Good times in the capital

Our new found mate Dirk managed to find the pub, as did Mummy Oz Kankie. Not long later we were joined by Oguz, he of darts fame, Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlos and then Spine and French Kanka Hande. All up a very respectable attendence for a match which no one else in Ankara gave a damn about.

After beers at the Chopin we went off to the stadium where my Mum was given the third degree by a couple of female cops who wouldn't have been out of place in the presidential guard after the 1980s Argentinian junta but we still all got in in one piece.

Then the fun and games began. As usual, I've had much too much to drink to give a proper account of the match. Let me say though, finally Gencler were playing well. Admittedly this was against Denizilispor, but still.

The midfield work was good. There were plenty of passes in to edges of the box and while we didn't get many shots on goal we were all over the opposition.

The first goal though seemed almost flukey. Somehow or other Isaac Promise got up headed a ball, it stayed it the air for ages and somehow went into the back of the net.

Gencler 1: Denizli 0 (a video of us celebrating)

There was more good attacking football from Gencler but nothing much happened until the first half was almost over.

On the 44th, Haminiu sent it in to Isaac who had the keeper completely lost.

Gencler 2: Denizli 0

Half time and I was jumping up and down. The really amazing thing was not that we were winning but the fact that for the first time this season we were playing well. The midfield were getting their passes together and there were shots on goal. Admittedly there were a few scary moments when our defence went to sleep but at least Denizli were not able to capitalise.

Second half and I don't have a clue what happened. Denizli came out strong and then our keeper Gokhan made what was one of the most stupid mistakes I've ever seen.

He was one-on-one with someone, didn't have a bloody clue, he should have whacked the ball but instead missed it completely, the Denizli player kept going but was held back by Gokhan holding onto his shirt. No surprises that a penalty was awarded. The biggest surprise was that Gohhan din't get an automatic red card. Penalty converted.

Gencler 2: Denizli 1

It was tight at this stage but Gencler were still up for it. There was a chance for Risp, and no doubt others but nothing came of our attacks. Until....

Mehmet Nas had a good run into the box and with no one around him fell over. The referee therefore quite rightly gave us a penalty.

Okan stood up. Took the shot. Scored. Took off his shirt and was given a second yellow card. Outragous!!!!

Down to 10 men for the last 25 minutes but still it was Gencler who were going for it.

All up a great victory. If we can play this sort of football for the rest of the season we might have a chance. Admittedly though, Denizli were pretty rubbish.

So, Jim has asked me to point out, next up we have Ankaragucu on Monday night. We are meeting at the Chopin at about 6 p.m. Come and join us.

Photocaption: Backrow: French Kanka, Spine, Flying Dutchman, Dirk, Oguz. Frontrow: Oz Kanka, Mummie Oz Kankie

ANKARAGUCU - THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Surprisingly (for me anyway) the ANKARAGUCU supporters tribunes seem to have forced some action after all their recent demonstrations against the Chairman, Cemal Aydin.

Cemal Aydin is quoted in Hurriyet this morning saying he will not be Chairman after January 2007. Whether these are hollow words to pacify the fans, or whether he is serious remains to be seen. I have been in this country long enough to still be sceptical about utterances made in the press !!!

Perhaps Oz Kanka has further information from his journalistic contacts ?

What is more important now is for the team to put some points on the board and start climbing out of the relegation zone !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Don't forget to pay your tax

While sunning myself on the Mediterranean I came across an article in Sabah by my old colleague Metehan Demir. Now Metehan is a top bloke who was always the first to get exclusives on stuff like Turkish army tank tenders, what type of plane the airforce really wants and how much fun it is to bomb stuff (I think).

This week though writing in Sabah newspaper on Monday, Metehan turned his attention to football and money, in particular, Genclerbirligi and the Treasury.

Metehan goes into great detail about what appears to be a huge scandal and which has had the Gencler directors jumping up and down declaring their total innocence.

The essence of the story is that the Tax Office decided to audit Gencler, Ankaragucu and Ankaraspor and, to their surprise, found that not all taxes had been properly paid. I'll leave the stories of Ankaragucu and Ankaraspor to one side as the details aren't that clear, but Gencler were given a fine of 3.4 milion TL (that's 3.4 billion TL in the old speak, or in euro terms about 1.75 million euros). Not petty change.

Genclerbirligi then asked that the fine (I think this includes the unpaid tax plus whatever fine they imposed) be discussed at an abitration commission, as is usual practice in Turkey when companies are found not to have paid their taxes in full.

According to an article in Hurriyet by Cigdem Toker on Tuesday, the fine was subsequently reduced to 1 million TL (about 500,000 euros) by a Tax Office arbitration committee chaired by a fellow called Cemal Boyali, a fellow who Cigdem, for some reason or other which I certainly would not wan't to draw any conclusions into, describes as a man who had a promotion blocked by the president himself.

Back to Metehan who writes that at around this time, someone, (Metehan does not give any names) asked the chairmen of Gencler, Ankaragucu and Ankaraspor for a donation of 50,000 TL each for the Tax Office's own team Maliyespor (whose chairman also happens to be our friend Cemal Boyali). By the way, this is all occuring in the last couple of months.

Cavcav apparently complained that this was a lot of money but in the end he agreed.

Then comes the stuff which seems to have gotten the Gencler directors all upset. Metehan writes that Gencler sent off the 50,000 TL to Maliyespor and received a receipt from some company for the following: 3,000 Maliyespor flags, 3,000 t-shirts and 3,000 hats.

Metehan asks if we will all be flying Maliyespor flags at the next match.

More importantly, Metehan asks whether Gencler actually received these goods. If yes, well, what the hell are we going to do with them. If no, this is a clear breach of Tax Law 359 and if successfully prosecuted could result in up to three years imprisonment for whoever signed it off.

Back to Tuesday's follow-up piece by Cigdem who has managed to get the Gencler directors to give their side of the story. In her piece Cigdem quotes Gencler's finance man Sukru Kizilot (who also happens to write on the Economy pages of Hurriyet) who says that when the reciept came in for all the flags etc he asked whether the club had actually received them. When the answer was naturally "no" he apparently refused to accept the receipt and instead asked that the club be given a receipt for the "charity donation" of 50,000 TL to Maliyespor.

So, that's okay then.

Cigdem also managed to track down Gencler chairman Ilhan Cavcav who complained that the big three Istabul teams usually get their tax fines reduced by arbitration commissions to around 10 percent of the original rather than the 20 percent that was all that Gencler managed.

Cavcav also says he was "very sad" that the whole giving donations to Maliyespor business has been linked to Gencler's own tax office problems. Cavcav instead says that because Gencler has no supporters (never seen this blog obviously) this was all a way of getting more people to support the team.

So obviously, when we go along to the football on Saturday afternoon, don't mention your own dodgy tax situation as the crowd will no doubt be full of Tax Office officials all waving Maliyespor flags.

PHOTO CAPTION: Oz Kanka and Little Oz Kanka researching the above story.

HIKMET KARAMAN AND ESKI KANKA - SINGING FROM THE SAME HYMN SHEET !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

An interesting article in the Hurriyet this morning ! Hikmet Karaman is bemoaning the loss of Umut Bulut, Elvir Balic and Ahmet Belal. Now where have I heard that before ???!!!

You will recall that he was the ANKARAGUCU coach last year but then left suddenly after a `disagreement` with Cemal Aydin. I would hazard a guess that it was about money !

After his departure the 3 aforementioned players went their separate ways, again probably for financial reasons.

However, as we all know, money doesn't score goals !!!

I would guess that the article this morning is a veiled message to Cemal Aydin to `put up` or `shut up` ! I'm sure that all 3 would return to play for Hikmet, who is held in high regard by the players.

Let's see how this unfolds and if there is a positive response from Cemal Aydin.

All the best from Ever Hopeful Eski Kanka Jim

NEXT WEEKEND'S PROGRAMME

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The programme for next weekend's matches is as follows -

Saturday 30 September - Genclerbirligi V Denizlispor - KO 4pm

Monday 2 October - ANKARAGUCU V Trabzonspor - KO 8.30pm

Oz Kanka will no doubt give meeting arrangements for Saturday on his return from his hols, but I would guess that it will be meet in Chopin Bar at about 1pmish.

The Monday KO for the ANKARAGUCU match was no doubt caused by Digiturk's schedules and the fact that Trabzon are playing in Spain on Thursday night. Meeting next Monday in Chopin for this one at about 5.30-6pm.

The Hurriyet this past week has been full of all the ANKARAGUCU supporter groups strong feelings against Cemal Aydin. No doubt there will be more of the same next Monday night. It will also be interesting to see if he makes an appearance !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES IN ANTALYA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Yes...... Oz Kanka definitely chose a good weekend to go to Antalya !

While we in Ankara are being subjected to Black Sea Storms (they had an even bigger one in Trabzon last night when Trabzon blew Galatasaray away 3-1 cough cough !!!), not to mention the Hailstone downpour yesterday, Oz Kanka and his family are basking on the beaches of Antalya oblivious to our suffering !!

Suffering is the `IN` word this weekend in Ankara and Edinburgh !!

Tonight I can visualise Oz Kanka and Mrs Oz Kankie dancing the night away at Murphy's Bar on the New Konyaalti in Antalya while Mummy Oz Kankie keeps watch over Little Oz Kanka. Meanwhile, back in Ankara we are suffering with Electric Storms and torrential rain further compounded by footie results.............

Gaziantep 2 Genclerbirligi 0

and as we read in Hibbie Kanka's report........ the end of the Hibs great run of victories by lowly (no offence) Falkirk.

Also........... as I write this it is half-time in Istanbul and...........

Besiktas 2 ANKARAGUCU 0

The only crumb of comfort I have at the moment is that at least Oz Kanka is happily boogieing the night away under the influence of his wife's beauty and........ of course, EFES !!!

Oh yes....... one last other piece of doom news. Denizli won today, which puts ANKARAGUCU firmly at the bottom of the league !!!

Oh joy !!!

All the best from despondent Eski Kanka Jim

Hibs 0-1 Falkirk

A bad result for Hibs was made worse after having Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson sent off by referee Alan Freeland. The whistler had what can only be described as a shocker, he booked nine and sent off four in-between missing just about everything that mattered. I think he must be a rich man now as I can only assume he had put his house on Falkirk winning this match. At the risk of sounding like a sore looser which generally I am not, right from the first decision he was out to give Hibs nothing but yellow and red cards.

I have seen various polls held on this Blog covering diving cheating etc. I would like to know peoples thoughts on whether referees should be castrated for ruining a potentially good football game?

I think there maybe some more to come out of this match, whether it is punishment for Hibs or the Referee will be an interesting point.

In midweek Hibs beat Gretna 6-0 in the League Cup, their reward is a home quarter final tie against Hearts our Edinburgh rivals. Lets hope Freeland is not the ref. At the end of last season Feeland refereed Hibs last league match, he sent off two Hibs players and booked six. Sound familiar?

Guess it is time to drown my sorrows.

Hibbee Kanka

ANKARA TEAMS WEEKEND PROGRAMME

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

With Oz Kanka (playing AWAY this weekend) and both Ankara teams playing away, it is all quiet on the Ankara front.

Just for information............ Genclerbirligi are playing away in Gaziantep tomorrow (Sunday) and will KO at 4pm. It's not on TV.

ANKARAGUCU are away to Besiktas tomorrow and will KO at 8.30pm. The match will be shown LIVE on Digiturk League TV.

I'm not planning (at the moment) to go to KandF or any other Digiturk server, but if anyone else is planning to go then give me a call and I'll respond. Tell me where, when and ....... is it an EFES or Tuborg pub !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

V.I.P. FOR A DAY

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

With Oz Kanka strutting his stuff down on the Antalya beaches and showing off his rippling muscles to the local talent, perhaps it is an opportune moment to recall another `blast from the past`.

The year was 1995 and I was making a family visit to Scotland from my Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

At that time, I was a member of the Hibernian Youth Development Club and when the secretary (daughter of the Hibs Chairman, Douglas Cromb) heard that I was intending to visit the Stadium, she and her father invited me to the Directors Box for the match against Aberdeen on 21 January 1995.

To say I was delighted would have been an understatement because I had never been `behind the scenes` at Easter Road Stadium in all the MANY years of supporting Hibs.

The day arrived and I was greeted and made welcome by Douglas Cromb, who then introduced me to all the Hibs and Aberdeen directors. The `refreshments` were flowing and I was made to feel very much `at home`.

With Hibs 3-0 up at half-time the Directors Lounge was a good place to be ! Food and more `refreshments` were served and then it was back to our seats for the 2nd half.

Hibs won 4-1 that day and there were a few `names` playing who some of you `older` kankas might remenber, ie, Keith Wright, Pat McGinlay, Kevin McAllister, Gareth Evans, and Darren Jackson.

Incidentally, Gareth Evans lives in my home town, North Berwick, and I met him 3 months ago at the North Berwick Primary School Sports Day when I was there supporting my friend's daughter. Gareth is presently the manager of Brechin City. Perhaps he is being groomed as a future Hibs manager ??!!

After the match, it was back to the Directors Lounge for more `hospitality` and it was there that I met and had a long chat with Hibs legend Lawrie Reilly. I had met him previously when he was a player and I was a young lad, but I diplomatically didn't mention that to him !!

After the Aberdeen contingent had left, the Hibs Manager, Alex Miller (now with the Liverpool coaching staff) was invited in to give his match report and I offered my farewells to Douglas Cromb. However, he insisted on my remaining for the debrief which I considered a great honour (I was the only non-Director present !).

As you would expect, it was an upbeat report, but he also gave an assessment of all the players individual performances. He then gave his thoughts on the team and tactics to be employed at the following week's match. A very thorough and interesting debrief and a pleasure for me to have witnessed it.

Definitely a day to remember. It is not often that a mere mortal like me has a chance to be a V.I.P. for a day !

Before closing, I should mention that I happen to know Hibbie Kanka Athole and his sons were also recently V.I.P.s for the day at Easter Road Stadium and met the present manager, Tony Mowbray, and the players. Perhaps he might give a report about it sometime in the future ??!!

Also, has any of you other kankas had a V.I.P. day out in your team's Stadium ? For example, I wonder if Doctor ManYoo Kankie has some stories from Old Trafford to tell us ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - REASON TO BE CHEERFUL

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Well done ANKARAGUCU (it has been a long time since I have been able to say that and it just rolls off the tongue !!).

Elazig 1 ANKARAGUCU 2

No details yet, but I'll try to give some tomorrow.

This was an important win for 2 reasons -

1. We could NOT afford a humiliating exit from the Cup, especially at this stage of the season.

2. An away win (after....many weeks) is just the tonic the team needed before their visit to Besiktas this weekend.

No shocks in the Cup so far, but an interesting result today.........

Istanbul BSB (top of 2nd League `A` Category) 0 Manisa 5

Ersun Yanal signed a new `long term` contract with Manisa yesterday so I don't think I will have my wish to entice him back to ANKARAGUCU. What I think he is trying to tell all of us is that Manisa are going for the League and Cup Double ! Granted, it's early days, but.......I think we have to take him seriously !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

HIBERNIAN LADIES - ANOTHER WIN

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Another great win for the Hibernian Ladies team at the weekend in The Kingdom of Fife.

An excellent away win 3-0 against Raith Rovers Ladies maintains their 100% record for the season so far.

Perhaps this might encourage Kirkcaldy Kanka way out there in Liverpool Ingallind into action and to make a comment about his beloved Raith Rovers ??!!!

It seems to me that the Hibernian Ladies are determined to retain their League Championship title. They have just signed 2 ladies from Glasgow City who also play for the Scottish National Ladies team !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Only just

Extremely short note from 5:20 a.m. just before I jump into the car for my holiday.

Genclerbirligi 1, Gaziantep BBspor 0.

Thank God.

THE TURKISH CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

With all the hueing, gnashing of teeth and crying about league footie results in Ankara, the Turkish Cup almost passed us by un-noticed !

The Turkish Cup is still at the `knock-out` stage with teams in from the 2nd division. They are taking place this week and then the winners will go into the group stage - similar to last season's format.

Genclerbirligi are playing tonight at the 19 Mayis Stadium against Gaziantep BSB and it has a 7pm KO. I can't go, and I don't think Oz Kanka will be there either. He has mummy dear to take care of, and also we have a darts league captains meeting at 8.30.

ANKARAGUCU are away to Elazig, probably playing tomorrow or Thursday (not sure yet).

Let's hope for a good cup run for the Ankara teams to brighten up our season a little. It has been all doom and gloom so far !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - INTO THE DANGER ZONE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Further to yesterday's report, I'm sorry to say that ANKARAGUCU are now well into the Danger Zone in the league.

With 4 draws and 2 defeats they are now in 2nd bottom position only one point ahead of bottom club Denizli. Admittedly, there are 4 teams above them on 5 points, however, with an away match next weekend against Besiktas and a home match against Trabzon coming up it doesn't bode well. Furthermore, 2 weeks after that they are away to Gulay's Galatasaray. Mmmmmmmmm not quite a `walk in the park` you could say ?!

After 6 matches, ANKARAGUCU have scored 4 goals and conceded 6. So, Mr Karaman doesn't need me to tell him where the problems lie. Miracles do happen, however, in this case I suspect we need more than that !!!

All the best from realistic Eski Kanka Jim

Hibs 2-1 Rangers

Hibs good form against Rangers comtinued from last season when they beat Rangers three times. Today it was only 2-1 but the game was so one sided in the first half that Rangers never had an attempt on goal. How Hibs only had a one goal advantage at halftime was the main talking point and concern around me as we have all seen Rangers come out of the sewer smelling of roses time and time again. When Rangers equalised on 65 minutes I thought we were going to get punished for all the missed chances but Chris Killen popped up on 80 minutes to score his second header and secure the three points. Killen was booked for his celebration and then picked up a second card five minutes later for leading with an elbow. Bardsley for Rangers received his second booking in injury time for shouting at the referee and made it 10 men apiece.

In all the years I have watched Hibs I don't think I have ever seen them dominate Rangers so much, although Rangers came back into the game in the second half it was still Hibs that looked the more likely to score. In the first half Rangers picked up four bookings as they started kicking out in frustration, Paul Le Guen must be wondering what he has let himself in for coming to the SPL.

Now that this current group of Rangers players has been humbled by the mighty Hiberninan I dare say the Glasgow press will be full of which Hibs players will be bought by the old firm in January. English Premiership targets Scott Brown and Kevin Thomsom were outstanding and whichever club finally signs them is going to be very lucky, I hope that is not for a while.

C'Mon the Hibs.

Hibbee Kanka

ANKARAGUCU ATTEMPT TO BEAT CIMBOM'S RECORD

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

ANKARAGUCU 0 Denizlispor 0

The battle of the draw specialists intesifies as ANKARAGUCU equals CimBom's record of 4 league draws. This is getting really exciting now........... well, at least it is more exciting than watching ANKARAGUCU and Genclerbirligi trying to play footie !!!

Anyway, there we all were in Chopin Bar last night having lottsa `refreshments` (by the way Miss Zagreb Kankie, we were NOT drinking coffee !!).

Oz Kanka, Mrs Oz Kanka, little Oz Kanka, Battle Hardened Kanka, Mountaineering Kanka, MoutaineeringESS Kankie Judy, Flying Dutchman Kanka, A new kanka who supports Bristol Rovers (brave man !!), Cold Hearted Kanka Roger (he was the only kanka who didn't kiss little Oz Kanka when he left - shame on him !!!), Cold Hearted Kanka's lovely wife from Finland - Warm Hearted Kankie, Ian (no name yet kanka) and his lovely lady Mugla Kankie (Mugla girls are definitely worthy of their reputation for beauty) and yours truly. If I missed anyone then my apologies !

Marash Kanka Hakan and his friend Sinan joined us in the Stadium and then it was kick off time.

Expectations were high with the appointment of Hikmet Karaman as the new coach and the fact that we were playing the bottom team in the league. The singing was as loud as ever and then............ a damp squibb of a game began.

ANKARAGUCU huffed and puffed and didn't really threaten except when Ceyhun fired in his free kicks from outside the box, one of which brought out a great save from Suleyman the Denizli goalkeeper. The only other moment of interest in the 1st half was when Ceyhun cut back a corner kick to Petkov who was running away from him in the opposite direction !!! Comical stuff, but sad to watch for ANKARAGUCU supporters !

The 2nd half was more of the same. Lots of negative footie on show with lots of passes going astray. Bloody awful actually ! The only moment of note was when Ceyhun beat 3 men and was bearing down on goal when he `fell down` claiming a penalty. He received a yellow card for his troubles instead of at least trying to score a bloody goal !

The new ANKARAGUCU striker from Erciyes, Agali `the beanpole`, nodded a few balls down, but, surprise surprise, there was nobody there to put the ball away ! Srebrenko Posavec had another quiet match and was substituted half way through the 2nd half. Once again it was left to Ceyhun to try and win the match on his own. Mr Karaman has much work to do this week in preparation for the visit to Besiktas next weekend.

Not a happy story I'm afraid, but we at least were able to drown our sorrows back at The Chopin before being kicked out at closing time !!!

All the best from frustrated Eski Kanka Jim

Oops, stuffed up, just like Gencler

Somehow or other I wrote an extremely long post on Gencler's 5-0 loss to to Manisa. Unfortunately it seems to have been lost in cyberspace.

So here is the short version.

Cavcav doesn't employ enough people on gates: therefore we didn't get in until 20 minutes after kick-off

Gencler were crap. Half-time 1-0 in favour of Manisa

Gencler start to play well and then...

Referee decides to go for the "idiot of the year" award. One of our players is sent off.

Manisa go 2-0 up.

Abdullah Yilmaz decides that one stupid red card is not enough and so gives us another. Thanks for destroying the game... wanker

3-0
4-0
5-0

Match over and as if the referee wasn't enough the riot police decide to have a go as well. There were six cops around one of our lot and the cops clearly decided he needed a good batton to the head. Thanks for such European policing.

EDIT: Sunday afternoon. Just been reading some stuff from a Gencler forum and discovered that Ilhan Cavcav's supporters came into our section (where no one likes Cavcav) and started the fight that led to the police intervening to beat some of our lot up. Mmmmm.

SOUTH AMERICAN FOOTIE UPDATE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I'm sure you are all `straining at the leash` and wondering what is happening `across the Pond` ?!

No change in Brasil with Sao Paula still out in front after Week 23. Internacional, Santos and Gremio are only 4 points behind, so still all to play for there.

In Argentina we have a change at the top. Boca Juniors are the new leaders after Week 6 with Independiente, River Plate and San Lorenzo only 2 points behind.

To our visiting kanka to this blog in Brasil who supports Flamengo, we say don't give up yet. Being 6th bottom is not quite as `nail biting` as ANKARAGUCU being 3rd bottom !!!

Keep watching this space for further updates as the season progresses.

All the best from your South American correspondent, Eski Kanka Jim

Sensible ideas

When you think of all the great things of Turkey, topics such as workers' rights and the general state of the health system don't normally spring to mind.

It is thus with absolutely no surprise that I read on a web forum that Denizlispor players have been ordered not to catch a cold this year.

According to the story, Denizlispor General Manager Can Cobanoglu has told the players they must take care.

"We have important matches. Our footballers must look after themselves. For this reason we took the decision that any players who get ill will have to pay a fine of 2,000 TL (1,073 euros)," Cobanoglu is quoted as saying.

Here, here!

But surely this isn't going far enough. There should also be other fines and perhaps we should expand this system to the entire population.

Leaving the house with slightly wet hair: 1,500 TL
Opening a window on a smelly bus: 1,000 TL
Having children who catch a cold: 500 TL
Sneezing: 250 TL

We could possibly wipe out all forms of the flu. At least until those damn birds figure out how to drive us to extinction.

True footy fans

Is that Sir Eski Kanka Jim in the middle? I nicked this from a Turkish language site called tribundergi

Weekend plans

Two home matches this weekend and as far as I can tell they will be the last night matches for the year (except for when we play the big teams).

Friday: Genclerbirligi versus Manisaspor. 8 p.m. kick-off. Meet at Chopin at 5 p.m.
Saturday: Ankaragucu versus Denizlispor. 8 p.m. kick-off. Meet at Chopin at 5 p.m.

I wonder if Ankaragucu will have a coach by then?

See you there

Dundee Utd 0-=3 Hibernian

Hibs managed their first away win in 15 matches on Sunday thanks to three second half goals by Killen, Shiels and Sproule. Hibs started the game in positive manner however they could not manage to keep it up and the first half degenerated into a series of mistakes and poor shots from both teams.

The second half was a lot better and Killen was first to a long ball over the top to crash an 18 yard effort beyond the keeper. This goal settled Hibs and made United come out in search of an equaliser, to be fair to United they had a couple of chances but the Hibs keeper and defence stood firm. Hibs were creating their own chances as well with Benji the main culprit even though he created space well for a couple of shots. The second goal came around 80 minutes from Shiels lobbing the keeper from 8 yards after Benji had fired in a good shot, it was a great finish from Shiels and hopefully shows Mowbray why he should start more games rather than from the subs bench. By this time United were being torn apart and the third came from Sproule cleverly finding space in the box to collect a good pass from Shiels before smashing it past the United keeper.

Next up for Hibs is Rangers at Easter Road on Sunday 17th September. A win for Hibs will pull them up into the chasing pack and set us up for a couple more home games.

The other SPL results were as follows:
Hearts 0-1 St Mirren
Rangers 4-0 Falkirk
Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic
Dunfermline 3-2 Kilmarnock
Motherwell 1-4 Inverness

Hibbee Kanka

Bozinosky sacked (not quite actually)

STOP PRESS
Coach Bozinoski sacked by Ankaragucu. We never did get that interview. More soon.

Edit: Perhaps I should clarify that and say that he handed in his resignation and the club accepted it.

2nd Edit: According to a written statement released by the club this afternoon, Aussie Vlado Bozinoski offered to resign after the weekend away draw with Gaziantep.

The statement says the board will now look into finding a "top class" replacement while the Anatolian news agency reports that Riza Calimbay and Hikmet Karaman are obvious candidates.

HIBERNIAN LADIES POWER ONWARDS

Greetings Kankas, especially Kankies,

Hibernian Ladies continued in their winning ways at the weekend with a 4-1 win against Edinburgh City Ladies.

A weakened Hibernian Ladies team, without several key players through injury and holidays, went a goal behind early on. However, with the Hibernian Ladies coming more into the match, they were awarded a penalty when one of the girl’s was through one on one with only the goalkeeper to beat but was hauled back by a defender. The defender was sent off and the penalty was duly despatched.

Hibernian Ladies then took control of the match and went in at half time 3-1 up. The final goal in the 2nd half by Kim Little was her 2nd hat-trick of the season. Perhaps a hat-trick record up for grabs this season for Kim ?

Watch this space for more Ladies footie news as the season progresses.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

THE TREND SETTERS

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I opened the Hurriyet and saw the headline `ANKARA`DA MISKET HAVASI`. There was a photograph of Jaba of Brasil who plays for `the other Ankara team` doing `his version` of the Ankara Misket after scoring a goal against Rize last weekend.

Obviously news travels fast in this great city and even the players have decided to copy the antics of Oz Kanka and yours truly.

A word of caution though for Mr Jaba. I noticed that his arms were not at the correct angle when his knees were bent. Don't get me wrong. All credit to him for attempting this difficult dance, but I feel he is in need of some professional instruction from the trend setters of Gecikondu !!

If you come to the matches on Friday and Saturday you might have a free demonstration from Ankara's two dancing kings !!

By the way, on the subject of footie, I don't want to frighten the Gencler contingent, but, you should know that Friday's opponents, Manisa, are still undefeated in the league and are firing on all cylinders.

The only other undefeated team is CimBom - the draw specialists !!!

All the best from twinkle toes, Eski Kanka Jim

I knew Hillary forgot something

Sir Eski Kanka Jim has recently been talking about how the British exported the round ball game to various places around the world, South America in particular.

It is in the spirit of this style of colonialism that one of our Bilkent mates Robbie (no Kanka name yet as far as I can remember even though he has been to heaps of Ankaragucu games) has been travelling around Turkey.

As you can see from the photo he has claimed the mountain of Hasan Dağ (3,268 metres), near Cappadocia, for Ankaragucu. Quite an effort and one which we must applaud.

Robbie has promised to "claim" more peaks for Ankaragucu in the future and we look forward to further evidence. Perhaps next time he shouldn't just carry an Ankaragucu flag but climb the mountain in full Ankaragucu kit.

Anyone up for claiming Mt. Ararat for Gencler?

ANKARAGUCU - A FORTUNATE POINT

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Disappointment all round from Gaziantep last night where ANKARAGUCU fought out a 2-2 draw.

However, on reflection, I suppose I should not be too disappointed when you consider that Antep played the match for 77 minutes with 10 men, AND, were leading 2-1 with the referee's whistle in his mouth poised to blow for full time.

Then........... surprise surprise....... ANKARAGUCU's first penalty for (can't remember that far back !!!) which Tita took and equalised !

The good news (if there is any) is that ANKARAGUCU moved up one place and are now 3rd bottom of the league tied with Antalya.

Looking forward to next Saturday, the match with bottom club Denizli now takes on the mantle of a 6 pointer. Please please Mr Bosinowski, if you read this blog, send out an ATTACKING team to do the biz !!!

In the other match last night, Trabzon beat Besiktas 3-2 in Istanbul. Their new striker from `the other Ankara team` Ersin Martin did the damage.

I wonder if we are about to see another `Augustine Syndrome` developing in Trabzon ? Umut Bulut didn't play last night and it may be that he is to spend the rest of the season on the bench. Let's bring him back to ANKARAGUCU before it is too late !!!

Mr Bosinowski, are you listening ???

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Lucky it was an away match

Kayserispor 0 - Genclerbirligi 0

No live football for us to go to this weekend, only a certain other Ankara team playing in the capital, and so we have to rely on the good people from the Anatolian news agency for news of Gencler's away draw on Saturday night.

Having read the report though there isn't much to say. It appears that Gencler had two shots all match, and one of those was wide.

Kayserispor appeared to have quite a few more chances but they all came to nothing.

It could have all been different if the referee had given a penalty to Kayserispor in the 21st minute but the appeal was turned down. Anatolian doesn't say if it was the right decision but I assume it was as the ref was given three stars out of three for his performance.

It also isn't clear whether we were playing for the draw or for a win. Considering that Kayserspor are a pretty tough team, finished above us in the league last season and are still in the UEFA Cup I'd say an away draw is a pretty good result.

So after five weeks we have had two away draws, one away win, one home loss (to Fenerbahce) and one home win. Not so bad. but we are now four points behind League leaders Fener who beat up Antalyaspor last night.

Fingers crossed for Ankaragucu later today when they take on Gaziantepspor down in the southeast.

`DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA`

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

As a follow-up to my blog yesterday `THE SOUTH AMERICAN QUESTION – ARGENTINA AND BRASIL WHERE ARE YOU ?` I think I didn’t do Argentina justice by omitting some up-to-date information about their league.

At the moment, there are 5 famous clubs in the Top 6 positions, and these names just roll off the tongue to footie fanatiks, eg,

Boca Juniors, Independiente, River Plate, Estudiantes and Racing Club.

Granted, the league is only 5 weeks old, as opposed to Brasil (Brasil is spelt with an SSSSSS for Oz Kanka’s education !!!) which is in its 22nd week.

Notwithstanding, I’m sure all those famous clubs from both countries will be in there at the end fighting it out for the silverware. Perhaps our visitors to the blog from South America will keep us updated ???

One last snipit. You will recall that I mentioned in my previous blog that the British Expats introduced footie to Argentina and assisted them to set-up their league. Well, would you believe that there is a team called ARSENAL sitting in 10th position in the league ??!!

Hey, that would make a good footie quiz question if Mr Rob Dix reads this blog !!!

All the best from South American Footie Lover, Eski Kanka Jim

Another Turkish acheivement

Looks like some journo from the sports department of Radikal newspaper has also been googling around in a desperate search for a story.

The record breaking 13-0 victory of Germany over San Marino the other day was refereed by Selcuk Dereli

The previous European record was when Spain beat up Malta back in 1983 to the tune of 12 goals to 1. That man with the whistle for that match was a fellow named Erkan Goksal.

The headline for Radikal's story?

"When Turks are in charge records are broken! "

Another English-language footy blog

I was googling around this evening and came across a site called SUPER-LIG.COM (Like Sir Eski Kanka the fellow obviously likes capital letters in titles). The site has various bits of info about the league and it appears that the "founder and manager" of the site, Daniel Perera, is a Fenerbahce fan.

I checked out a few pages here and there and then clicked on the "About me" link. It was at that stage I was blown away by this little fact Mr. Perera put on the page:

Date of Birth: 4th February 1994

That makes Daniel quite a bit younger than most people who comment or write for this blog.

Daniel has been living in Izmir since he was five-months-old and is interested in computer games (like me), music (like me) and he goes off to football training on weekends (sort of like me, except that I go to the pub... er, sorry... matches). So all up he sounds like a top bloke.

In his description of himself he talks about how he really liked his old school but, without listening to his own thoughts on the subject, his parents yanked him out of there and sent him off to another school. Parents can be annoying sometimes.

Anyway, for some reason the link to his guestbook doesn't work but he does have a forum on the site (on the left hand side of the home page). I've left a message there and I'd urge all you lot to do so also. We have to encourage English-language footy sites, even if Daniel is a Fener supporter.

This is a direct link to the forum.

Another Brazilian angle

We have our first coaching casualty of the season with the Trabzon board sacking Brazilian (Brazil has a "zed" in it Sir Eski) Sebastiao Lazaroni at lunchtime on Thursday.

Trabzonspor have four points from their first four matches and are sitting in 11th place. The papers have been predicting his sacking from the very first match and thus the news today doesn't surprise.

What does surprise me is the timing. Why wait until now? We have just had an international fixtures break and the board should have sacked and replaced him straight after the last match, not almost two weeks later.

Ziya Dogan, the fool who didn't want Josip Skoko at Genclerbirligi and who was subsequently sacked around about this time last year, has been appointed the new Trabzon coach.

With Lazaroni gone the question is who will be next?

THE SOUTH AMERICAN QUESTION - WHERE ARE YOU ARGENTINA AND BRASIL ?

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Further to Oz Kanka's recent blog `DOES ANYONE READ THIS BLOG`, I thought it was time to open up some conversation on the subject of South American footie. I can't believe that there is a `disconnect` between our continents. After all, if you check your history books you can discover that it was the British Expats who took footie to Argentina many moons ago and some of the teams there still have their original English names.

As I see it, most Europeans don't follow league footie in South America and only get excited when their particular country is playing a South American International team. Is it the distance factor or perhaps a lack of reporting by the sports press which is the problem ?

Looking at the statistics of South American footie one can't help being impressed. It is true that South America and Europe have held their own in all the World Cups since its inception in 1930 with honours about even. Of course we all know that there have only been 3 winners from South American, ie, Uruguay, Brasil and Argentina, and you don't need me to expand on the successes of Brasil.

However, if we look at the statistics in the World Club Championship a different picture emerges. The South Americans are ahead in this competition and they have taken the scalp of some of the giants of Euro footie, eg, AC Milan, Benfica, Liverpool, etc.

Penarol of Uruguay have won it 5 times and Independiente of Argentina have won it 6 times. Other successful teams which have won it a few times include Estudiantes of Argentina, Sao Paulo and Santos of Brasil.

It is interesting to note that as of today, Sao Paulo are sitting at the top of the Brasilian League with Santos tucked in behind in 2nd place !

I don't know what we can do to remedy the situation of apparent lack of contact between the two continents, but if this blog can help bridge the gap then so much the better.

Calling South America ! Let's hear from you !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Posavec to stay at Ankaragucu

Looks like Ankaragucu and Croatia have not parted company just yet. Hurriyet today ran a slightly confusing article (probably that is because of my Turkish skills but with Hurriyet you never know) that Srebenko Posavec is staying.

I'm not really sure of the deatils but it has something to do with a planned transfer of a fellow called Serge Die from Erciyesspor collapsing.

Posavec didn't get to play all that much in Ankaragucu's first couple of matches and news that he was leaving the club was reported by Sir Eski Kanka here on August 31.

The question now is whether Ankaragucu coach Bozinoski will give him another go. That's a question Sir Eski Kanka and myself will no doubt ask if we ever get an interview with the bloke. Fingers crossed we will have more news on that soon.

PUTTING SOMETHING BACK

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Reading Oz Kanka's blog on Muzzy Izzet (The End is Near) a few weeks ago (also my comment on that particular blog) inspired me to write this blog on the subject of `Putting Something Back`.

A few years ago when I was 29 (I'm not telling how many years ago !!!), I was part of the footie squad of my Air Base at Thorney Island (near Portsmouth) when we won the Watney's Red Barrel (a great Ingallish beer from yesteryear !!) Cup by beating the Royal Navy team of HMS Daedalus at one of the Stadium's in Portsmouth (not Fortress Fratton !!).

That match was to be my last `competative` match because a few months later in pre-season training I broke 4 metatarsals in my right foot. After 6 weeks in plaster I was then posted to a small Air Base at Abingdon in Berkshire.

It was there that I met an old friend from Air Force Academy days who was a footie referee. He convinced me that I was `over the hill` at 30 and that I should consider putting something back into the sport which I loved so much.

My friend, Keith Powell, was a very persistent and persuasive man, and whilst I was still in crepe bandages, he finally wore my resistance down to take the Referees Course.

It wasn't until I had been a Linesman for him a few times in the North Berkshire League that I finally understood where he was coming from. His argument was that although he loved footie, he was hopeless as a player, and so that is why he decided to become a referee. I may also add, that although he was only 1 or 2 years older than me, I learned so much about footie from him. For example, I learned that my ego and my knowledge of the game were not equal !!!

We both refereed in the North Berkshire League, The Rothmans Hellenic League, The `old` Southern League (now part of the Conferance) and The Midland Area of the Professional Teams Youth League, and I began to take pride in what I was doing.

However, I think my most humbling experience was when I was asked to referee a North Berks Division 4 match on one of my few weekends off. The minor leagues never had enough referees to go round all divisions and this particular team hadn't had a referee for about 5 or 6 weeks !

The Referees Secretary didn't have a difficult job convincing me to officiate and so off I went into the Berkshire countryside to find this village team. This particular match sticks in my mind because I have never had such a VIP welcome and reception in all my refereeing travels. All 22 players shook my hand after the match and they insisted on my joining them for post-match refreshments. It was then as a lowly Class 3 referee that I understood the message Keith had been trying to pass on to me !

In later years when I was a Class 1 referee and officiating in senior leagues and the going was tough at times, I reflected on my North Berks days and took strength from that experience.

Of course, it is not easy sometimes to be judge, jury and executioner, but just try playing a footie match without a referee and the match will degenerate into chaos !

Putting something back into the game was something special for me and I like to think that my `little bit` was useful to all the leagues and players in which I officiated. Anyone with a love of footie can contribute as a referee, coach, trainer or administrator. ALL the cogs of a wheel are important !

Of course, this concept doesn't only apply to footie. If you have a skill, then use it to help others. Find the time, and `PUT SOMETHING BACK` !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

WELCOME TO ANKARA.......NORDIC KANKA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I am sure you will all be relieved to know that the Kanka `Committee` met last night in the Red Lion Club during the Scotland v Faroe Islands footie match (Scotland won of course ..... only 6-0 !!!) and after much discussion and knashing of teeth and lottsa EFES, made their decision for ............ NORDIC KANKA. Congratulations Nordic Kanka and welcome to the kanka fraternity of Ankara !

By the way, you will also be interested to know that we didn't stay to watch the Ingallind v Andorra match !!!

We have always prided ourselves on the fact that we are a `committee` and make decisions together. We are not a dictatorship like that country which lies between Holland and the Yoo Ess of Ai which is controlled by a Scottish dictator whose first name begins with T and second name begins with B !!!

Look forward to seeing you on 15 and 16 September Nordic Kanka !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Does anyone read this blog?

As one of the writers on this blog I'm always interested to see just how many people check us out. I have to admit this blog isn't exactly breaking any world records but I am pleased to see that we get a pretty good "return rate" ie people who who visit the blog each day.

For those who want to know the stats, our return rate is about 15 per day (ie. about 15 people who have seen the blog return each day). The other 20 people who on average somehow get to our blog usually find us through Google. In the last few days the most popular way of finding us seems to be versions of the Ankaragucu coach Vlado Bozinoski.

Looking at the poorly reproduced graph above, you can see that we have slowly moved from practically no one reading us to someone practically reading us.

We have had a few spikes, especially during the Zidane scandal when we had more than 250 visitors, but that was an aberration.

But that is not what I want to talk about. What I want to know is why no one from South America has checked out the blog?

Have a look at the map thing on the right hand side of the page (underneath the archives section) to see just how global this blog is.

Plenty of American Turks accidently thinking we are supporting Galatasaray, plenty of English mates of ours and there are, of course, all of us Ankara people, oh, and I can't forget Zagreb Kanka giving the Croatia count a good boost.

But where is South America? Where is Africa? Not much from Asia either. I have no bloody idea where they are. Ignorant fools, the lot of them.