Ankaragucu's brother team has captured headlines in Turkey over the last few days, but not because they are currently in third place. During this past weekend's match, some of the Bursa fans acted, well, inhospitably, towards the Diyarbakirspor players and fans implying (with the help of shards of green plastic from the stadium seats) that there was some connection between the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers' Party) and the team.
I am not going to go into the whole political side of this here. If you are interested, there are a couple of Turkish papers in English (links below), and mountains of other information on the internet and in your local library. I will just say that it is unfortunate that it had to be the Bursa fans to act like this. Bursa and Diyarbakir are two of the few cities in Turkey where the the inhabitants really support their home team and not one of the big three Istanbul teams.
I know the death of Abdulkerim Bayraktar (a die-hard Bursa fan whose death occurred while performing his military service in the southeast) in 1993 will never be forgotten, but that is no excuse to lash out against fans at a football match--some so young that they were not even alive when Abdulkerim was killed.
Let's hope that for the rest of the season most of the newsworthy action takes place on the pitch and not in the stands.
To read more about the details of what happened, here are a couple of links.
Yes, at last, something to sing and shout about - a victorrreeeee. But, let's not get too carried away with this result. I would normally be optimistic with our first victory away from home, but then ........ I looked at what's coming up !!!
Gaziantep 1 ANKARAGUCU 3
I'm sorry to say I've no details of the actual match but what was interesting was the team selection. No Vassell (injured ?), no Bebbe (suspended) and no Iglesias (reason unknown). Also, no Vice-Captain El-Yasa (suspended). Thinks .... not a good idea to go to Gaziantep with the three recognised strikers missing !!
Serkan Koray, Semavi, Ediz and Broggi Ceyhun, Barbaros, Hurriyet and Metin Murat Duruer and Frederic
Don't ask me ...... who is Frederic ??? I tried checking him out in Google Search but couldn't find anything. Can anyone else shed some light on him ?
Second half substitutes used were Mehmet Cakir, Emre and Volkan
Da Silva opened the scoring for Antep after 10 minutes but Metin scored the equaliser just before half time.
Metin added a second goal 10 minutes into the 2nd half and Mehmet Cakir scored the third with 10 minutes to go.
If you recall, I had scripted Mehmet Cakir to score last week against his old Club but he was obviously a week late in reading my post on the Blog !!!
OK, so well done Hikmet Bey for playing with a 'reserve strike force' and the three points are most welcome. However, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, it will not be all plain sailing from here.
Next weekend Ankaragucu 'welcomes' Galatasaray. Of course, the players will be all fired up for that and will get stuck right into CimBom, but we have to bear in mind that Galatasaray are the 'form team' in the league at the moment.
It's World Cup the following weekend and then a visit to Kayseri. OK, we can say .... if we can beat Antep away then we can do the biz in Kayseri ! However, excuse me if I remain cautious about that match !
Notwithstanding Metin's fine contribution last night, I hope we have Vassell and Bebbe back for next weekend's Match of the Day.
What a lovely evening. The cold weather that hit us during the bayram has dissapeared and it was a good turnout at the Chopin for Friday night's 2-2 draw with Trabzon.
As for that turnout, German was the second most popular language at the table with Lanky Kanka Jorg, Alpine Kanka Wolgang, his son Christoph and Robbie all babbling away with Ilker, Eskisehir Onur (who was in town for the weekend) and your good correspondent not having a clue what was being said. Strangely enough Flying Dutchman Kanka understood everything, even though he can't speak German... I credit the Efes.
Off to the match and I had to hang around to give Oguz a ticket and so got in five minutes late. Just about to sit down and the first touch of the ball I saw was the final kick that saw Trabzon go one up.
A depressing start and it wasn't long later that Gencler lazily lost the ball and Trabzon launched a great attack to go two ahead. The Trabzon fans were taunting us and quite frankly I could have curled up and fallen asleep. Our play was atrocious. Hardly a single pass was sticking. Balls were being kicked straight at Trabzon players and in defence we were too slow at closing down their forwards. Dreadful really.
Then something happened... we started playing... and playing well. Harbuzi got the first goal at about 30 minutes in thanks to a great pass from Mustafa Pektemek. Us Gencler fans finally had something to sing about (as you can see in the video posted below).
The rest of the half was pretty much all Gencler. A couple of near misses but at half time the general mood amongst the Gencler smokers huddled near the toilets was that we could grab this game.
Second half and both Harbuzi and Pektemek were taken off, with Hursit and Bilal coming on. It was the same replacement strategy that Thomas Doll used in the game against Ankaragucu last week. I have a feeling that Doll isn't happy with the fitness of either of them.
Hursit came on to great applause. The man is fast becoming my favourite player. Not due to any particular genius on his part but because he provides great entertainment. If I had to sum him up I'd say he is absolutely bursting with the confidence of a Maradona and the ability of an Eski Kanka Jim going for the double 20 after 23 beers.
Hursit set up the second goal against Ankaragucu last week and at times last night it looked like he could easily set up one for us once again. Instead we got some laughs out of the man. One nice one was when a ball was played to him in the air, he turned around - probably hoping to make a run - and instead the ball whacked him in the back of the head. Another time was a great header to stop the ball from going out of play. Only hassle was he was over the touch line at the time.
Still it was his confidence that got us the freekick that resulted in our second goal. Anyone else just outside the box would have been looking for someone to pass to... not our Hursit! He decided to go through his markers and was tripped up.
Bilal stood to take the free kick and for a long time Hursit was free at the edge of the box. Luckily someone from Trabzon twigged and ran in to mark him. Otherwise Bilal would have passed to Hursit and then God only knows what laughs may have ensued. Instead Bilal had a shot himself and we drew level.
The last 10 minutes or so was all Gencler but the winning goal just wouldn't come. The biggest chance lost was when Sandro sent a ball wide that really should have been in the back of the net.
Match over and back to Kizilay for more beers with the Alkaralar fans. The general mood... very, very upbeat. In Thomas Doll we might finally have a coach who can do something with the team.
Poking around on the interwebs today and I came across this article in Taraf Gazetesi concerning the latest goings on at Ankaragucu.
Seems as if the head office of MKE, the Makina Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu, have launched a court case to have the August 30 extraordinary AGM annulled. As you all know it was at that AGM that Ahmet Gokcek became chairman.
From the petition given to the court by MKE:
"Association Chairman Cemal Aydin erased the registration of (number not given) members with MKE links. Four-hundred members were registered for the Cemal Aydin - Melih Gokcek team. The membership requests made by 146 MKE personnel were not accepted, (an action) which is against the regulations."
Who knows what might happen. My guess is that it will go the same way as what happened a few years ago when a court threw out a similiar case brought against Genclerbirligi Chairman Ilhan Cavcav who had stacked an AGM with Galatasaray supporters and made it next to impossible for the opposition to register any members. As an aside I still haven't figured out how to join Genclerbirligi.
So the shambles that is the takeover saga of Ankaragucu carries on. When the company that founded the club back in 1910 is taking you to court, you know you must have lost the track.
After a gentle reminder from Sir Eski I thought I should give a update on Hibs start to the new SPL season.
After five matches Hibs sit 3rd in the table with 3 wins and 2 defeats.
Hibs 2-1 St Mirren Falkirk 1-3 Hibs Hibs 0-1 Celtic Hamilton 2-0 Hibs Hibs 3-0 St Johnstone
The defeat to Hamilton was a big disappointment, definately Hibs worst show so far.
Some late transfers boosted the squad for this season, Anthony Stokes from Sunderland and Liam Millar released by QPR have brought a bit of quality to the Hibees teamsheet. Liam Millar left Celtic to join Man Utd about four years ago so has plenty talent.
At a time when even Rangers along with most SPL teams are trying to offload players to reduce debt, Hibs are able to spend banked cash. For the last few years Hibs have kept tight control of wages, this along with player sales over the years have made Hibs nearly debt free despite building a new training accademy.
Time will tell if these new players will give Hibs the edge in winning Europa League football slot in the SPL.
Stokes scored his first goals at the weekend against St Johnstone and has another chance tomorrow night when the Saints come back to Easter Road for a cup match. Another 3-0 result would be good but I will settle for just getting through to the next round.
Hopefully I will be posting plenty reports of Hibs victories this season. Rumour has it a VIP from Ankara may be visiting this season, maybe even manage a picture.
Not content with dealing with the recent crisis in the Boardroom, Ankaragucu has created another one on the pitch. Despite all their possession and efforts to play football last night, the players failed to deliver and the 'natives are becoming restless' !
ANKARAGUCU 1 Genclerbirligi 2
The lone Ankaragucu kanka (ie .... Moi) met up with a host of Gencler kankas in The Chopin last night. Oz Kanka Chris and his merry men (and lady) were in fine fettle, and why not considering Gencler's impressive record in derby matches over the past few years.
Roger from Eskisehir was welcomed into the fold, regular kankas Spine Kanka Steve and French Kankie Hande and also some latecomers Oguz and his son and Ilker.
We then dispersed our different ways to the Stadium where I was greeted by Yankee Kanka.
As usual the Stadium was almost full of Ankaragucu supporters in full voice. The less said about the number of Gencler supporters in the away end the better !!
The match got underway with the usual end to end stuff with the players feeling each other out and Ankaragucu surprised me with their standard of footie and their passing which was a big improvement on recent performances. The team is beginning to take on a familiar pattern -
Serkan Cihan, El-Yasa, Ediz and Broggi Mehmet Cakir, Ceyhun, Hurriyet and Barbaros Vassell and Iglesias
Semavi, Ufuk and Emre came on as 2nd half substitutes.
I'm not sure what the position is with our two South Africans, especially the impressive Sosibo, or Henderson. They haven't featured recently, but after last night's result, perhaps they will soon !
With the match just settling down after 10 minutes play, disaster struck for Ankaragucu with a well taken Gencler corner. There appeared to be a ricochet off a defender or the post and the loose ball was dispatched easily by Pektemek. Here we go again I thought .... another mountain to climb !
However, all credit to Ankaragucu, they took control of the match from this point right up to half time with some sustained pressure on the Gencler goal. Vassell was winning nothing in the air and was well marked out of the match by the impressive Gencler back four, especially Radeljic.
Cihan playing at right full back was causing all sorts of problems with his attacking runs and it was from one of those that the equaliser came on the half hour mark. From a great run down the right wing, the ball was swung over and met by Barbaros to score a well deserved equaliser.
Up the volume in expectation of a 2nd goal before half time ! I lost count of how many chances were missed by Iglesias and Ceyhun, and the teams went in at half time all square.
I had a text message from Oz Kanka at half time which just about summed up the first half ......... quote .. you deserve to be ahead .... unquote. My response was .... yes, true, but .... Meaning that the round leather thingie must be put between the sticks and into the net !!!
The 2nd half was more even with Gencler coming more into the match and Ankaragucu beginning to huff and puff. So, it was no surprise when the winner came 10 minutes from the end and a great goal it was too.
Hursit who had replaced Harbuzi half way through the 2nd half was the creator and he was causing the Ankaragucu defence all sorts of problems with his dangerous runs down the left. It was from one of those runs when he turned Semavi inside out and put in an inviting cut-back for Kahe to pick his place in the corner with Serkan well beaten.
With Ceyhun and Cihan off, Ankaragucu lost their shape and struggled in the last 10 minutes to contain the now rampant Gencler.
A classic story of missed chances but nice football doesn't win matches and the record books will show that Gencler took 3 points and Ankaragucu took .... nothing !
As I mentioned at the beginning, the natives are becoming restless and at the end of the match their wrath was directed towards the coach Hikmet Karaman and Serkan.
Serkan may have played his last match for Ankaragucu because I saw him spitting on the ground towards the tribunes in Maraton. This is unacceptable behaviour from a professional football player, irrespective of the fans anger, and I am surprised and disappointed that he took this action.
So, another crisis is looming. Played 6 and won none. What next ? A case of wait and see but I'm wondering if it is time to try and lure Ersun Yanal away from the TV Company who he is with and bring him back into the fold. Am I dreaming again ??
Showed up last night for a darts captains' meeting and Flying Dutchman Kanka broke to me the news that Ankaraspor had been relegated. Celebratory drinks all round!
This morning I actually read the report from the Professional Disciplinary Board and, as has been discussed at length on this blog - especially in the comments sections - it was decided that Ankaraspor and Ankaragucu were controlled by the same legal entity and therefore Ankaraspor were immediately relegated. I'm not sure of the exact reason why it was Ankaraspor and not Ankaragucu were relegated but maybe someone can help me out on this.
In addition Ankaragucu chairman Ahmet Gokcek has been banned from attending matches for six months and the rest of the Ankaragucu board banned for three months. The chairman of Ankaraspor has also been banned from attending matches for six months.
It isn't exactly clear yet what this means for promotion/relegation this season with some suggestions that three teams will still go done (meaning four will come up from the Bank Asya Lig), or that only two teams will go down (and only three come up).
As expected, Melih Gokcek has been spitting chips saying he will appeal all the way the Universal Sports Court, or whatever it is called. Good to see our mayor is concentrating on the important issues the city needs addressed.
In the meantime, time to look up the spelling of that German word which describes the state of maliciously enjoying the misfortune of others ... ah yes... schadenfreude
Ankaragucu's brother team has captured headlines in Turkey over the last few days, but not because they are currently in third place. During this past weekend's match, some of the Bursa fans acted, well, inhospitably, towards the Diyarbakirspor players and fans implying (with the help of shards of green plastic from the stadium seats) that there was some connection between the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers' Party) and the team. 
