Ankaragucu part ways with Ismet Tasdemir!

Ankaragucu last night parted ways with Manager Ismet Tasdemir in a move that has raised concerns over the financial situation at the club. The news was announced yesterday with the club stating they are disappointed with the decision and said it's a hasty move by Ismet who has just guided the club to the Lig 2 championship. Ismet didn't give specific reasons as to why he left but it's believed to be due to financial reasons as he hadn't been paid in 5 months.

The decision has been received with mixed emotions from the Ankaragucu fans. Some are disappointed to see him go, especially after a successful season, but others are happy with the decision as they questioned his decision making and tactics believing he made hard work of the Lig 2 championship.

Certainly from me and most at the Round Ball in Ankara he can go with his head held high and we would like to thank him for all his efforts and wish him good luck in the future.

In other news today, Mehmet Yiginer has stated he wants Melih Gokcek to forget the past and come back and help Ankaragucu in their bid to get back to the Turkish Super Lig. We await the outcome of the latest episode of the Ankaragucu circus!!

How the hell did we manage to lose that!

99.0 percent possession. A dozen shots on goal and still nothing!

Genclerbirligi 0 - 1 Adanaspor

I wasn't even thinking of going to this one but then got a message from Spine... "er okay. See you at the Alerta".

I do like the Alerta Bar, early on a Saturday afternoon, Spanish, English and U17 Euro Cup matches on the telly and talk about how rubbish Genclerbirligi are this season. Berat and his son, Spine and Bernard and Little Oz Kanka and me made up the crowd and Dan the Man and his boy joined us at the stadium. With just a few more paragraphs (slight exaggeration) I could name the rest of the crowd at the 19 Mayis.

Proof that we were at the match.
R - L Oz Kanka, Bernard, Spine and Little Oz Kanka

Word was that today we were going to play a few players who don't normally get a run. Makes sense. Nothing to play for and the season almost over. So we had Skekic, Milankovic and Velikonjia on.

Things weren't that great and Adana scored with a header from a corner. Heads in hands.

The new players experiment wasn't working at all. Skekic was replaced early on for general uselessness. Milankovic was definitely better but had already received one yellow for a very vicious tackle and looked like he was going to pick up another any minute.

Things seemed to come together and we started to completely dominate play but we couldn't find the back of the net. We had umpteen shots on goal but the Adana keeper was either lucky or just in the right spot.

Down at halftime but we came out with purpose in the second and again got a whole heap of shots off. Then Umit Ozat decided to take off Velikonjia and bring on Ring. this was a decision that baffled most of the fans. Just a minute or two later Ring was put into a one-on-one situation and couldn't even get a shot off.

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Frustration was now at stratospheric levels and some of the Alkaralar crowd started shouting for Umit Ozat to resign. The boys in the middle of the stand started to shout their support for the coach. There was then a massive brawl between the fans (Sorry, thought I was at an Ankaragucu match for a minute ;) ) Nothing of course happened.

And that was that. A very frustrating match but at the same time very entertaining. At the same time though, if we had something to play for I can guarantee that thing post would have been one bloody huge rant.

Mehmet Yiginer and Melih Gokcek discuss next seasons plans!

It's only a week since Ankaragucu became Lig 2 champions and turned Ankara into a red mist of flares and smoke as the fans celebrated long into the night. There is no rest though for the Ankaragucu management team though as they look ahead to next season in the PTT Lig.

President Mehmet Yiginer this week met with Melih Gokcek to discuss the future of Ankaragucu and what the Muncipality can do to help the club. Gokcek has stated that after discussions with Yiginer he has pledged support to the club financially which will include a sponsorship on the teams jersey.

Yiginer has also advised Gokcek that he wishes to stay on as Ankaragucu president and the club will need 20 Million in order to progress next season. This figure includes owed money to former players, salaries for current players and money for new players.

In other news, it looks like Ankaragucu will have to find an alternative stadium in which to play in this coming season. The 19 Mayis Stadium is set to be demolished with work beginning on a new stadium in Ankara. Early reports suggest Ostim as the venue but their are issues due to capacity and having no Passolig system in place.

Ankaragucu players contracts come to an end!

The Ankaragucu management team have a huge job on their hands this summer as they look to build a squad capable of surviving in the PTT Lig. Ideally they would look to build a team that are capable of mounting a challenge for the playoffs, but let's take one step at a time.

As part of that building process, the following players are all out of contract and some are negotiations to stay with the club, while some have played their last game for the club.

Enes Kubat
Ferhat Culcuoglu
Harun Aydin
Kenan Özer
Korcan Celikay
Mehmet Tasci
Metin Aydin
Muharrem Ozan
Orhan Gulle
Omer Bozan
Serkan Balci
Sezgin Coskun

As you can see a large number of the squad and more important some of our key players all available to speak to other clubs. We will keep you updated with all the news as it breaks!

Ankaragucu quartet attracting interest!

After every successful campaign teams need to be prepared for interest in their key assets. It hasn't taken long for speculation to mount and it will come as no surprise the names linked with a move away from the club this summer.

Harun Aydin is out of contract in the summer and is said to have gathered interest from Bursaspor who have previously raided the club for Emre Tasdemir and Onur Atasayer. Could Harun be the next academy product to leave the club for the Super Lig? It would be surprising if he made the step up as he has been on the bench for Ankaragucu mostly for the last couple of months. There is no doubting his talent but consistency has been an issue.

Kenan Ozer signed in January until the end of the season and has been a big success. He has scored 5 goals from 13 games and is a big favorite amongst the Ankaragucu support. Kasimpasa are said to be interested in luring him to the Super Lig which might be to much of an offer to turn down.

Rivals Eskisehirspor are said to be interested in Key player Omer Bozan who has just finished the season as the clubs top scorer. Another one who is out of contract and it would be a huge blow if the club lost him on a free, especially to a rival club.

Finally, Serkan Balci has been linked with a move to newly promoted Bodrumspor. It would be a bit of a coup for the Lig 3 side but he is also out of contract and free to leave the club.

Thanks to Volkan for the above transfer news!

WHO WILL JOIN ANKARAGUCU IN THE PTT LEAGUE ?

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Some of you might say ............ ‘who cares’ !!

However, just pause for a moment and think how many stadium bans we have had to endure during the past 5 years in particular.

These are usually the result of certain elements of the Ankaragucu supporters who consider some teams as ‘enemy teams’ and so they allow their feelings to override common sense.

Looking at the PTT League at the moment, and with 4 matches remaining, there are two teams who have not yet been promoted, and who fall into that category, and they are Eskisehir and Goztepe.    Also, there is another in the 2^nd League play-offs who is not ‘flavour of the season’, ie, Gumushane !

Therefore, if we have to face any of those three teams next season it will be the responsibility of management to impress upon the Ankaragucu supporters the importance of good behaviour to avoid such bans, especially now that TV money will be coming into the Club.

So, what is the situation at the moment ?

Istanbulspor won the White League and will join Ankaragucu.

The play-offs in the Red League are as follows –

Menemen v Gumushane

Hatay v Kastamonu

And in the White League –

Sivas BBS v Amedspor

Kocaeli Birlik v Erzurum BBS

Only one of those teams will join Ankaragucu and Istanbulspor in the PTT League.

Watch this space for the eventual winner, and whether Eskisehir and Goztepe are promoted.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim