THE KANKAS GO TO WAR !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Well .......... not quite yet, but it could happen !

We have an interesting scenario developing in the Scottish and English Championships when four of our kankas teams go head-to-head.

Bellshill Kanka Nadeem and Eski Kanka Jim will be sending insults to each other for the next few days as the Semi-Final of the Championship pits the poor little under-dogs Rangers against the Mighty Hibernian.      Rangers will be at home tomorrow night with the return next Saturday.

Burra Kanka and Naaaarich Kankie Lucy are more polite than Nadeem and Jim, and will just be thinking about sending insults to each other !    Middlesbrough host Norwich City in the Final of the Championship 1st Leg on Monday night.

Bring it on and watch this space and fb for the insults to fly !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Genclerbirligi accused of match fixing!

I remember two games in particular involving Ankaragucu where i thought both matches were fixed. The first one funnily enough was my first ever Ankaragucu game at home against Fenerbahce the same season Bursaspor were challenging them for the title, which they eventually won. The 2nd last game of the season Ankaragucu hosted Fenerbahce and lost 3-0.

The 2 goals Ankaragucu goalkeeper Serkan Kirintil conceded were laughable and i said after the match that he threw the game. Amazingly just 3 weeks later Serkan signed for Fenerbahce despite not having a great season. Serkan a couple of weeks ago was again at the center of match fixing allegations after a goal he conceded against Fenerbahce where he seemed to take his hand away from the ball as it went into the back of the net.

This weekend Genclerbirligi lost to Galatasaray and goalkeeper Ramazan is accused of letting the goal in, and Bodgan Stancu of deliberately missing a chance at the end to level the game. If you watch the highlights on Lig TV its difficult to argue a case for both players.

Gencler chairman Ilhan Cavcav has added fuel to the fire by banning his players from talking to the media about the game.

Turkish football is going backwards due to Passolig and the corruption involved, lets hope that this was just two dreadful errors from Gencler players, but it looks like there are certain people with power in Turkish football hell bent on destroying the game despite the amount of people who went to jail for the same reason a few years ago.

Ankaragucu transfer news!

According to reports on Social Media sources on Twitter and Facebook, Ankaragucu are in talks with Umut Nayir (Osmanlispor), Yildiray Kocal (Osmanlispor) and Timur Kosovali (Goztepe). The 3 forwards are out of favor with their current clubs and would be major coups for Ankaragucu.

However, before we can sign any of the above, the management team need to lift the transfer ban. According to those reports, Mehmet Yiginer is confident he can come to an agreement which will allow the club to progress with their plans.

On the not so positive front Levent Kale, Aytac Oden, Orhan Evci and Gokhan Erdogan are all out of contact and free to leave the club. Gokhan Erdogan wont be offered a new contract while Gozepe are interested in signing Aytac and Gaziantepspor are interested in Orhan who has had his best season for the club.

Gokhan Akkan is also attracting the interest of Bursaspor and Konyaspor while our player of the season Hasan Ayaroglu is wanted by rivals Eskisehirspor.

It is also said that now Osmanlispor have secured their place in the Super Lig, there will be talks in regards to merging the two clubs together. This is something that must never be allowed to happen, and we will now see Mehmet Yiginer put to the test to see if he really does have the best interest of the club at heart.

2nd LEAGUE PLAY-OFFs UPDATE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

With Ankaragucu and the other 2nd League mid-table teams pissing off on an early summer holiday, the 2nd League Play-Offs have now reached the semi-final stage.

Unsurprisingly, Bandirma is still in the mix and they will play Inegol.    While from the White Group, Pendik take on 1461 Trabzon.

Bandirma has been a thorn in the side of Ankaragucu last season and this, so I’m hoping they will win the final and piss off into the PTT League !!

Whilst on the subject of the PTT League, with 2 matches left it is still unclear who will join Kayseri in the Super League.

Ankara Osmanli made a statement of intent last weekend when they beat Adana Demir 2-0 and currently sit 2nd top 4 points ahead of Demir.    However, Osmanli travel to 4th placed Antalya next Sunday in a match which should really test their credentials.     If they lose, then Demir could take advantage if they beat 2nd bottom Buca.

So, it could quite easily go to the last match of the season to decide who goes up with Kayseri.   Exciting stuff, and I’ll be tuned into TRT this weekend to see the action.

Hopefully, Ankaragucu will be able to contest 1st or 2nd in the PTT League in 2 years time.    That’s an ………. Inshallah !!!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Round ball in Ankara player of the year - Hasan Ayaroglu!

The winner of our 2014/15 Round ball in Ankara player of the year deservedly goes to our talented playmaker Hasan Ayaroglu. Votes were cast this week on the Round ball in Ankara Facebook page with Hasan beating Levent Kale to the award.

Its the second year in a row that an Ankaragucu youth product has won the award with Emre Tasdemir picking up the award last season. Emre went onto sign for Bursaspor in the Turkish Lig and has impressed when called upon.

Hasan has had a stop start career today with the 20 year old struggling with injuries for the last 2 years. Big things were expected but he hadn't quite lived up to his early promise due to those injuries and inconsistency.

He has certainly lived up to that promise this season playing 27 games scoring 8 goals and creating many more goals for his team mates. He has also been rewarded with call ups to the Turkish youth National team.

Everyone at the Round ball in Ankara would like to congratulate Hasan on winning our player of the year award and wish him all the best for next season.

ANKARAGUCU SEND GOLBASISPOR TO THE 3rd LEAGUE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

A great ‘away day’ was slightly spoiled somewhat when local team Golbasi were relegated to the 3^rd League on the back of an Ankaragucu victory.   It was unfortunate for Golbasi who had numerous chances to win the match, but their finishing was woeful, and as we all know, it’s all about sticking the round ball in the back of the net !

Golbasispor    2              ANKARAGUCU      3

The kankas met-up at Guven Park and we bussed it out to Golbasi.    Melek Kankie Hazal, Maniac Kanka Harun, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I, and late-comer Cider Kanka John who was banished to watch the match from a vantage point outside the stadium when the Police closed the gates shortly before kick-off.

It was pissing down, but we were able to enter the covered ‘home end’ where Maniac Kanka and I wore our Golbasi scarves and tried our best to act like ‘home’ supporters !

It only took 4 minutes for Ankaragucu to take the lead from an own goal which none of us saw because we were trying on and admiring our new sexy sky blue scarves !!

Levent should have made it 2 on the 10^th minute mark, but he shot tamely at the goalkeeper.

5 minutes later a Golbasi attacker sent a screamer of a shot narrowly past the post with Gokhan well beaten.   Then, 2 minutes after that there was the miss of the match when Gokhan parried a goalbound shot.   The re-bound was sent goalwards, but it was cleared off the line by my Man of the Match, Gurkhan, who had an outstanding match marshalling his back line.   He has become the stalward of the defence.

3 minutes later and Ankaragucu punished Golbasi for their profligacy in front of goal.   Teoman did well to win the ball and feed Hasan A on the right who sent in an unstoppable shot to the top left corner with the goalkeeper helpless.

On the half hour mark and Teoman showed us how fast he is by going on a run down the right wing from the half way line leaving defenders in his wake.   The cut-back came in near the goal line but Levent couldn’t make contact.

5 minutes later from an Ankaragucu corner, the unkarked Levent headed weakly past the post.

Golbasi had the last chance before half time but Gokhan saved a goalbound shot.

So, going in at half time 2-0 up was a fair reflection of play – Ankaragucu took their chances !  

However, even though Golbasi had the possession and numerous goal attempts in the 2^nd half, they couln’t find the killer touch.   

That said, they finally found the target shortly after the restart.   A corner was swung into the box and an atacker managed to head-in at the 2^nd attempt.

Golbasi were now seeking the equaliser and they had ample opportunities in the next 20 minutes or so with shots on goal saved by Gokhan, a goal-line clearance by Mehmet, a shot screwed wide and even an ‘offside goal’.

10 minutes from the end Golbasi had a free kick just outside the box which occurred from desperate Ankaragucu defending but it went whizzing past the post.   Then 5 minutes from the end there was yet another chance for Golbasi when a cross came in from the left and the attacker struck air as the ball travelled between his legs and out !

Into the last 2 minutes and the goal of the match came from substitute Emir.   A long clearance into the Golbasi half was picked up by him, but with no support in the vicinity, he bore in on goal, rounded a defender, and from the left, shot into the top right hand corner of the goal with the goalkeeper well beaten.    Btw, I hope Teoman was watching from the dug-out on what strikers are supposed to do !!!

1 minute to go and Golbasi still attacked.   Then a rush of blood to the head from an Ankaragucu defender (we couldn’t see which one !) bringing down an attacker in the box resulted in a penalty which the No19 despatched in the centre with Gokhan diving to his left.

Into injury time, and still time for Emir to hit the bar with another stunning shot.

So, an upbeat way to finish the season for the Ankaragucu players, but sad to see local rivals Golbasi being relegated.     If they can keep this team together and perhaps strengthen here and there, then I’m sure they will be back in the 2^nd League in 2 years time.

Back to The Chopin Bar we went to celebrate and watch the Antep v Genclerbirligi match on TV.    What a laugh we had in the 60^th minute of that match when Gencler scored and the cameraman zoomed in on the ONE Gencler fan in the away end.    We could easily read his lips and he shouted ............ Gencler (clap clap clap) ............ Gencler (clap clap clap) !!!    We saw it again 2 more times as Gencler won 3-0 and the players came over to him at the end and threw a shirt to him !

Let’s see if we have any good news to report here in off field activities during the summer which might allow Ankaragucu to lift their transfer ban.

But for now, all the best from Eski Kanka Jim