Ankaragucu complete double swoop!

Ankaragucu completed the impressive double signing today of Orhan Gulle and Sezgin Coskun which sends out a statement to the rest of Lig 2, we are coming for the title!!

Orhan is a 24 year old midfielder who has represented Turkey at every level apart from the Senior team. He spent a successful time at Gaziantepspor before moving onto Kayseri Erciyes, Boluspor and Sivaspor.

Sezgin Coskun is a 32 year old defender who has signed from Eskisehirspor and will be a welcome addition to the club with his experience.

Welcome to Ankaragucu!

Ankaragucu vs Aydinspor match preview!

The long awaited return of football is upon us as Ankaragucu get their season underway on Saturday afternoon as they host Aydinspor. Unfortunately this is the first of a 5 match stadium ban and the game will be played in Afyon as Jim reported earlier.

Last week we saw Ankaragucu lose the Ankara TSYD Cup final 3-1 against Polatli which was met by the anger of the Ankaragucu fans. We were all disappointed with the defeat but it wasn't for the lack of  effort from the players, and I think we saw enough to know Ankaragucu will be challengers this season.

The club hasn't been managed properly for years, we all agree with that, but the management have delivered  this summer by raising cash, lifting the transfer ban and bringing in a whole new team of players. We need to get behind the team and have no more stupid off field distractions.

Aydinspor will no doubt be tough opposition and are capable of winning the match too, they have added a few experienced pros this summer such as Emin Aladag and Isa Akgol. They finished 2 placed above Ankaragucu last season and will be hoping to fight for promotion this season too.

Aydinspor won both matches last season, winning 2-0 in Ankara and 1-0 at home. Ankaragucu will be looking to put things right but scoring against Aydin and taking all 3 points.

It will be interesting to see how Ismet Tasdemir sets up his first team and who will make the starting line up with all the new players. I think Enes will get the nod up front to start with Muharrem coming off the bench. I don't think the team will be too far away from the following:

Emrah, Serkan, Alihan, Adem, Onur, Muhammed, Harun, Erhan, Emre, Omer, Enes

I think Orhan, Ferhat, Ahmet and Muharrem could all be there or there abouts too, it will be interesting to see how we line up.

Ankaragucu sign Muharrem Ozan Cengiz!

Ankaragucu today completed the signing of Bandirmaspor forward Muharrem Ozan Cengiz. The club have been looking for a striker who they believe is the final piece of the jig saw in their quest to fight for the title.

The 27 year old striker who has also played for Sanliurfaspor has played 166 games scoring 59 goals in his career so far. He is a welcome addition to the club and will now push Murat Yilmaz and Enes Kubat for a place in the starting line up.

Welcome to Ankaragucu Muharrem!

Genclerbirligi players called up for international duty

I'm a bit late on this one but the following Genclerbirligi players have been called up for international friendlies or qualifiers or whatever for the next week or so.

Good luck to all of them

Turkey: Ahmet Calik, Ahmet Oguz and Irfan Kahveci

Romania: Bogdan Stancu

Belarus: Siarhei Palitsevich

Kosovo: Vedat Muriqi

Montenegro: Aleksandar Scekic

Guinea: Guy-Michel Landel

South Africa: Tokelo Rantie

An excellent away draw comeback for Gencler

Two mistakes, two goals conceded. Just 15 minutes in and it was pretty depressing at the Alerta Bar. But then Gencler came back.

Osmanlispor 2 - 2 Genclerbirligi 

It was a packed Alerta Pub for the 9:45 pm Sunday night match. How on earth people without cars were supposed to get home from Yenikent stadium before work on Monday morning I have no idea.

Ankara'da Tek Derbi #Gençlerbirliği - #Ankaragücü Maçıdır. pic.twitter.com/Nx9J2y6aRZ

— ODTÜLÜ GENÇLER (@ODTULUGENCLERR) August 28, 2016

I was happy enough in the pub and so were the Gencler fans as we came out firing. But then our defence slipped up and bang, first time they get into a dangerous position they scored. After that we again went forward but always looked very dodgy at the back. Hopf ended up having to make making a good save and then Selcuk stuffed up and Osmanli went 2-0 up.

And then, just as the Alerta Pub was as quiet as a mouse Gencler roared back into it. We had great through balls, shots on target, heroic saves from their keeper (and quite a few lucky ones) and one shot that was cleared off the line by a defender.

It all seemed to be for nothing when someone stuffed up in midfield and Osmanli went on the run. They had three players with only Hopf in front of them. the man on the left passed inside but had so clearly telegraphed it that Hopf moved to his left and was able to block a fairly pathetic shot. Phew.

Then just before half-time and with the rain starting to come down and this time it was Serdar with a chance (we had had so many chances by this stage). He took a shot and this time we had the luck. It took a deflection and in. 2-1 Half-time

Second half and we came out with even more attacks. At one stage the possession count for the match was 64-36. Finally we all roared as an Osmanli player blatantly handballed in the box. Stancu stepped up and Goooalllll. 2-2



Our player were exhausted by this stage, at least mentally and we seemed to turn off a bit. Osmanli came forward but weren't able to get a winner.

What a match. Osmanli are one hell of a good team and to pull off a draw away to them is a bloody good result.

I finished my beer and grabbed a taxi home. I got into house at 12:30am.

Gencler come back to haunt the Ottomans

Osmanlıspor 2 - 2 Genclerbirligi

The short report. 2-0 down after 15 minutes. Heroics to get back into it and we could so easily have won. Full report later on.

Ankaragucu 2016/17 Squad

Next weeks sees the start of the 2016/17 Turkish Lig 2 season, Ankaragucu have brought in a host of new players and the full squad is listed below.

Emrah Tuncel - Goalkeeper signed from Sanliurfaspor
Emre Koyuncu - Goalkeeper signed from Tarsus
Altay Bayindir - Goalkeeper

Orhan Evci - Righ Back
Serkan Balci - Right Back
Mehmet Tasci - Left Back
Onur Atasayer - Left Back
Adem Saglam - Centre Back
Alihan Kubalas - Centre Back signed from Istanbulspor
Cenk Kaplan - Centre Back signed from Kocaeli Birlikspor
Metin Aydin - Right Back
Metin Ilhan - Left Back

Muhammed Gonulacar- Central Midfielder
Harun Aydin - Central Midfielder
Ferhat Culcuoglu- Central Midfielder signed from Bucaspor
Omer Bayramoglu- Central Midfielder signed from Eskisehirspor
Ahmet Can Arik - Midfielder
Erhan Senturk - Attacking Midfielder signed from Kocaeli Birlikspor
Omer Bozan - Attacking Midfielder
Ahmet Yavzur - Attacking Midfielder
Mustafa Ozturk - Attacking Midfielder
Emre Sahin - Attacking Midfielder signed from Bucaspor
Mashun Kara - Midfielder
Hursit Tasci - Attacking Midfielder signed from Istanbulspor

Enes Kubat - Forward
Murat Yilmaz - Forward signed from Altinordu
Ali Sinan Gayla - Forward
Irfan Batuhan Yilmaz - Forward
Hasan Kaya - Forward

Ankaragucu 1-3 Polatli Bugsas! TSYD Cup Final

There was heartbreak for Ankaragucu last night as Polatli came back from a goal down to win 3-1 after a disastrous second half performance from Ankaragucu.

Team - Emrah Tuncel, Serkan Balci, Alihan Kubalas, Mehmet Tasci, Onur Atasayer, Ferhat Culcuoglu, Harun Aydin, Omer Bozan, Emre Sahin, Erhan Senturk, Enes Kubat

Subs - Emre Koyuncu, Orhan Evci, Ahmet Yavzur, Adem Saglam, Murat Yilmaz, Mustafa Ozturk, Muhammed Gonulacar

Firstly let me say that the conditions last night made it difficult for both teams due to the heavy downpour of rain. That said it was no excuse for the performance and the better team won on the night.

Ankaragucu started the game stronger and looked very solid at the back while the likes of Erhan Senturk, Harun Aydin and Omer Bozan were all showing their quality in midfield. There was a smaller turnout last night with about 5,000 in attendance.

The breakthrough came for Ankaragucu late in the first half with an excellent goal from captain Erhan Senturk. The ball was crossed to the back post where Emre Sahin nodded the ball down into the path of Senturk who flicked the back past the keeper with a lovely finish.

The Ankaragucu fans seemed pretty happy with the first half showing and some of the new players looked like they are going to be good signings for the club. Their are big concerns over the Goalkeeper position though. Emrah Tuncel flapped at everything that came into the box and looked like the weak in most pre season games.

Into the second half and it was Polatli who came out and looked like they wanted it more, had more energy about their play and quality too. It wasn't until the 75th minute though that things would take a change for the worse for Ankaragucu. Alihan Kubalas who had already been booked earlier for a bad challenge was red carded for an apparent elbow. Polatli were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, up stepped their player who fired into the back of the net, it was a fantastic free kick but the Ankaragucu wall and goalkeeper got it all wrong.

Five minutes later and it was 2-1 Polatli, a stunning goal from Murat who beat two Ankaragucu players before firing into top corner. They then made it 3-1 a couple of minutes later with Ankaragucu searching for the equaliser they were punished by the counter attack, game over.

Ankaragucu did have an effort cleared off the line late on but Polatli were the 2016 TSYD winners much to the anger of thr AG fans who booed the team off the pitch. It was another opportunity for Ankaragucu to give the fans something to cheer about but they failed.

The only thing that matters this season is the league, and winning promotion. Ankaragucu start their campaign next week at Aydinspor and we will have all the latest news and match previews here.

Ankaragucu 3-1 Etimesgut!

Ankaragucu booked their place in the TSYD Ankara mini cup final with a good 3-1 win over Etimesgut. Earlier in the day the Ankaragucu management announced that the transfer ban has been lifted and all new signings have signed their contracts.

Team - Emrah Tuncal, Orhan Evci, Alihan Kubalas, Adem Saglam, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Muhammed Gonulacar, Erhan Senturk, Emre Sahin, Omer Bozan, Enes Kubat,

Subs - Emre Koyuncu, Murat Yilmaz, Metin Aydin, Hasan Kaya, Ahmet Yazar, Omer Bayramoglu, Ahmet Can, Ali Sinan, Mustafa Ozturk, Mehmet Tasci

A good crowd turned up for the match with over 10,000 in attendance, I must add the Kankas were late attending the stadium as they had a bit to much to drink according to reports, tut tut.

Ankaragucu took the lead midway through the half with Erhan Senturk opening the scoring, the attacking midfielder looks like he is going to be a key player for the team this season. The score stayed that way until after the break.

Etimesgut got back on level terms after they were awarded a penalty which was converted much to the delight of their 10 fans in the away end.

Ankaragucu were quickly back in front after Enes Kubat got on the end of a cross into the box to make it 2-1. The home side put the game to bed with a well worked goal and Onur Atasayer putting the ball into the back of the net with a nice finish.

The final will be played tomorrow night at 8pm Turkish time at the 19 Mayis stadium where Polatli Bugsasspor will be the opponents. The game will also be shown live on TRT much to my delight.

Genclerbirligi stun Antep and Oz Kanka

I hadn't told our mates down at the pub but I wasn't expecting all that much from Genclerbirligi on Sunday evening. Talk about being happily surprised when Gencler came out the blocks and went full on into attack mode. This was fun football!

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Gaziantep

A nice little crowd down at the Alerta Pub on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Spine and me and Kevin and Joe. It had been more than a decade since Joe first saw Gencler but he is back in town and already has his season ticket.

To the stadium where we were joined by Little Oz Kanka. There was a moment of remembering for those died in stopping the ateempted coup but no moment for the victims of Saturday nights suicide bomb attack in Gaziantep. The Gencler though fans did "sing" a few chants of support for the Gaziantep fans.  

Kick-off and bam! Gencler were creating chances and playing fun footy. It was great and a huge surprise to me as we hadn't played anything like this in the "Turkish Sports Writers Assosiation Ankara Branch 15 July Democracy Cup".

It was absolutely no surprise when Stancu scored after about 15 minutes. It was a classic short cross in to a striker in the right place and kick it home goal.

At this moment I predicted 3-0. But then Gencler went back into the habit that has undone us so often in the past... we sat back and let Antep back in it.

We were still playing nice football but all urgency had gone...

Bulent Uzulmez obviously put a boot up their arses at half-time and Gencler did come out a bit bitter but then again they let Antep take over. Hopf ended up having to make a few routine saves and then two magnificent ones.

It was starting to get a bit nail biting. Our frustration was summed up when our new signing Mattai was free in front with the keeper miles out of position. He proceeded to kick the ball with less power that an Under 7s kiddie could muster... and still miss.  

Uzulmez brought on a couple of substitutions and bang, we were back in it. And it was two of those subs who sealed the match for us. Aydin Karabulut on the right wing sent a wonderful long pass right onto the feet of Vedat Muriqi, our new Albanian striker, from just outside the box he seemed to toe poke it perfectly past the keeper.

And that's that. A good start to the season.

Spine told me later that Uzulmez told the media that he was also worried about the way we let Antep to control long periods of play after we took the lead. I look forward to that being ironed out by next week in what will be a very difficult match against Osmanlispor.

Çok şükür sezona 3 puanla başladık. Tüm takım arkadaşlarımın ayağına ve yüreğine sağlık... 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/ReWQCBKqLw

— Uğur Çiftçi (@ugur3333) August 22, 2016

Timur Kosovali signs for Keciorengucu!

Some surprising news today on the transfer front at Ankaragucu striker Timur Kosovali left the club as he signed for Keciorengucu. It now leaves Ankaragucu with the problem of having only 1 recognised striker at the club in Murat Yilmaz. The club will now pursue a replacement before the transfer deadline day.

Timur came to the club last season with high hopes after impressive scoring records at Bandirmaspor and Goztepe. The striker however failed to live up to expectations and had a disappointing campaign last season leading to criticism from the management. It was believed Timur was challenged to prove himself over the pre season period but now looks like Ismet Tasdemir decided that he wouldn't feature in his plans.

Good luck to Timur with his new club but I'm sure we will replace him with better quality if we want to challenge for the title.

In other news, if Ankaragucu reach the final of the TSYD Mini cup final on Saturday then TRT are believed to be showing it live on TV. That will be for folk like myself who will be watching and cheering from abroad while the rest of you are filling te stadium. The Ankaragucu fans are hoping to have a sold out stadium also on Friday night for the game vs Etimesgut.

THE 'MINI' TSYD CUP (ANKARA SPORTSWRITERS CUP) !

Greetings Kankas.

Well, after Genclerbirligi stole all the headlines last week by winning the ‘Mega’ TSYD Cup, otherwise known as the Democracy Cup, or .......... as the kankas call it ...... The Coup Cup, it is now time for the ‘Mini’ TSYD Cup !!!

It will take place at The 19 Mayis Stadium 26/27 August and the draw was made today.

Friday 26 August KO 8pm – Ankaragucu v Etimesgutspor

Also, on Friday 26 August, but KO time unkown at the moment – Hacettepe v Bugsas

The 3^rd v 4^th and final will obviously be played on Saturday 27 August but more details of that when I have KO times.

We will meet in Yeni Sedir Pub in Kizilay between 5pm and 6pm on Friday and go to the Stadium at 7pm.

Looking forward to seeing a ‘live’ footie match for the first time in ............ a long time !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler dazzle in season opener

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Gaziantepspor

Well. That was a nice start to the season. A well-deserved victory and one hell of a bunch of happy players and fans. More to come soon. (although it may be a day or so as I've got a few other things I have to attend to).

Gençler News Round-Up

A splurge of interesting news on the Cavcav-Gençler front. Some of these deserve much closer scrutiny, but here's a quick summary.

1) Cavcav says at the age of 81 he is seriously considering calling a congress and installing his son Murat as the next chairman. Link here. Thoughts on the rights and wrongs of dynastic succession in the comments please.

2) Cavcav is already falling out with his coach, and it's over money, you'll be surprised to hear. More, including the Üzülmez "worships money" quote, here. Thoughts on pots, kettles and how to prepare the ground for a firing in the comments please.

3) Cavcav says Gökcek offered a stadium-upgrade-for-star-defender-deal. Details here. Thoughts on innovative use of public funds in soccer below please.

4) Skulason has left. Sparse club statement here. Speculation on why and what it means in comments please.

EDIT:

Further to 2) Cavcav has released a statement saying he didn't want to say anything negative about the coach when he called him money-grabbing. Rather, the intention was to provide suggestions and guidance, like a big brother would. Cavcav remains completely supportive of the coach, the statement says.

Ankaragucu pre season update!

Ismet Tasdemir will be a bit closer to finding out all about his squad as the team played 2 friendlies yesterday and today down in Kizilcaham training camp.

The team drew 2-2 with Bingolspor yesterday with the goals coming from Murat Yilmaz and Timur Kosovali, while today's team won 2-1 against Golcukspor thanks to goals from Onur Atasayer and Erhan Senturk.

Team vs Bingolspor - Altay, Sercan, Metin, Adem, Mehmet, Muhammed, Ahmet Can, Ahmet Yazur, Murat, Timur, Mustafa

Subs Used - Ali Sinan, Hasan Kaya

Team vs Golcukspor - Emrah, Orhan, Cenk, Onur, Alihan, Hurun, Ferhat, Enes, Omer, Erhan, Emre

Subs Used - Mehmet, Serkan, Murat, Hasan

Ankaragucu sign Onur Bayramoglu!

Ankaragucu today completed the signing of Eskisehirspor midfielder Onur Bayramoglu on a free transfer. The 26 year old former Turkish youth international was highly rated as a youngster which saw him sign for Besiktas as a teenager before moving onto Genclerbirligi.

He hasn't quite reached the heights of what was expected but it's still a good signing for the club who will be hoping he can get his career back on track. Onur can play either in central midfield or on the left wing which will give Ismet Tasdemir more options to chose from. Welcome to Ankaragucu Onur.

Genclerbirligi wins, Democracy wins

Genclerbirligi have won the World's Longest Title Cup! It wasn't the prettiest of matches but we scored two cracker goals and are now the inaugural winners of the "Turkish Sportswriters' Association Ankara Branch 15 July Democracy Cup" or as Peter Stout named it yesterday, the "Coup Cup" .

Genclerbirligi 2 - 1 Konyaspor

Video taken by Little Oz Kanka

Genclerbirligi tweeted yesterday that they had 1,000 free tickets to hand out to today's match, so Little Oz Kanka and myself went off to the club headquarters this morning and blagged six. In the end we gave away the extra ones at the gate. The Gencler ticket guy also gave us a free Anadolu Agency photograpic book of the 15 July attempted coup. This wasn't to do with the fact that we were playing in the Coup Cup, merely because I was browsing through it. Very kind of him.

Another stinking hot August day when little Oz Kanka and me headed off to walk down to the Alerta, met Spine on the way and enjoyed some beers, some food and watched Jak Ali Harvey of Turkey qualify for the semi-final of the 100 metres running event.

Spine wussed out at this point so it was just father and son who jumped into the metro and headed to the stadium.

Oz Kanka and Spine. Oz Kanka is wearing Harun.

Then it started raining and raining and raining and raining and then a bit of wind. It was all rather pleasent of course after such a scorcher but it kept on raining and then it started getting cold and all of us in shorts and t-shirts started to shiver. Little Oz Kanka wanted to go home at half-time. The last time he asked that he was only three-and-a-half years old.

The rain probably buggered up some of the quality of play. There weren't too many goal opportunities for either team and no real stand out players.

That was until Selcuk Sahin had a shot from some 30 yards out. It was a belter hit the crossbar and in. What a great shot. Besides that though the first half wasn't the best advertisement for the game.

Hooray, the rain has stopped.

Things got a bit better in the second half. We had a few chances but blew them. Hopf saved a few easy ones but wasn't really tested. It all seemed as if we would win one-nil when everything buggered up and Konya got one back with two minutes left on the clock.

It was surely going to go to penalties but then another wonderful goal from a set piece. Aydin Karabulut, who had come on at half-time and had a decent game, was fouled with a cynical from behind tackle. Thirty yards out and Irfan takes a wonderful shot, curves in and hits the goal post and in. The Konyaspor keeper didn't even move. Time on the clock: 90 minutes.

Referee blows it up and the Coup Cup stays in Ankara.

Konya were definitely better than Adanaspor but Genclerbirligi have a long way to go to find the flair that we saw in the second half of last season.

Bu da Kahveci'nin golu. pic.twitter.com/MEuvQ95oOo

— Mr. Shelby (@dettayna) August 13, 2016

         

Ankaragucu 0-1 Zonguldakspor!

Ankaragucu lost 1-0 in their latest pre season game today against Zonguldakspor. I managed to catch the game on Periscope again and was disappointed the way we lost the match. Ankaragucu controlled most of the match and looked pretty solid at the back, but again the same problems that haunted the side last season were on show today. Poor Goalkeeping and lack of quality in the final 3rd of the pitch.

With Ankaragucu controlling the match, Zonguldakspor put the ball into the box, where it was met by Tuna Yilmaz who fired the ball past Emrah Tuncel in the Ankaragucu goal. It was a poor goal to lose with Mehmet Tasci nowhere to be seen tracking his man, and Emrah beaten at his front post by a weak shot from Yilmaz.

Ankaragucu tried in vain to get the equaliser but to often a poor cross, weak shot off target or poor finish prevented them from getting back on level terms.

The club will continue to bring in new players and the fans will be hoping they will be attacking players with a bit of quality. It's still pre season so we can't read to much into today's performance but Ismet Tasdemir will know that he needs to strengthen that attack if he wants to mount a challenge this season.

Gencler win a match. We win a new pub!

As I have said in other media commitments this week - this is not the time for football! It is the time for laughing at another English batting collapse. It is the time for laughing at countries which can't make a pool stay blue. It is time to get interested in Women's Sevens Rugby. But it is not the time of year for football. So it was with deep reluctance that Little Oz Kanka and myself trudged off in the 34 degree heat of the capital to watch a pre-season match.


Turkish Sportswriters Ankara 15 July Democracy Cup First Round Match  
Genclerbirligi 2 - 1 Adanaspor

The most important thing about today was taking a recky for what will be our new pre- and post-match pub for the season. As you know it is often quite difficult to find a pub in Ankara showing a Genclerbirligi match if it clashes with any match involving the Istanbul teams.

A solution has finally been found with Orcan of the Karakizil fan group going into management with a couple of others to take over a pub on Olgunlar Sokak (next to Soul Pub and near the book sellers market) and to open the Alerta Pub.

The important stuff first. An Efes 500ml draught is 10 lira. They also have Becks and Bomonti on tap. They have a kitchen which sells the normal Ankara Gourmet Pub stuff (hamburgers with toothpicks in them etc) and the toilets are very clean.

Orcan has decorated the inside with various scarves of football teams and he is particularly proud of having a scarf from teams from both capitals of Macedonia, the country and the province. He says he can't wait to get his first Greek customer.

Most importantly the pub will be showing each and every Genclerbirligi match. No exceptions.  

Then we showed up to the footy.

With no Passolig needed for this match a whole heap of fans who are now into their third year of boycotting the e-ticket system showed up and they were clearly having a ball.

Unfortunately the same can't be said for our first 11 out on the field. With both Campos and El Kabir having left over the summer it just looked like we didn't have anyone who could bring a spark to the game. We also missed Hleb who was so good last year at providing balls to players in good positions. We dominated but still looked rubbish. Adanaspor had the first chance of the match but fluffed it and it wasn't until the dying seconds of the first half that we got onto the scoreboard.

It was a freekick on the right, outside the box. We all assumed Irfan would try to put it onto Stancu's head but instead he placed it perfectly, arced it over the keeper and into the top corner.

Second half was a bit more fun as Adanaspor came forward a bit more and we made half a dozen substitutions (it was a pre-season friendly). The man who particularly impressed me was a fellow who we signed just a couple of days ago, a Romanian by the name of Cosmin Gabriel Matei. He played on the left wing and made a number of good runs which could have led to goals if not for rubbish finishing by others.

Our second goal also came from a free kick. I think it was Selcuk Sahin who took it from outside the box and forced the keeper to make a one handed parry at the ball. With the keeper on the ground after his impressive save, the ball popped up nicely for one of our players who was on the spot to head it in.

Two goals, both from set pieces.

Adanaspor got one back a bit later after some rubbish defending by us.

All up... to be brutally honest I think it may well be a long season ahead for us Gencler fans.  

So, with that win we are in the final of the TSYD 15 Temmuz Demokrasi Kupası which will be on Saturday night at 8 pm against whichever team won the match that I wasn't paying attention to (either Konya or Karabuk). See you at the Alerta Pub at 6pm!

Ankaragucu sign Ahmet Yazur!

Ankaragucu continue to add to the squad with the signing of 21 year old defender Ahmet Yazur. The youngster has signed from Canakkale Dardanelspor.

Ankaragucu 2-1 Umraniyespor!

I managed to catch most of the match on Periscope as Ankaragucu took on PTT Lig side Umraniyespor. I have to say I was very impressed with the performance and it gives me some optimism that we can challenge for the title this season.

Team - Emrah, Orhan, Alihan, Cenk, Onur, Ferhat, Harun, Emre, Erhan, Hursut, Enes

Subs - Metin Aydin, Mehmet Tasci, Timur, Mustafa, Adem, Muhammed, Can, Hasan Kaya

The goals came from Enes early in the first half and then Muhammed Gonulacar in the second half. Man of the Match was Cenk Kaplan at the back. The team looked very solid at the back and it was also interesting that Orhan Evci was named captain.

Let's hope this is the start of something good at the club!

Ankaragucu sell 20 Million shares!

Their seems to be an endless wave of good news coming from the Ankaragucu camp in recent weeks. The club have assembled an impressive squad which they hope can win promotion to the PTT Lig this season after 3 years of failure in Lig 2.

Today it was announced that the club have sold 20 Million Turkish Lira worth of shares which has been used to help lift the transfer ban meaning the new players are now free to start their Ankaragucu careers.

Mehmet Yiginer has been instrumental in bringing in this much needed investment to the club and must take credit when due. It's been an rocky ride for Yiginer since he arrived at the club. The dirilis season was his most successful season to date having just missed out on promotion through the playoffs and the stadium full every second weekend. The last two seasons have been disappointing but hopefully this is the start of a bright future for the club.

In other good news, Ankaragucu have also announced that all fans groups will come together and their will be a United fans group with representatives from each group heading up the coming together with help from the club.

Ankaragucu complete signing of Serkan Balci!

Ankaragucu have completed the signing of experienced right back Serkan Balci on a free transfer from Mersin. The signing is a major coup for the club having spent most of his career in the Super Lig with Genclerbirligi, Fenerbahce, Trabzonspor and Antalyaspor.

Balci is also a former Turkish International having been capped 22 teams for the national side. He will take the place of Gokhan Alhas who moved onto Manisaspor in the summer after a successful loan spell last season.

Ankaragucu latest news!

Some developing news firstly on the transfer front. Ankaragucu are reported to have agreed terms with 27 year old Altinordu striker Murat Yilmaz. The much travelled journeyman was on the books of Ankaragucu back in the 2009/10 season. Looking at his goalscoring record won't fill the Ankaragucu fans with much confidence having only scored 22 goals in his career.

In other news Adem Saglam was this week named Ankaragucu captain much to the displeasure of the fans. They have asked for Orhan Evci to be given the captains armband instead. The fans made the point that Adem refused to pay for the club last season due to unpaid wages, where as Orhan has stood buy the club through the tough times and showed real leadership. We will await to see if management change their decision.