My part in South Korea's downfall

The bloke on the left has just scored the winning goal in extra time to land Australia the Asian Cup.

Ankaragucu vs Sariyer match preview!

Ankaragucu host Sariyer on Monday afternoon in another empty stadium due to yet another stadium ban. Putting aside the stadium ban, the stadium would still have been empty due to the ridiculous 1330 kick off time when most folk are at work. With the news that Umut Nayir is on his way to Osmanlispor giving Sariyer a boost, Ankaragucu will need to step up their efforts and find another way to find the goals that Umut Nayir scored.

With an already paper thin squad, Ankaragucu don't have much options up front. Levent Kale looks a shadow of the player last season and has struggled with fitness all season, Teoman Erkan hasn't scored a goal all season. Their could be a place in the squad for Emir Ozbey who has a good scoring record at youth level and there is also Ali Sinan Gayla who has been involved with the squad this season.

Sariyer sit 5th in the playoff places however they have lost 7 of their last 9 games and only won 1 of them. The game finished 1-1 between the two sides the last time they met with that man Umut Nayir scoring the goal for Ankaragucu.

Its difficult seeing Ankaragucu getting anything from this game, they already struggle for goals, and with the departure of their top scorer, there isn't much hope left for the season ahead. Its actually difficult even writing previews and reports about Ankaragucu.

Everything about the club is so negative, the fans cant behave (some of it understandably due to whats been happening off field) some of them just idiots who don't care about anything other than themselves. Then you have the management team who are outstandingly fantastic at lying and failing to deliver promises, the football is horrible to watch, and the stadiums are empty. I pray for the day Gokcek goes away and normality returns to Ankaragucu, for their is a sleeping giant there which will never fulfil its potential until the chains are broken.

Osmanlispor set to sign Umut Nayir!

In the last couple of hours Yurtspor has confirmed that Ankaragucu forward Umut Nayir has signed for Osmanlispor in a deal that will be worth 750,000 TL to the club. The move will anger fans who expected him to leave in the January transfer window but not for that kind of money and to their big rivals. It will also raise more questions over Mehmet Yiginer. He spoke of lifting the current transfer ban, and instead is allowing his key player to leave while the transfer ban remains intact.

According to Yurtspor the club were facing a points deduction from Fifa due to unpaid wages to former players which resulted in the club accepting Osmanlispors bid. Umut scored 8 goals from 19 games this season for Ankaragucu and was also the clubs top scored last season. He will leave with our best wishes, although its unfortunate that he is moving to Osmanlispor.

A tough day at the office

In the end it was all fairly easy and Gencler stay at the top of their Turkish cup group

Genclerbirligi 4 - 0 Cizrespor

A couple of hundred fans for Gencler and, impressively, a couple of busload of fans from Cizre were at the Cebeci stadium to watch a procession.

As you can see in the photo I was unable to attend and so hogged the bandwidth at work. As predicted, Gencler put out a “youth” team with the only regular player in the starting eleven being Petrovic.

And it was lanky midfielder who scored first with a penalty after about 30 minutes.

That was it for Cizre. They made a few attacks and probably deserved at least one goal... then again there were two clear-cut penalties that the referee refused to award against the south-eastern team.

Anyway, the youngsters got a bit of a workout and it all finished nicely.  

Ankaragücü in Cebeci

Mounted police await fans after last week's fun

Ankaragücü remain peripatetic while the Ondokuz Mayıs Stadium undergoes repairs, and this week brought the club to the Pride of Cebeci, Cebeci İnönü Stadium for a cup match. The Turkish Football Federation say İnönü is Ankara's largest stadium with 37,000 capacity, though if that many people did come this concrete memorial to 1960s corner-cutting would probably collapse in on itself.

Ankaragücü began with a positive 10 minutes, demonstrating a "pass into space and move" strategy that had Başakşehir foxed. Some of the time this worked and the team broke through the Başakşehir midfield, and some of the time our players didn't meet the ball on time. Nonetheless, it led to an early advantage and our hopes were high.

Then in the 15th minute, there was a devastating Başakşehir attack and cross, very luckily forded by the defence. And another swooping attack in the 16th minute. A well-placed corner kick immediately after - and very nearly conceded - led me to ask, "who are these guys?"

On the ticket, their logo had the date they were founded: 2014.

It turns out that Başakşehir were, until last year, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor. That is, they are a Süper Lig side. But the two divisions between the clubs were barely showing on the pitch.

At least, not until the 30th minute, when Başakşehir began a flurry of attacks, and the pressure stayed on until just before half time, when a corner kick met the head of a poorly-marked forward to put the visitors ahead.

At half time, we attempted a diagnosis of what had gone wrong in that last 15 minutes:

 - The team left no-one back and were outpaced by their attackers

 - Passes were badly-weighted, in contrast to the start of the game

 - The team got jittery in front of goal

The second half got off to a better start. Hasan broke free and crossed over to Umut, who beat the goalie with a header, but struck the bar. Ten minutes later, there was a fantastic breakthrough that should have been the equaliser - Gökhan Erdoğan ran unmarked into the box with only the keeper to beat, but the ball got a little ahead of him and the keeper was able to pick it up.

Başakşehir dived three times in the Ankaragücü box in about 20 minutes, all of which were calmly ignored by the referee.

In the 63rd minute, Ankaragücü got a well-deserved equaliser. A chip into the box and a flying header by Umut.

A well placed lob of the keeper in the 72nd minute nearly put Ankaragücü up, but for a goal-line clearance by a Başakşehir defender.

From the 87th minute onward, Başakşehir again began to completely dominate, but it was too late - their one big chance was shot over the Ankaragücü bar in extra time. Shortly afterwards, Levent was injured and stretchered off. He hadn't had a great game, but hopefully he'll be fit and on form again soon.

Not too many away fans today...

Men of the match: Hasan, who was a little machine just behind the attack, and who did a lot of the work in setting up Ankaragücü's chances. Also worth mentioning the referee: a class act who not only stopped players taking ten yards extra by wandering up the pitch for set pieces (as they do regularly in the league) but also saved Ankaragücü a few penalties by recognising when Başakşehir were diving.

Genclerbirligi steamrollered

Well. That was all a bit rubbish. We were in with a chance but once we conceded Besiktas shut up shop and we didn't get another good chance. Besiktas were clearly the better team... but with a bit of luck we could have grabbed it.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 2 Besiktas

Hakan Aslantas tweeted after last night's match that he couldn't understand how people who live in Ankara, make their money in Ankara, can not support an Ankara team. He said this after there was a massive turnout for Besiktas and little or no Genclerbirligi support. He has a point but I do wonder if the players even think about why there are no Gencler supporters this year.

Anyway, us real Ankaralılar were at the pub where I met Alex, a Liverpool supporter who has been living here for a year or so. Glad to have you aboard Alex.

Onto the football and bluuurrghh.

It was the best stuff even though we had a few chances and could have gone ahead early on. Besiktas were too good though and our defence at times was horrendous. We were also clearly missing Stancu and Irfan Kahveci.

Cheer up though (or possibly not) Australia are about to take on the UAE in the Asian Cup semi-final. Two former Genclerbirligi players, Mile Jedinak and James Troisi, are expected to be in the first 11. Fingers crossed.

EDIT: And Australia won it 2-0. Now for the final on Saturday. 11am Turkish time on Eurosport 2

Ankaragucu lose on and off the pitch!

Inegolspor 1-0 Ankaragucu

Today was one of the most important days in the 105 year history of Ankaragucu as the Congress took centre stage over the teams match in Inegolspor. Unfortunately there wasn't anything worth celebrating yet again for the Ankaragucu fans.

Team - Turgut Kirveli, Metin Aydin, Gurkan Alver, Aytac Oden, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Hasan Ayaroglu, Gokhan Erdogan, Orhan Evci, Umut Nayir, Levent Kale

Subs - Kaan Ates, Hasan Kaya, Ali Sinan Gayla, Ramazan Adiguzel, Teoman Erkan, Muhammed Gonulacar, Mehmet Tasci

Mehmet Yiginer was elected as President of the club for the 2nd time with him being the only candidate despite Bent Ahlat claiming he would be a candidate. The board have confirmed the club will become Ankaragucu A.S with the aim of having 110 Million income next season and 50 Million expenses. Where they think they will make that money is beyond me.

Harun believes that they are preparing to merge Osmanlispor and Ankaragucu A.S when they go to the Super Lig. We have both confirmed that it will be the end of the road for us if that happens.

As for matters on the pitch, Ankaragucu yet again failed to find the net as has all to often been the case this season. A 2nd half goal for Inegolspor gave them all 3 points and kept their promotion hopes alive. It really is embarrassing that we are talking about promotion for Inegolspor and relegation for Ankaragucu.

Next up is Basaksehir in the cup midweek at an empty Cebeci stadium due to the stadium ban. Incidentally there was more trouble at todays game. It never rains at Ankaragucu, it floods!!!

THE BATTLE OF GOLBASI

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It’s a long time since we’ve had a ‘battle’ to report on the Blog, but today fell into that category, but ........   perhaps we might want to call it a skirmish ??!!!

It started out like an away match adventure to Golbasi, even if it was a home match !    (I believe the 19 Mayis Stadium is being renovated, but if so, that could take a few years to achieve !!!).

We, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Cider Kanka John, new kanka Everton Kanka Marcus and I met up with Ahmet in the city and drove to Golbasi not knowing for sure where the Stadium was.   However, just as we were about to get lost in Golbasi, along comes 2 police cars with sirens blaring escorting the Ankaragucu Team Bus to the Stadium.    Yesssssss ..... follow them was the cry !

It is a small Stadium with only one side for spectators, but there were lots of Ankaragucu tribunes in attendance and even a small Marash contingent.

Oh yes ....... almost forgot about the footie ...............

ANKARAGUCU     1        Karamanmarasspor     0

Team - Gokhan Akkan, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Volkan Geyik, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Orhan Evci, Hasan Ayaroglu, Gokhan Erdogan, Levent Kale, Umut Nayir

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Hasan Kaya, Batuhan Gulcan, Teoman Erkan, Mehmet Tasci, Muhammed Gonulacar, Ali Sinan Gayla

I had a feeling of deja vu for the first 10 minutes or so when Marash came out of the traps and took the game to Ankaragucu.    There was as scare on 10 minutes when Gokhan had to make a double save from a Marash breakaway attack.

Ankaragucu crept more into the match (probably helped on by the loud vocal support !!) and Umut should have done better one minute later when he shot straight at the keeper from 10 yards out.

15 minutes later Levent should have scored when he also shot weakly at the keeper and then again just before the half time whistle he mis-cued the ball when in a good position to score.

Half time and then all hell broke loose !    Ahmet went to get the teas n' coffee just below the VIP Area and suddenly there was an erruption of chairs, tables, glasses, bottles, etc when someone tried to attack our ex-President (or future President ?!), Mehmet Yigner.   

Any excuse for a battle and the tribunes joned in the fracas with plastaic chairs and bits of charis flying all over the place.    It was mental !     Cue, bring in the Cops who had a great excuse to use their pepper spray and plastic bullets.     Fortunately it wasn’t a full scale battle and a certain, if reluctant, peace was restored in time for the resumption of play.     Also, thankfully we all managed to stay in one piece injury free !!

Back to the footie action then .........

Ankaragucu was looking a bit more composed in the 2^nd half with less hoofing out of defence and more concentration on playing the ball out of defence.    I have to say that some of the footaball served up in the 1^st half was dire !

On the 55^th minute Umut missed a simple header under no pressure as he sent the ball drifting past the post with the goal at his mercy.    Shit ........ I was thinking ......... is this going to be another of those 0-0 matches with Marash running the clock down ?!

10 minutes later we were all jumping up and down and forgetting about half time and the police surrounding us !     Goaaaaaaaaal !

An Ankaragucu break down the left, the cross comes in, flicked on to Levent who was lurking on the right, and side-footed in to break the deadlock !

There was only one more chance before the final whistle when from Levent’s great run down the right and his pin-point cross to Umut, he should have made it 2 but he ballooned the ball over the bar.

A quick exit from the Stadium 5 minutes before the end for the kankas for safety reasons !   

3 valuable points for Ankaragucu in their fight to escape from the relegation zone, and ............ back to The Crossroads Pub in Cankaya to celebrate !

Btw, we had the pleasure of meeting Akay Bey, an Ankaragucu Fanatik who lives in Bodrum.   He is the owner of a Pub in Turgutreis called Target Bar.    So, if in Bodrum, please visit his pub where a warm Ankaragucu welcome awaits you !

Will we have more Stadium Bans after today’s Battle ?    Mmmmm ........... quite likely, but watch this space for more details about it.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Could the ball be rolling?

No longer to be handed out to players at half time.

It has taken a long time but there is news today that a sponsor has pulled out of Turkish football because of the crap atmosphere at Turkish Super Lig matches... and we all know what is responsible for that...

According to a story in HaberTurk today, Murat Ülker, Turkey's richest man according to Forbes magazine, has said his companies will stop sponsoring football. Speaking to HaberTurk, Ülker had two main complaints; that the atmosphere at Turkish football matches is nothing like that in Europe and that the new rules concerning the number of foreign players will hurt Turkish footballers.  

"You cannot but be jealous when you see the crowds in England and Germany," Ülker said. "I'm sad for the country... Last time I went to a match in England. The atmosphere was incredibally great. I had a great time. Unfortunately, we do not see this here."

Ülker said that it was normal for fans to be angry at having to wait in queues for hours to get tickets and that the football system needed to be more welcoming.

On the Passolig system, he suggests that changes should have been made.

"When bringing in the Passolig system we could have been more flexible. No one wants to give their personal information, even by the state. It's uncomfortable," he said and I struggled to translate.

Ülker went on to attack the new foreign player system that will allow clubs to possibly field not a single Turkish national in their starting line-up.

"This is illogical. At that time what are Turkish kids going to do?"

According to HaberTurk, Ülker's Yildız Holding and the Ülker brand gives about 60 million lira to sport each year. They sponsor the TFF, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. They are also the main sponsors for the basketball team Ülker Fenerbahce.

I have no idea whether this action will make any difference. I'm fairly pessimistic about most things nowadays. BUT....

Ülker is a company that has always been close to political Islam and to President Erdogan in particular.

Which means he isn't doing it for political reasons, to spite the government. He is doing it because he genuinely likes football and believes that it is going to pot here in Turkey. The question is whether any other companies will also pull the plug?

Ankaragucu vs Kahramanmarasspor match preview!

It seems like a long time ago that i sat on my Balcony in Side on holiday checking the updates of the Ankaragucu vs Kahramanmarasspor match on the first day of the season. Ankaragucu won 2-1 that day thanks to goals from Umut Nayir and Aytac Oden. Since then there hasn't been much to smile about and Ankaragucu are on their 3rd manager after Muammer Ozdemir and Mustafa Kaplan both resigned.

The two sides will meet again on Sunday at the 19 Mayis Stadium in Ankara in a huge relegation encounter for both sides. Ankaragucu are only 3 points outside the relegation zone and 4 points ahead of Kahramanmarasspor. Both teams are also on a dreadful run at the moment struggling to win games and also have their financial problems off field.

The Congress was postponed last week and rescheduled for the 24th January meaning the Ankaragucu fans need to wait longer to find out their fate. The Ankaragucu fans have been protesting on social media this week stating they will not accept any name change or merge and that new management team must sue the Gokceks.

It looks like the new management team will be the old management team with Mehmet Yiginer expecting to return. He has already been speaking about lifting the transfer ban, however as we have all to often learned in the past, Mehmet Yiginer doesn't always stick to his word.

Surprisingly Gokhan Akkan and Umut Nayir are still Ankaragucu players with the club so far not receiving any offers for the talented duo. There is still 2 weeks to go until the transfer window closes though and both are expected to leave.

The Kanka group will be in attendance for the game on Sunday and Jim will have details of meeting times and meeting points for anyone wanting to attend.

Mehmet Yiginer set for return to Ankaragucu!

Mehmet Yiginer could be set for a sensational return to Ankaragucu after declaring tonight that he will be a candidate at the upcoming Congress this coming Saturday. Yiginer resigned as Ankaragucu President just over a month ago due to pressure from the fans and a lack of help from the government and businessmen.

What has changed? Well tonight Yiginer claimed that due to Ahmet Gokcek paying the 22 Million tax bill he has now changed his mind and wants to stay at the club. It remains to be seen if there will be any other candidates at this stage.

So what does this mean to the future of Ankaragucu? As usual we don't have a bloody clue, on one hand its positive that Yiginer wants to remain at the club and try and keep it alive, on the other hand Yiginer is a Gokcek man and as Harun has warned so many times he can not be trusted. It all just sounds a bit fishy to me.

Anyway we will see what Saturday brings, all the latest developments will be posted her and on our official Facebook page.

Diyarbakir BB 3-2 Ankaragucu match report!

Ankaragucu lost in controversial circumstances in Diyarbakir today as they conceded 2 goals in the last 3 minutes losing 3-2. The Ankaragucu players took to twitter after the match slamming the officials who were surprisingly from Diyarbakir. That said bad refereeing or not, failing to hold onto a 2-1 lead with only 3 minutes remaining just isn't good enough.

Team - Gokhan Akkan, Metin Aydin, Volkan Geyik, Aytac Oden, Onur Ayasayer, Harun Aydin, Gurkan Alver, Gokhan Erdogan, Levent Kale, Hasan Ayaroglu, Umut Nayir

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Batuhan Gulcan, Hasan Kaya, Orhan Evci, Teoman Erkan, Ramazan Adiguzel, Ali Sinan Gayla

There were no goals in the first half thanks to Gokhan Akkan who saved a Seamus Ozer penalty on the 29th Minute. After the match Gokhan was linked with a move to Gaziantepspor, although Metin Aykuz said there were no negotiations between the two clubs. Ankaragucu are believed to be looking for 750,000 TL for their young Goalkeeper.

Into the second half an Diyarbakir took the lead through Yusuf Yagmur. It only took Ankaragucu 4 minutes to equalise and it was that man Umut Nayir again to make it 1-1. Ankaragucu would more than likely be rooted to the bottom of the table if it wasn't for Umut Nayir this season, he deserves to be playing at a higher level.

The game looked to be heading for a draw until an explosive last 5 minutes. Firstly substitute Orhan Evci scored on the 87th minute to give Ankaragucu the lead and what looked like the 3 points. As all to often the case with Ankaragucu things didn't go according to plan. Only a minute later Yusuf Yagmur scored again to make it 2-2. Disappointed with a point? Of course but at least we would still be on level points with todays hosts.

Then comes the killer, with the last kick of the ball Ankaragucu failed to clear the ball which found its way to Ecrument Balicki who put the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-2 to the home side.

Disappointing is an understatement if your an Ankaragucu fan or player, after the match some high profile fans said its the end for the club and that Melih Gokcek has blocked at least 4 businessmen from investing in the club. Melih Gokcek wants Ankaragucu to die and will do everything in his power to make sure it happens.

He also has the backing of Hakan Toka and Anti X!! I have a message for members of Anti X and anyone else backing the Gokceks! Please stay away from Ankaragucu, you are not welcome back at our club! You should your soul and honour to Melih Gokcek and his son. We will never forgive you!!!!

Ankaragucu vs Diyarbakir BB match preview!

Ankaragucu play their rearranged match with Diyarbakir BB tomorrow at 1pm after the original match was canceled due to the trouble in the Syrian border a couple of months ago. Before we take a look at tomorrows game i want to discuss the future of Ankaragucu which was discussed in an article yesterday. According to reports if Ankaragucu don't find a suitable candidate at the congress in January 10th then the club will go into administration and will almost certainly be demoted to Lig 3 with the club unable to continue until the end of the season.

With that looking almost certain to happen it makes tomorrows match almost meaningless, of course the team need to remain focused and believe that something positive can happen. It really is incredible that we could potentially be weeks away from seeing the end of Ankaragucu. The handful of Osmanlispor fans on Twitter seem to be revelling in the fact that both clubs could merge. It also looks like Hakan Toka and some of the Anti X fan groups support that move.

Diyarbakir are also involved in this relegation battle as they have the same amount of points as Ankaragucu and they have their own off field problems to deal with. They have come in for a bit of stick in the media after their fans booed the Turkish National Anthem during their cup match at home to Galatasaray.

Ankaragucu put in a spirited performance at Karabukspor in the Turkish Cup midweek but still came away empty handed. Their isn't much more the new coach can do in terms of personal as he could only name 5 players on the bench. I expect him to keep the same team with Hasan Ayaroglu and Harun Aydin being the key men in the middle of the park.

Captain Levent needs to up his game and give a bit of support to Umut Nayir as does Gokhan Erdogan who has been disappointing since returning from his loan spell at Mersin.

There will be live updates on the blog tomorrow starting from 1230 with all the latest team news. Happy New Year to all of the Kankas!