleared by Manisa defence, Pitch is waterlogged in parts making it difficult for the players.

10 - Nice run from Bilal but shot straight at Volkan.

14 - Iwanski swings a dangerous free kick into the Ankaragucu box but Bayram punches the ball away.

19 - Bayram drops a cross into the box but manages to collect the ball at second attempt. Manisa looking the more dangerous with the ball.

21 - Goooooool 1-0 Manisaspor, This time there is no let off for Bayram who drops the ball again at a Benjamin Fuchs cross and Cem Sultan has the simplest of tap ins.

25 - Excellent move from Manisaspor, Kahe lays the ball off for Cem Sultan who shoots straight at Bayram.

28 - Yellow card Mert Erdogan for a needless foul, Ankaragucu really struggling to make any impact in the game.

29 - 30 Yard free kick from Iwanski but Bayram saves down to his right hand side.

30 - Gooooooool 2-0 Manisaspor, Kahe lays off Benjamin Fuchs down the right hand side, lovely cross back into the box and Kahe heads it into the top corner past Bayram.

33 - Iwanski free kick tipped over the bar from Bayram, Manisaspor fans chanting champions champions. Ankaragucu look woeful at the moment.

37 - Goooool 3-0 Manisaspor, Gurkan Alver concedes a penalty by handballing the ball in the box. Kahe steps up to score his second of the game. The gulf in class is evident tonight.

41 - Red card for Mert Erdogan, his second yellow card of the night for another needless challenge .An embarrassing performance tonight from Ankaragucu. Replays show the Manisaspor player got Mert sent off as there was no contact.

45 - Serkan Sirin comes onto replace the injured Mehmet Tasci.

Half Time - Manisaspor 3-0 Ankaragucu

49 - Gokhan crosses the ball into the box but Kaan sends his header well wide.

57 -Bayram makes a good save as he pushes the ball over the bar from close distance.

65 - Goooooool 4-0 Manisaspor, Great ball into the box from Bulent and brilliant finish from Murat who blasts the ball high past Bayram.

71 - Ankaragucu substitution, Teoman replaces Umut Nayir

78 - Hasan replaces Bilal

79 - There looks to be some crowd trouble from both sets of fans

81 - Manisaspor go close again but shot deflected over the bar.

88 - Teoman goes past 2 players before blasting his shot over the bar, best chance of the game for Ankaragucu.

90 - Full time Manisaspor 4-0 Ankaragucu


The gulf in class showed tonight as Ankaragucu were outclassed in every department by their opponents. It will now take a miracle if Ankaragucu are to stay in the PTT Lig. There was more crowd trouble at the game with both sets of fans involved.

PTT Lig relegation fight round up !

Things were looking good for Ankaragucu today until Tavsanli won 1-0 at Denizlispor thanks to a sole strike from Ferhat Culcuoglu. The result takes Tavsanli out of the relegation zone and gives them a much needed win in the fight for survival.

Earlier in the day Goztepe lost 5-1 at Rizespor, Goals from Eren Albayrak, Florin Cernat, David Depetris, Semih Kaya and Cenk Akilic saw off the hopeless Goztepe whose goal came from Saban and had two men sent off.

Boluspor won 2-1 at home to Samsunspor with the goals coming from Alin and Yilmaz, the only goal for Samsun came from Ozgen. It was ex Ankaragucu men who were making the headlines as Sanliurfaspor drew 1-1 at Kartalspor. Tonia Tisdell was firstly sent off for Sanliurfa and will miss next weeks match at Ankaragucu, and then Serdar Ozkan scored a late penalty to give Sanliurfa a share of the points.

Ankaragucu take on Manisaspor tomorrow night knowing they have to take something from the game. It looks like Mert Erdogan and Kaan Kanak will pass fitness tests. Teoman is set to start up front in the place of the suspended Timur Ozgoz.

Nice touch Timur Bayram Ozgoz !

Ankaragucu striker Timur Ozgoz yesterday showed something which sadly is lost in football these days. At a time where football is ruined by corruption and greed, Timur donated his match bonus to a family of orphaned children with special needs. The 2500 Turkish Lira will go a long way to helping the suffering family and Ankaragucu can be proud of their star striker.

The most amazing thing about the story is that Timur along with the full Ankaragucu squad hadn't been paid in over 6 months until Mehmet Yiginer came in. When you look at the likes of Carlos Tevez who refused to play for Manchester City last year while getting paid 200k per week, it is a breath of fresh air to hear that there are still players out there who put values before money.

To view the story  Click here !

Ankaragucu vs Manisaspor match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Manisa this weekend for Monday nights match at Manisaspor. The home side sit 2nd in the PTT Lig at the moment while Ankaragucu are bottom. Timur Ozgoz will miss the match through suspension after picking up another yellow card against Karsiyaka at the weekend. Another match against one of the promotion chasing teams and Ankaragucu will need to show the kind of form from the last two games if they want to take anything from Mondays match.

Manisaspor have drawn 1 and lost 1 from their first two games since the winter break. A 0-0 draw at home to Kartalspor and a 2-0 defeat at Sanliurfaspor. The last time both sides met the game finished in a 1-1 draw. Both managers agreed after the game that Ankaragucu deserved to win and Manisaspor should have had a man sent off in the opening minutes of the game.

The two most important players in the Manisaspor team are Polish midfielder Maciej Iwanski and Brazilian forward Kahe who has scored 11 goals this season. They don't posses a lot of pace which will suit Ankaragucu. Iwanski does however have excellent technique and will be a danger from set pieces. Manisaspor will be looking to get back to winning ways as they challenge for automatic promotion.

Its a huge blow for Ankaragucu having to do without the suspended Timur, it looks like young Umut Nayir will be his replacement. Umut was a prolific goalscorer in the youth team but is yet to score his first goal for the first team. A very different kind of player to Timur, Umut is more physical and not as mobile. It will be important that the likes of Mert, Kaan and Bilal can provide the service for the young striker.

Ankaragucu will be looking to take the 3 points from this one as they look to close the gap on their relegation rivals. In two weeks time the team have a huge game with Kartalspor and Ankaragucu will want to go into that game within touching distance of their relegation rivals. Again i will refrain from making any predictions on Monday nights game which will be shown live on TRT Spor.

Try as they might... Gencler go down in Ordu

It was entertaining. It was frustrating. A ten-man Gencler fought very hard but in the end couldn't get back in it.

A bit of luck and some decent goalkeeping from Ramazan and we could well have got the draw... at least.

I will have more tomorrow when I have time to look at the match properly.

Orduspor 2 - 1 Genclerbirligi 

Ankaragucu--Karsıyaka

http://www.yesil-kirmizi.com

Ok, so before too long we will see if we can close the gap between where we stand with 13 points at  the bottom of the ladder  in the second divsion and where our nearest competitors Samsunspor, Kartalspor, and Tavsanlı are with 19. If they pull away much more, I think it is fairly certain that we can kiss the league good bye. As Nadeem mentioned in the pre-match report, Karsıyaka is also trying to move up into the playoff spots at the top of the league, and this match is important to them for that reason.

Meanwhile as you can tell from the photo above, we have a pretty good rapport with the Karsıyaka fans. Although today with the stadium ban still in effect, we won't be seeing much comraderie.

According to the Gucu Guru Nadeem, our starting lineup for today will be the following. 

Bayram, Bilal Gülden, Volkan, Aytaç, Mehmet Taşcı, Gürkan Alver, Mert Erdoğan, Timur, Teoman, Kaan, Serkan Şirin

Subs: Gokhan Akkan, Orhan, Hasan, Gokhan Erdogan, Enes, Ayklidiz, Umut Nayir

6 min: Well some technical difficulties here but here we go. So far neither team is standing out. We'll just have to see what happens when things settle down a bit.

10 min: And we win a corner, but it goes out.  

13 min: Nadeem is commenting on the nervous start our boys are having, Mert had the beginning of a chance picking up the ball a little way from the top of the box, but his shot was weak and went out.

16 min: I can hear the kids chanting in support of Gucu. 

18Nadeem is saying the team needs to keep possession better. Kids are chanting for Bursa who had a good match against GS this weekend. 

20 min: I think Nadeem is watching this match after taking some optimism pills. I haven't seen anything really approaching an opportunity for a goal. :)

21 min: Mehmet with the throwin into the box, but it comes to nought.

22 min: Serkan with a cross into the Karsıyaka box but it only finds the keeper.

25 min: Gol for Karsıyaka


26 min: From  Nadeem: terrible mistake from volkan, why is he trying to take on players at the back ???? great finish from banahene


28 min: Another close call. Karsıyaka now seem to be able to move the ball into our box almost at will.

30: Timur knocked over in the box. Will it be a penalty.

31: Kick taken from just outside the box but comes of the wall and goes out. The corner also proves unhelpful.

32 min: Extremely dangerous situation with Karsıyaka in the box, but the shot comes of the crossbar and we are able to clear it. 

35 min: Karsıyaka with the corner. Harmless and we get possession back.

38 min: We moving the ball around a bit better now. Another chance to score for Karsıyaka but the header goes over.

40 min: God this is boring. 

42: Another shot on goal but right at Bayram. Counter attack but right at the Karsıyaka keeper Necati. This about sums up the level of excitement.

45 min: Karsıyaka player rolling around on the ground screaming in agony after Mert's comes down on him with his cleats.

46 min: Yellow card for Captain Mert after clumsily going after the ball but getting mostly man.

Corner. Last chance to attack. Right at Necati.

Half-time

And we are about to enter the second half.

Gökhan in for captain Mert.
66 46 min: And here we go. So far more of the same. Serkan to Gökhan. Gökhan has moved to Serkan's position on the wing.

49 min: 
Both sides punting it around a bit. Nothing much happening. Bilal to Timur who is unable to control it. We are now trying to play it out of the back, but kick it out. Now back in our possession. Now Bahanene gets in our box but after getting past our defender shoots right at Bayram. Corner. Nice save by Bayram.

51 min: As I was typing Bahanene had another chance all on his own but was off target.

52 min: The Ghanaian... Wait Teoman chance to score. Crosses but no one to receive. Actually not so much a cross. He actually shot but it came off of one of the Karsıyaka players and rolled away.

55 min: Gökhan in defense almost gifted the ball to Karsıyaka, but was able to recover. 

56 min: Seems Nadeem and I were thinking the same thing: don't give Bahanene any space!!!! The Ghanaian is so dangerous. 

58 min: We're playing it out of the back again. Jim wil be happy that we are not just booting it about.  Another Karsıyaka player rolling around on the ground. They seem to go down pretty easy. 

60 min: Some nice ball handling by Timur before the stream freezes up.

61 min: Looks like a yellow card, but not clear who is on the reciving end yet because the stream keeps freezing. Well, not clear who got it, but definitely one of our players.

66 min: And Nadeem writes in that he can't understand why Serkan is still on the pitch.  

67 min: Nice pass to Timur near the Karsıyaka goal but amounts to nothing. 

68 min: First sub coming on for Karsıyaka. Ali coming on for??? Not clear.

70 min: Free kick for Karsıyaka from the left wing. 

71 min: I don't know what is more frustrating the way we are playing or the intermittent way the stream is working.


73 min:AG substitution: Umut on for Teoman

75 min: Karsıyaka with a weak shot on the ground to Bayram.

Nadeem with an update on what is...

76 min: Wait we just got a GOllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Gökhan with nice set up from Timur.

80 min: Ok, as I was saying...wait substitution for Karsıyaka...some pushing on the pitch between the two teams a couple of yellows given out not clear to...and we are in front of the goal again Some nice dribbling from Gökhan but he is not able to get the shot off. 

81 min: We really need all three points here. Nadeem saying that Tavsanli is down 3-1 in their match with Rize.

85 min: Bahanene with the ball again, but by some miracle our defense is able to get the ball out of the box.

Hasan on for Serkan. I'm sure Nadeem is wondering why it took Kaplan this long.

87: Another chance on goal but the poor quality of the stream making it difficult to see what is happening. Clear no goal resulted from it though.

89 min: Timur receives a yellow for unsportsmanlike behaviour.   

90 min: Well, I've lost the picture completely now. Hopefully we'll be able to find out what's happening in these final minutes.

Still no picture, but Nadeem is telling me that the ref has blown time. So final score 1-1. That is not going to help us much, but I suppose it is better than no points. Hopefully we will do better next week at Manisa.

More news from Nadeem: 

Tavsanli 2-3 Caykur Rizespor. Good result for Ankaragucu as they close the gap on Tavsanli. Half time Goztepe 0-0 Boluspor.

Ankaragucu add 6 youth players to the first team squad !

With the January transfer window over and the failure of lifting the transfer ban Ankaragucu promoted 6 talented youngsters from the youth them to the first team. It is also believed Cameroonian player Siaka Bangura will stay with the team and play with the A2 team until the end of the season.

Ahmet Batuhan Aykildiz, Emre Tasdemir, Alican Yatarkalkmaz, Koray Kantemir, Murat Emre Yalcinkaya, and Mustafa Demir will all now fight for their place in the Ankaragucu first team. Emre Tasdemir is said to be the pick of the bunch with the young left back being chased by Trabzonspor, Bursaspor and Galatasaray in the January transfer window.

Ankaragucu First Team Squad :

Bayram Olgun
Cihan Bal
Gokhan Akkan

Koray Kantemir
Alican Yatarkalkmaz
Gurkan Alver
Volkan Geyik
Mehmet Tasci
Emre Tasdemir
Mehmet Cogum
Aytac Oden
Metin Aydin

Orhan Evci
Bilal Gulden
Bilal Gundogdu
Murat Emre Yalcinkaya
Mustafa Demir
Enes Kubat
Mert Erdogan
Gokhan Erdogan
Kaan Kanak
Serkan Sirin

Timur Bayram Ozgoz
Mehmet Umut Nayir
Ahmet Batuhan Aykildiz
Artun Kutukcu
Hasan Ayaroglu
Sefa Erkan Teoman
Oguzhan Bicer

Ahmet Gokcek becomes a professional

I took this screenshot from theTFF website today. As reported by some Turkish sports sites, it seems that the former chairman of Ankaragucu, Ahmet Gokcek, as of yesterday became a professional player at Ankaraspor AS.

I'm not going to comment. Click on the picture below for a closer look.

Ankaragucu vs Karsiyaka match preview !

January has come to an end and the talk of the transfer ban can be put to the side until the season has ended. The management team failed to lift the current transfer ban after weeks of speculation. Mehmet Yiginer spoke today at the clubs Tandogan facility saying they couldn't come to an agreement with Darius Vassell and Muhammet Hanifi.

According to various sources on Twitter, it is also believed that Atilla Suslu and the other members who resigned were unhappy that Mehmet Yiginer used the 5 Million Turkish Lira given to the management team by the Turkish FA was said to be given to Gokceks men. Suslu and co believed the money should have went to lifting the transfer ban.

Moving onto this weekends action, Ankaragucu are at home to brother team Karsiyaka at the 19 Mayis stadium, although there will be a stadium ban so women and children only allowed. Ankaragucu go into the game after an excellent win at Adanaspor on Monday night which will give the team confidence they can take three points against Karsiyaka.

Karsiyaka started the season well, and had been in the playoff positions until they went on a run of 7 games without a win. That was until they won 1-0 at home to Sanliurfaspor last weekend. They now sit 1 point outside the playoff places and a win will take them back into the title race. The last time both teams met Karsiyaka won 2-0 but found themselves fortunate as Ankaragucu were the better team but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.

Emanuelle Banahene will be an important player for Karsiyaka, he is the clubs top scorer with 7 goals this season. Veli Torun will also be eligible for the game, the former Ankaragucu midfielder signed for Karsiyaka during the transfer window after failing to break into the Kayseri Erciyesspor side.

Ankaragucu will be looking to the likes of Mert Erdogan and Timur Ozgoz again both important players, but Kaan Kanak will be the key player. His ability to pass the ball and score from midfield have been a huge boost to Ankaragucu and if he plays at his best Ankaragucu have a very good chance.

I met with Jim yesterday in Scotland, and we discussed Ankaragucu for a few hours, we are both saddened at the state the club is in at the moment, but we both agreed that we have faith in this young team who will give everything for the club and fight until the very end. I hope they do us proud again on Sunday.