You would be crying, if you weren't laughing. Actually, it is probably the other way around.
What the hell is happening at Ankaragucu? In the last two days we have had the coach and players showing up to training sessions that were apparently cancelled by the management. We have had Bebbe and Vassell kicked out of their hotel rooms at the Crowne Plaza after the club reportedly failed to pay. Now we have reports that Karaman has been sacked.
Actually, it is a bit more than that... Karaman has been sacked by Little Gokcek.
Speaking to the press this afternoon, Little Gokcek says he is after Hagi. A man who has done nothing.
Bloody sad stuff but all predicted here by at least some of us at "The round ball in Ankara". Mess with them Gokcek's at your own peril. This isn't about politics, it is about competence.
In the meantime though. Enjoy the fun and games of Darius Vassell's website. http://www.vassell.net/Darius/Welcome.html
Having been kicked out of the Crown Plaza, Vassell has been inundated with offers to take up the couch at various Gucu houses. (please note that Eski Kanka would have offered a place to stay but the Dragon wasn't really that enthusiastic)
Unfortunately we have parted company with our coach this week. It is always a bad situation to say goodbye but we can now look forward to a new beginning and continue to push this team in the right direction... (I'm sure Hikmet shares those sentiments - Oz Kanka) I personally thank him for his efforts and hard work and wish him the best of luck in his future..
Alot of questions have been asked to me recently about me leaving my hotel and unfortunately i dont have any answers i have been honest and forthcoming about everything and i will make the necessary steps to resolve my problems. Ankaragucu fans have offered me their help and support via email and i really appreciate their offers but i have found refuge in another hotel for the time being.
Ankaragucu kankas! Time to start voicing your opinion. Was Karaman a bucket of lard? Is Gokcek still the messiah? Do you have a spare room? Are you all fucking mad?
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Karaman was dealt an impossible task this season. Wikipedia indicates that there are currently thirteen Anakraspor player on loan to Ankaragücü. Yes, thirteen! It's unreasonable to expect the man to mold a coherent squad with a revolving door of bodies. So while the talent on the pitch is better than what we had in the past, we've still been witnessing the typical medicore play of past years. And yes, the Göçeks deserve blame. I've made no secret of my willingness to sleep with the devil in exchange for some success, but not even I can tollerate this brand of managerial incompetence. I'll put aside corruption, religion and politics as long as you deliver the goods!
ReplyDeleteIf you read the messages from the post regarding Vassell's troubles at the hotel, you'll see that Nadeem gets "it", but why can't all these fnnn idiots who support itsy bitsy Gokcek get it?
ReplyDeleteAnkaragucu fans are well known for demanding loyalty from those who play for the team, but the odor of hypocrisy is wafting through the air in Ankara these days. Where is their loyalty to a man who saved our asses last season and kept us in the Super Lig? Where is the loyalty to a man who was able to beat GS soundly? If you go back and read El Yasa's comments after the GS match, he makes it very clear that it was Hikmet Bey who was responsible for that win.
If Ahmet had given Hikmet Bey free rein, who knows where we'd be now.
If Ankaragucu fans and management don't show loyalty to their players and coaches, they shouldn't expect the players and coaches to show it to them.
Hikmet Bey, thanks for all your hard work. Many of us here at the blog truly appreciate what you did for the team. Best of luck in the future.
Maybe Marge Schott is looking to own a new team.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, this experiment has gone down the tubes. This guy has no idea how to run an organization.
A Marge Schott-Ahmet Gokcek team could make for a great reality TV show...We need to pitch this to TRT.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteto be honest , i think hikmet's mission in ankara had been already over.it's as obvious as a cyrstal ball that hikmet isn't such a man to bear the weight of a family that celebrates his 100th year and holds their expectations about future at very high levels.besides,if you add the current administrative turmoil that our team has been through,we can't seriously expect hikmet to overcome all these stuff and fix the manner in which players do their job.
ReplyDeleteanother point i wanna emphasize is : some people claim that the only reason of awful game in last 3-4 weeks is merely the swollen line-up of ankaragücü.yeah i agree that it requires a durable patience and finesse to handle a 37-people team and determine the best among them.but isn't it apparent hikmet extremely fell short to do this task,he couldn't directed the players in a tolerable way.remember kasımpaşa match , barbaros had started the game at the left wing!!what a silly choice!!barbaros is a central defensive midfielder definetely,what the hell happened to aydın,özgür,murat and emre?another instance : at the same match hikmet made adem koçak right winger of ankaragücü whereas he is a play-maker in the middle of the opponent's half-field.he endured meye for incredibly 90 minutes even if meye didn't do any extra action or show ambition to grab the ball and create danger.i can count many examples like these that hikmet sparked in kayseri , inönü , antalya , bursa etc...
and if you follow the sport media in turkey and whats going on behind the curtains , everbody aware of that gökçek family and hikmet karaman don't wanna even inhale in the same place!they hate each other truly , it's not a suprise that such a technical-guy crises outbroke.it would be ocuured anyway.a noticable majority of the supporters don't trust to see hikmet in charge of their team as well..
to sum this long post all up ; hikmet wasn't the man we sought for being ''the nightmare of istanbul teams''.i appreciate him for his efforts last season to keep us within super league and amazing g.saray triumph.but it's the time to think rationally and seek what can we do for our love's sake...come on!
I think the bottom line is that most of us are in a quandary as to what to think of this situation which has been ongoing since summer.
ReplyDeleteThe Gokceks have been taking over Ankaragucu by stealth and the pace is now quickening. It is bloody obvious that I. Melih is pulling the strings and Ahmet is doing the dirty business.
I've nothing against the Ankaraspor players who have come in (Steve says it is 13) but the Coach must be the man to decide who plays and who doesn't. Obviously that is not happening and so the outcome is equally obvious.
On a personal note, I have always appreciated Hikmet Bey's involvement in the Club. I have always preferred Track Suit Coaches as opposed to Savill Row suited managers and Hikmet Bey certainly filled that role well.
He also interfaced well with the players as El-Yasa's comments bear out and that is another important facet of being a coach.
My memories of him will always be of him leaping off his seat in the dug-out and screaming at the players to do this or that. That is proof of being ...... full-on !
However, we the supporters, don't run the Club from our armchairs or our seat in the Stadium and we have to accept the ruling of the Chairman whether we like it or not.
The jury is still out on Ahmet Bey and we will have to wait and see what transpires over the next few days.
On another personal note, I am going to be spitting fire if Ceyhun, Bebbe and Vassell are forced out of the Club. They are the key players for our success this season as far as I'm concerned.
Are we going to have a Happy Centenery Birthday Year or ........ ???
Keep watching this space is the answer !
Impatient teams don't win championships. Simple as that.
ReplyDeletel_f_celine,
ReplyDeleteI am going to going to call it the way I see it. If I come across harsh, I am sorry, but I think you are off base on just about everything. Here are a few of the points you make that I think are particularly weak.
1. "it's as obvious as a cyrstal ball that hikmet isn't such a man to bear the weight of a family that celebrates his 100th year"
He got us to our fnnn 100th year. We wouldn't even be in the Super Lig in our centenary year if it weren't for him.
You say you are appreciative. I don't hear any evidence of that appreciation. I think you are being ungrateful. A coach doesn't become stupid between seasons. Obviously he has been facing bigger obstacles than a bloated team.
2."besides,if you add the current administrative turmoil that our team has been through,we can't seriously expect hikmet to overcome all these stuff and fix the manner in which players do their job."
Actually, I agree with this to a certain extent, but as Hikmet Bey is not the one who created the turmoil, why blame him, why make him the scapegoat? Ahmet just can't take responsibility for his own lack of competence. Who the hell is he? Hikmet Bey has proven himself to some extent. What the hell has Ahmet done--other than grow up with probably the biggest thief and hypocrite in all of Turkey?
Oh wait, I remember, he has allowed the team bus and a service vehicle be repossessed and has allowed Bebbe and Vassell get thrown out of their hotel. Great for moral.
3. "isn't it apparent hikmet extremely fell short to do this task"
No, it is not apparent. We know he was not given free rein with the team, so we don't really know which decisions were his and which were the meddling bastard's.
In the Kasımpasa match the one thing I do know is that the team looked to be lacking drive and determination. I noticed this with Ankaragucu long before Hikmet Bey came into the picture:
Ankaragucu often turns it on for the big teams but then gets lazy with the weaker teams. They have on a number of occiasions paid the price. This was one of those occasions.
4."everbody aware of that gökçek family and hikmet karaman don't wanna even inhale in the same place!they hate each other truly"
This just makes me love Hikmet Bey more.
5. "a noticable majority of the supporters don't trust to see hikmet in charge of their team as well"
And they trust the Gokceks? This is what I mentioned in my previous post. They have no loyalty to those who have saved them from dropping a division. Those fans are hypocrites one and all.
6."it's the time to think rationally"
No, it was time to think rationally BEFORE firing Hikmet Bey. Like Ahmet might have nailed down a replacement coach BEFORE getting rid of the one he had. Now, we go to Eskisehir in even more turmoil.
As for Hagi, if we do get him, I don't see the relationship lasting long. Ahmet clearly meddles in coaching decisions, and let's not forget that Hagi resigned from Steaua Bucuresti, according to wikipedia, "due to a long series of conflicts with the team's owner Gigi Becali.... The main reason for resigning was the owner's policy of imposing players, making the team's strategy and threats.
Sounds like a marriage made in heaven.
PS I will be fuming if any of the players Jim mentioned are forced out, but I will also add Serkan to the list. He is clearly a better goalkeeper than Senecky and he, Hikmet Bey, and Ceyhun are the three biggest reasons we are still in the Super Lig for our centenary year.
Mr. Levitt and Mr. Bartus ;-),
ReplyDeleteWay to call it. Marge Schott and Ahmet deserve each other.
norwegian manager trond sollied will be the new manager. he likes to play attacking football
ReplyDeletenadeem
Thanks for the Heads-Up Nadeem.
ReplyDeleteIf it is confirmed, we seem to have ourselves an experienced coach who has been around a bit.
As a player he won 15 caps for the Norwegian International team.
As a coach/manager he has been involved with some big teams, ie,
Heerenveen (Holland), Rosenborg (Norway), Gent and Brugge (Belgium) and Olympiakos of Greece.
His preferred team formation is 4-3-3 (that should please Eski I can hear Battle Damaged saying !!) and he likes to have a powerful striker up front. Well, Vassell and Meye certainly fit that profile !
So, let's see if this happens and, more importantly, if Ceyhun, Vassell and Bebbe are staying to work with him.
Thanks for the info. Nadeem.
ReplyDeleteIf Ahmet doesn't interfere, Trond Sollied sounds like he could very well be a good choice to turn things around, but it is a big "if". Hopefully, he won't get kicked out of his hotel room.
If we look the table attached we can easily understand what Hikmet Karaman did in the past 12 weeks.The discussions and comments about him is only a loss of time.And I am sure that he is extremely happy because of this kick out as he will earn 1.5 million $ as per his contract.
ReplyDeletePlease dont cry for this showman.
He is a real professional and knows well how to earn.
And all the Gucu supporters should support the new management and be sure that next year everything will be better than ever.
There is a lot of evidences that there is a systematic transformation including all the disciplines of the club.
Be patient .
The light has already been seen at the end of the tunnel.
volkan
hi guys, I was speaking to Darius Vassell last night online. I just want to pass on some of the info he gave me.
ReplyDeleteHe said he doesnt know if he will be here much longer but hopes he does and that the Ankaragucu support need to be patient and get behind the club as the people at the top are trying to do something good with the club.
nadeem
@battle damaged kanka
ReplyDeletewhat can i say more...i am damn straight about my opinions in respect of hikmet.his tachnical-strategic capability is very insufficient to manage a ''struggling to top ranks'' team.just look at his substitution decisions and player preferences then you will make some points much more clear i hope...i wanna give you the example of fatih terim.this guy made g.saray experiencing their most glorious days ever:a uefa cup.but after 2 years he took over the management of g.saray anew after he was sacked from a.c. milan but he screwed the team up so fiercely that the board had to fire him.hence what i wanna conlude from this instance : they never thought ''fatih saved our asses many times in european matches and brought us the brilliance we cant even imagine in dreams'' , they just thought RATIONALLY and decided to put an end to their team's bad-going cus they had to do it!hikmet contributed us to stay within super league last season, yeah i APPRECIATE ,but this does not grant him the right to start matches with meaningless line-ups and win just 3 match among 12!!!if he is unsuccessful then he is unsuccesfull,there is no place to be ''over-emotional''.if he cant make the team well enough to satisfy admirers' expectations, then you have to leave your way from him and then go ahead...okay,its true that the treatment ahmet and his troop did to force hikmet to leave club was not acceptable,they could do it in a much tolerable way cus there is such a concept that ''sport ethics'' and ''human rights''.they hurted the whole team with the acts they did against hikmet within last 3-4 days.i oppose them in terms of this plot but once you try to defemd the managerial and technical abilities of hikmet to run a chaotic team,i will object to this statement harsly.maybe i am not a top-manager in the european rank but i don't want a guy who makes a right-back sweeper and turns an attacking-midlefielder into a striker.he cant insist on metin and ilkem just for his intimate relations with these 2 players ,if they are messing the team's plans up then its time to put them back for a long long while,check out kayserispor match and what hikmet's ''favoured'' players did,and look at what mehmet çakır and emre -men who exposed hikmet's irrelevant doggedness- did after they became inside of the game...hikmet has been doing this professions for more than a decade through many many different teams but you cant observe any player that hikmet discovered,refined and then rendered to world football cus he doesnt carry such dexterity to turn a potentially gifted young boy into a more developed one.ıf you target to be champion in this league,then you gotta do structural changes and the manager like hikmet is by far inappropriate to apply these sort of implications.i guess this is APPARENT!!!
i know the post went too long,excuse me, but i dont want to be called as ''thankless-ignorant-pathetic a.gücü supporter'' , i just want to see my team in better situations since i love them passionately.i consider my gücü's sake and want the best to come over us.
take care...
l_f_celine
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree what you have written above.
There is no way for Ankaragücü to continue with such a technical manager who has the same technical capability and vision with Hikmet Karaman.
I am sure that Karaman has never understood what was going on , what he had to do before, during and after any match.(Please refer to the substitutions during his reign in any match )
Volkan
The argument about Fatih is moot. He had two long tenures at Cimbom: 2 years and 4 years. Hikmet had less than a year. All of this instability is bad for the team. We have had like 4 coaches in the last year! That is ridiculous! You can not bandage the major problems of a team over and over again by scapegoating the coach. Hikmet bey was someone who showed himself to have great potential which now will not be fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteVolkan and l_f_celine,
ReplyDeleteBy the way, when are we going to get to meet you guys?!
It's obvious that we all love Ankaragucu, and want what is best for the team. And, of course, Volkan is right that we are wasting our time discussing the Hikmet Bey scandal to the extent that what is done is done, and none of us here has the power to change anything.
Having said that though, I am going to waste a bit more time, and say that Jamie is right and the comparison with Fatih Terim doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
You say, 'they never thought ''fatih saved our asses many times in european matches and brought us the brilliance we cant even imagine in dreams'' '
I am sorry, but this was just a stupid thing to say. Why is it stupid? Because Fatih never saved AC Milan's ass. He was hired in the summer of 2001 and let go that same year. That's why.
Agree with Battle Damaged Kanka ...... we need to meet up with Volkan and l f Celine and share our thoughts with each other.
ReplyDeleteA few of us kankas are going to Eskisehir next Sunday on the 9am Hizli Tren. If you are going, we can meet somewhere in Eskisehir before or after the match. If not, we will see you in The Chopin Bar at a future home match either before or after the match.
Nadeem, there was nothing in The Hurriyet this morning about Sollied. Do you have any further news from your 'secret' sources ??!!
In any case, in the words of Fatih Terim, "I don't want to see the back, I want to see the front."
ReplyDeleteI intend to give the man who by all accounts appears to be our new coach Trond Sollied a very enthusiastic welcome in Eskisehir.
l_f_Celine and Volkan, are you guys going to be there? If so, hope to finally meet you.
Eski,
ReplyDeleteHere you go.
http://www.posta.com.tr/spor/HaberDetay/Ankaragucu_Sollied_le_anlasti.htm?ArticleID=7878
http://fanatik.ekolay.net/Ve-Ankaragucu-Solliede-emanet_3_Detail_88_153067.htm
people say eskişehir's seats for visitor team's supporters are very sparse so that you gotto show ''extra effort'' to find a ticket or be in your luckiest day.so i am seriouly afraid of staying out of the stadium after the time i have spent in train and also a modest amount of money!!
ReplyDeletei am very blurred about to be at eskişehir or otherwise.not decided yet...
How's this for incentive, l_f_celine, assuming Eski's connections for the tickets are solid, your ticket into the match is on me. Tempted?
ReplyDeleteEski, how is the ticket situation going anyway?
hi jim, my source was the Gecekondu and Anti X. Gocek had a press conference and stated that Georgie Hagi and Jurgen Rober were also on the shortlist. But it looks like Sollied who was ranked 9th best coach in europe in 2006 who will get the job.
ReplyDeletenadeem
eski's connections :D i liked this relevance :D
ReplyDeleteokay battle damaged i will try to accomodate myself to match day since there's a possibility of an extensive ''evolution conferance'' at my faculty that i would gotta attend.but also i am apt to go to eskişehir so that i will push my borders if necessary!!
Have to admit that Eski's 'connections' are based on a kind and sweet Eskisehir supporter doing the biz for us. Oz Kanka will contact him and try and arrange it, but it is far from solid ........ yet !
ReplyDeleteLet's say a prayer tonight and if God is too busy to listen, then we can go to the match in neutral colours and enter at the Eskisehir end professing to be Professors from Eskisehir University !!!
Like Plan B ????