The last few days have been some of the saddest days of my life. Losing our friend Jim has been hard to take, but we can take some comfort from the sheer volume of tributes paid to the great man from family, friends, the mayor of Ankara, tribune groups, Ankaragücü club and community and many others. It just shows how wonderful a person he really was and will be sadly missed.
It was this exact photo that made me become an Ankaragücü fan back in 2009. I had always a keen interest in Turkish football and decided to chose a team to follow. Darius Vassell had just signed for the club and the video of 3000 fans turning up at Esenboga airport made me do a search on google and this blog came up. After seeing the picture above I thought this guy doesn’t look Turkish, and after a bit of digging he was in fact from the same country as myself, Scotland.
I contacted Jim and he immediately replied and suggested I come over for a game to experience the Ankaragücü atmosphere. I did indeed a few months later and the rest is history. Through Jim I made friends with the rest of the Kanka group. Jim was the leader, and a great leader at that. Everyone respected him because he was like a father figure, who genuinely cared and had this infectious personality that made him instantly likeable.
We first met when he came back home for a visit to Scotland when visiting family near Glasgow. Jim kindly gifted me my first Ankaragücü jersey which I still have to this day. Shortly after I made the trip to Ankara with my wife and he was the perfect guest. Jim had organised a welcome dinner with all the rest of the group both from Ankaragücü and Genclerbirligi. It was a fantastic night and such a kind warm welcome.
I have made numerous trips across to Ankara since then and developed a friendship with Jim over the last 15 years. Including an away trip to Bursa which was our last game we attended together. Every occasion, you always got the same Jim. The same warm welcome of someone you knew was so happy to see you. The football chat which tended to involve how rubbish Ankaragücü, Rangers and Hibs were.
The only thing that frustrated me about Jim was that I was a guest in both Turkey and Scotland. He, despite my best attempts would never allow you to pay for things. There was the odd occasion he would accept a drink, but he was a kind and generous man. I mean all of that as a big compliment.
Although Jim had a settled life in Turkey which he counted as home, he never forgot his roots in Scotland. A trip back home to North Berwick was a regular occurrence and he was joined by Damon on his last few trips. Visiting his family and his beloved Hibs (won’t hold that against him haha) was the highlight of those trips. But he always found time for us to catch up for dinner. A few months ago when we said goodbye in Glasgow, I never imagined it would have been the last time we ever met :-(.
This Blog was founded by Chris and over the years has saw so many people come together from different countries due to Ankaragücü and Genclerbirligi. But the biggest reason is Jim. The way he welcomes people and makes them feel like part of the group instantly is a special gift he has. Some of us older Kankas such as Harun, Damon, Myself, Chris, Tansu, John, Marcus, Ahmet, Miguel to name a few have all had the pleasure of spending time in Jim’s company over the years. But Jim could even make special relationships with people he hasn’t met such as Johnny from Denmark. You would think those guys were friends for 20 years. It’s just the way Jim was.
Even during the times where I found it difficult to get time to continue with the match reports and reviews, Jim took over as he knew family came first. Jim would regularly message me saying Nady if yer busy this week with the family I’ve got it.
And family was the only thing more important to Jim than football. His wife Aysen, daughter Laura, son in law Paul and little Finbarr in particular. Jim was the most positive Ankaragücü fan I know, he very rarely complained compared to the rest of us. I’ve seen him happy many a time with football, but the happiest and proudest I ever saw him was when little Fin was born. He was a proud grandfather. Even on our last meeting in Glasgow the big smile on his face when he spoke about him, you could tell how much he loved him.
Tomorrow is a sad sad day as we all get the opportunity to say goodbye to our great friend. Sadly I can’t be there as I’m in Scotland. But I will be thinking of him. Ankaragücü will be attending the funeral which is a lovely touch from the club.
Because I can’t attend, I thought the minimum I could do was write this tribute to Jim. We all have our great memories, and it hurts to know we won’t speak again, or have any more of the famous match reports.
RIP Jim, you were a great great friend
Nady
