Gencler back home but back to losing

It was a return to the 19 Mayis Stadium today and my how great it was to be home... even if the seating arrangements were all muddled up.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 1 Ankaragucu

I must say it is annoying to have to write this sort of a report when there are at least five other much happier kankas sitting back waiting to pounce.

So let's start with happy things. ie Efes. Little Oz Kanka and myself showed up to the the Beer Bus, having made our way through the protest shelters of the striking Tekel workers (do any of you know how difficult it is to explain to a six year-old the ins and outs of a union protest? - For me, I just said they were fighting for because they want a job. "Why is the government against them having a job?" asked Little Oz Kanka. "Err, because... err, ah look, there's Burger King!").

At the Beer Bus were Maniac Kanka Harun, drinking water, Eski Kanka Jimbo, drinking coffee, and another fellow drinking nothing at all. Clearly the Chopin Bar next door weren't losing too much money by our decision to move bars.

Not too long later we were joined by Connect Kanka, Battle Damaged and Philly Kanka.We love you Efes, we do. We love you Efes, we do. We love you Efes we, oh Efes we love you.

Being Ankaragucu supporters they all had to leave for the match rather early and so myself, Little Oz Kanka Matthew and Ambo Kanka Peter hung around for a couple more beers (a cola for Little Oz Kanka) before we made our way.

The fun of course was to be had even before kick-off. As we drove into the stadium the Ankaragucu fans were already fighting. Not with the Gencler fans but amongst themselves. Much laughing from inside our car as we made our way in and then a long walk around the stadium for us home fans. Why the Ankaragucu lot weren't given the normal away section I have no idea.

Finally got in and lo and behold a fairly decend crowd. The pitch looked okay, but it was fairly clear it was going to cut up badly soonish.

Kick-off and Ankaragucu went for it. It was quite a tirade and it was therefore not a surprise that Gucu scored (Darius Vassel) in about the 13th minute. It was nice stuff and Gencler had no answer to the great football being played. We all the thought the goal might spark something in the gencler players and to an extent it did.

Serkan in goal for Ankaragucu made one brilliant save in the first half and was in the right position to stop a couple of other good chances.

All up though Gencler weren't converting possession into attacking opportunities. This was even more pronounced in the second half when we had perhaps 90 percent possession and bugger all shots. Having said that, as soon as Ankaragucu scored they set out their defensive lines well. They ought to be a tough nut for anyone to crack.
Little Oz Kanka, a disembodied Oz Kanka and Ambo Kanka Peter.


The pitch started to cut up badly towards the end and perhaps the field out at "The Stadium from Hell" is better at the moment. I don't care though. The one chant, started by the Ankaragucu fans and then taken up enthusiastically by us Gencler lot was "This is our home, we don't want Yenikent." The sad reality is that Gokcek has already announced that the rest of Ankaragucu's home matches this season will be played out at Yenikent. Us Gencler fans are lucky. We will be playing at the 19 Mayis. There but for the grace of God go I. (question: as an atheiest am I supposed to capitalise the diety?)

Post match and back to the Beer Bus to discuss the penalty that wasn't given to Gencler for what looked like a pretty clear hand ball in the box in the 90-something minute and the general total incompetence of the referee. On the last point at least we agreed.

So that was the view this Gencler supporter saw it. I know you Ankaragucu kankas have different views and different insights (ie what was all the fighting about?). Please add them in the comments. If anyone starts swearing at each other I reserve the full right to allow those comments to stand uncensored. Fight!

Photos soonish. Done

ANKARAGUCU - THE UNWANTED RECORD

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday .....

ANKARAGUCU 2 Antalyaspor 2

Yesterday's result means that Ankaragucu now holds the 'proud' record of most draws achieved this season. 10 draws and 8 defeats does not make for gushing superlatives !!! With 22 matches played, I'll leave you to calculate how many matches Ankaragucu has won this season !

The team line-up yesterday was -

Serkan
Geremi, Ediz, Muhammet and Cihan
Rajnoch, Hurriyet, Sapara and Rothen
Metin and Vittek

2nd half substitutes used - Bilal, Ilhan and Mehmet

Rajnoch opened the scoring for Ankaragucu in the 17th minute. Antalya equalised through Veysel on 23 minutes and then Veysel put them ahead just before half time.

God be praised ....... Ankaragucu equalised to save some blushes and (probably Lemerre's head !!!) through Muhammet with 15 minutes of the match remaining.

Now then ...... if Bebbe had been playing he would have slotted in the winner in the dying minutes yesssssssss !!!

With Ankaragucu only 2 points ahead of 3rd bottom Club Manisa, there is still going to be a long hard road to travel until they are out of the 'soapy bubble' !!

So to next week and the local derby against Gencler.

It's Gencler's 'home' match but it seems that they will be playing it as an 'away' match at the NEW Ankaragucu Stadium .... often referred to as ..... The Stadium from Hell !! Hmmmm .... me thinks that should initiate some comments from our Gencler Kankas ??!!

The match is on Sunday KO 2pm. Meeting and travel arrangements will be sent out by Oz Kanka when we have decided how we are going to get to Hell and back again !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU AND .... SO WHAT'S NEW ??

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Well ..... OK, so I (and lottsa others) were too optimistic about Ankaragucu's first win in .... well, a lot of hours, well .... make that .... weeks !

ANKARAGUCU 2 Antalyaspor 2

TWO goals from Ankaragucu should be cause for celebration, but .... in our perilous league position, that is the least of our worries !

In the first half, one up and I'm thinking .... OK, this is it ! Obviously, I didn't take my optimism pill this morning..... true !

Into the 2nd half and 1-2 down and ........ that's when I headed down to The Platin Bar to meet Maniac Kanka Harun and Battle Damaged Kanka Damon where we could at least commiserate with each other !

God be praised ....... Ankaragucu snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat in the dying minutes to at least give us a point (again !!) to cheer about !!

We tried to make plans about next weeks's Derby Match, but it became too difficult and so it will need to be decided during the week - The Stadium from Hell is proving to be more of an effin problem that we first thought !!!

Team news and scorers tomorrow night when I have more info.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS .... Eski says .... Come back Bebbe .... all is forgiven !!!

Time for Gencler to start finding the back of the net

With the introduction of the fast train between Ankara and Eskisehir (just 20 lira - 9.70 euros - for a return ticket) and the fact that we now play at The Stadium From Hell means that it is now easier to get to an away match in a city 233 kilometres away than it is to go to one of our own home games.

Spine and I made the journey and the first mistake I made was to be wearing my colours when we got off the train. Since the nasty incidents at the Eskisehir - Ankaragucu match the police now meet away fans at the train and bus them into the stadium. Luckily EsEs Kanka Onur met us at the train and managed to get us silly yabancilar out of the station and off to the pub.

A couple of 3.75 lira bottle beers later and Spine and I made the short walk to the stadium.

Spine and Oz Kanka feeling confident.

Eskisehirspor 0 - 0 Genclerbirligi

I can't really say a lot about the match thanks to the crap position they put us Gencler fans and the fact it was very very dark. Why they didn't put the lights on I have no idea. Whilst 0 - 0 may seem boring it was actually quite a decent match. Perhaps the best chance fell to Kahe who managed to hit the post in the first half.

Once again Hurşut wasn't brought on until some stage in the second half. Although he didn't do that much he certainly added a spark to our attacks. He made one big mistake though when he had a tight shot on goal when both Mustafa and another player were in excellent positions.

Oh well, 0-0 away isn't a bad result and the local papers in Eskisehir were pretty annoyed that their team had failed to get the full three points.



The Eskisehir fans know how to have fun.

Post match and we joined the small band of Gencler fans (of whom about 30 percent were women) at a cheap bar where we drank away until a tired and emotional Spine pleaded to go back to where we were staying.

Breakfast on the Pursak River, a stroll around the city and then back onto the train for the comfortable ride home.

So that's my third match I've watched in Eskisehir and I've yet to see a goal scored.

EDIT: Ooops, thanks to Ziggy the King, an Eskisehirspor supporter, for pointing out that the river is actually the Porsuk River, not the Pursak River as I stupidly called it.

GENCLERBIRLIGI CATCH THE DRAW AFFLICTION

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Genclerbirligi has now caught the Ankara virus .......

Eskisehirspor 0 Genclerbirligi 0

Oz Kanka was planning to be at the match and is probably on his way back to Ankara as I write this. He will therefore give an in-depth analysis of the match either tonight or tomorrow.

Also, as I write this, it is pissing down with rain in Ankara and so there will be no kankas at the uncovered Stadium from Hell today.

I'll post the result tonight with team news tomorrow.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - A FORTUNATE POINT

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Following on from yesterday's brief report .......

Istanbul BBS 1 ANKARAGUCU 1

Having read the short report in Hurriyet this morning it appears that Nadeem has caught the Ankaragucu affliction and is now taking optimism pills !!

The Hurriyet had nothing positive to say about the match.

When I looked at the Ankaragucu line up I had to pinch myself to make sure I was looking at the correct match report. Lottsa new faces in there who I haven't seen before.

Serkan
El-Yasa, Cihan, Rajnoch and Muhammet
Hurriyet, Rothen, Bilal and Mehmet
Sapara and Vittek

2nd half substitutes used - Umut and Ilhan

Apparently, Ankaragucu didn't threaten the Istanbul BBS goal in the first half but Iskender of Istanbul put them ahead on the half hour mark.

Ankaragucu equalised early on in the 2nd half through Vittek and then both teams played out a boring and defensively minded game.

As Nadeem said, where was our attacking full back Broggi and our main striker Vassell ??! Also, why did we sell Eski's fav striker, Bebbe, to Diyabakir ??!!

My supply of optimism pills are finished. Anyone got some extras for me for next weeks's match against Antalya on Sunday ?? Arrrrrrgh ..... KO 2pm at The Stadium from Hell !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

A home game for Gencler?

Using the excuse that Valentine's Day is only for unmarried people, I was allowed out of the house today. I have no idea what Spine's excuse was but he managed to grab his car and we made the 45 kilometre drive out to the Yenikent Stadium for today's "home" match against Kasimpasa.

Dan the Man showed up later on and said the stadium reminded him very much of Kazakhstan. For Spine, the farmers' field with the mountains in the background provided him an ocassion to repeat his, "not the baskent, but more like Tashkent" allegedly funny remark.

Anyway it was a surreal sight to see in the middle of nothing a stadium painted in the colours of Ankaragucu.
Evidence that Ankaragucu were at home last week.

A couple of thousand fans turned up for what was a lovely afternoon. The sun was out and it was extremely warm. Then everything turned to crap as the footy started.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 2 Kasimpasa

I'm going to say anything much. We controlled most of the play in the first half without showing much up front. Half-time was 0-1, a softish sort of goal from a free kick and for the second half Kahe and Hursut were brought on. Neither did a lot and our defence in the second half was pretty bad, the attack was even worse. All up it was rubbish. Many times was the comment made that we have no mid-field general. Which makes the decision to send Jedinak off to Antalya at the beginning of the season a very stupid one indeed. Kasimpasa weren't a good team but still we didn't even look like scoring. A depressing match with not a single positive point on which to base any hope for the future.
Spine and Oz Kanka enjoy a half-time fag on the "smokers' balcony" - an unfenced mess with great views the car park and the surrounding farms.

Dan the Man vowed never to come to another game of football in Turkey again as stupid mistakes were being made by both teams, and the referee.

To think we went all the way out there for this crap.
A group of Gencler fans had spent the last couple of days covering up the huge posters of the Ankaragucu players. At the end they pulled down their banners. Are they going to do this every match?

And by the way Spine, I have since discovered that the player we were told had the name Eureka is in fact called Vranjes, and the guy who replaced him towards the end was Sebahattin.

Oh, and finally. A little song for those girls left behind by their boyfriends/lovers/partners who went to the footy on St. Valentines Day.

ANKARAGUCU - YET ANOTHER DRAW, BUT ......

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Yes, another draw for Ankaragucu, but ....... a goal at last !!!

Istanbul BBS 1 ANKARAGUCU 1

Ankaragucu were 1-0 down at half time, but after 4 matches without a goal they managed to pull one back in the 2nd half. Details of the team line up and scorer tomorrow.

Not so good news from The Stadium from Hell.....

Genclerbirligi 0 Kasimpasa 2

Oz Kanka will report on that one on his return from Hell. It will also be interesting to hear if all the Ankaragucu paraphanalia around the Stadium was brought down or at least covered for the match ?!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Driven to Hell...or Home?!

Ankaragücü 0-0 Bursaspor

On Sunday afternoon, Yenikent Asaş Stadium played host the biannual love fest between Ankaragücü and Bursaspor. With 19 Mayis currently out of commission due to problems with the pitch, a fleet of municipal buses transported the loyal legions of fans across the barren Anatolian plains to what is affectionately known on this blog as "The Stadium from Hell." The result, however, was more like something from purgatory, with the sister clubs playing to yet another scoreless draw. Such has been a frustratingly common finish for Ankaragücü since the resumption of the season. Despite millions spent on the acquisition of new talent, we still can't seem to put the ball in the back of the net. Relegation remains a specter looming in the distance.


Philly Kanka and I were the only ones to brave the dreary winter weather and make the trek to Yenikent. As we approached the stadium, we noticed a distinct splash of blue and yellow against the otherwise bleak landscape. It soon became evident that "The Stadium from Hell," previously home to the much maligned Ankaraspor, has officially been rebranded for Ankaragücü. Images of our players are now perched atop the stands and the club insignia adorns the outer walls. It seems safe to say that we’ll be making a few more trips to our new home in cehennem this season.


Before the match, bedlam reigned outside the stadium. In addition to the chanting throngs of supporters, there was mass confusion about how to get tickets. The officials knew we needed them, but didn’t seem to know where they could be bought since, in true Ankaragücü fashion, all of the ticket windows were closed. Fortunately, Philly Kanka spotted a guy with a stack of about five hundred in his hand and sent me off to procure two for us. I forced my way to the front of the teeming crowd that had amassed around him and asked in my best yabancı accent, “hocam, iki tane, lütfen.” I was promptly handed the requisite tickets for free.


As the result would suggest, the match was not an exhilarating affair. The starting lineup included the new additions to the club:

Serkan
Cihan, Muhammet, Broggi
Rothen, Geremi, Rajnock Sapara, Hürriyet
Vittek, Mehmet

Adem, Kaan and Vassell came on as substitutes.

The match started with a brief spurt of energy from Ankaragücü, but quickly settled into the plodding doldrums that have too often typified our performance this season. Neither side looked particularly impressive in the first half. Although Bursaspor had a shot deflect off the post in the final seconds of stoppage time, both teams failed to generate serious scoring opportunities. The second half amounted to more of the same: a lackadaisical slog to the final whistle.


Bursaspor is a good team, deserving of their high position in the table. Their finesse on the ball highlighted the lack of cohesion and dearth of creativity amongst our players. Perhaps this is a product of so many new faces and the gaps in management, but it's very clear that Lemerre must take drastic measures to address our offensive difficulties if he hopes to keep Ankaragücü in the Super Lig.

- Connect Kanka

(I'll add Connect Kanka's photos in a tick - Oz Kanka) DONE

Besiktas smash us

Besiktas 4 - 1 Genclerbirligi

I was the sole Gencler fan at the Red Lion tonight. A dozen or so Turks were playing pool or gossiping away but I was there with my scarf on and making sure that someone in Ankara gave a damn about tonight's match.

Starting up it wasn't all that bad. We were playing attacking football. At the same time though the best chance in the beginning fell to Besiktas but our keeper Serdar came out and managed to somehow stop a lobbed shot at goal.

Gencler were on the attack and then the barman told me that the others at the bar wanted music, not footaball commentary. This was 8:22 pm. I had already during the day got the go ahead that the match would be on and then they threaten me with the typical middle-of-the-road so-called rock/pop 1980s music that has sent me mad at every RLC night since... er the 1980s.

If it is one thing you can rely upon at the RLC. The music shall not be innovative, or even slightly hip for that matter.

Having got rid of that annoying disturbance, Besiktas then pissed me off even further with a lovely worked out goal.

Thomas Doll, in his Michelin suit yet again, was not a happy fellow. Neither was I.

I was still laughing though as by this time Kahe was playing with a tea cosy on his head. In about the 10th he went down and apparently ripped his eyebrow.

So half-time and Besiktas were ahead... although morally we were about evens.

Spine came and joined me at the break and things at the beginning of the second half were looking good. We were attacking, we seemed to be defending well and best of all, "we looked up for it".

NOt long into the second half and Hursut (not Hursit - not even the TV people today called him Hursit), took a ball from the left, turned around and struck with his left foot. The ball flew past Rusta. 1-1.

That was the 51st minute. We had chances after that but none were converted. In the meantime Besiktas scored three more... lucky bastards. I really don' want to describe how they happened.

"Pleasure at the top, misery at the bottom"

"Pleasure at the top, misery at the bottom", was the enticing headline of a piece in today's HaberTurk newspaper. I was dissapointed however that it wasn't a News of the World-style world exclusive on the latest sexual exploits of the soon to be ex-captain of England.

It was a short piece but the journalist Mustafa Cevik obviously knows how to turn a single fact into a tale of woe and misery employed at Ankaragucu. He starts off with a summing up of Ankaragucu's recent splurge on new players such as Geremi, Rothen and Sapara but then comes the twist.

"While spending around 20 million dollars in transfer fees the club has failed to pay youth trainers and equipment people for four months. The youth crew are in a very difficult situation (in these) winter conditions."

I'm not sure whether the winter conditions is a quote or not but it is true that we are indeed experiencing the climate event that is winter.

Anyway, the point of this article? Merely to predict that this probably won't be the last time we here about non-payments at Ankaragucu. So far this year we have had Vassel and Bebe kicked out of their hotel rooms because the club failed to pay up, we have had a bus re-possessed and early in the season a number of players were paid late.

BELLSHILL KANKA NADEEM WEARS HIS ANKARAGUCU TOP FOR THE FIRST TIME

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

As you can see, Nadeem is not a figment of our imagination. Here you can see him with yours truly proudly wearing his Ankaragucu top outside the Braehead Tavern in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire on the 31st of January.

There was a large crowd there to witness the occasion ..... well, at least lots of my family members !!

Let it be known, as if you didn't know already, that his footie knowledge is so impressive that I won't be surprised in the future any more when he gives us 'stop press' news about Ankaragucu all the way from Scotland !

Looking forward to meeting him and his beautiful lady Rebecca in May when they visit Ankara for the Ankaragucu v Trabzon match.

Great to meet you Nadeem and keep on entertaining us with your comments on the Blog.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

A bye and a draw

Gencler had the bye this weekend and have actually spent the last few days down in Antalya training, lucky buggers. Ankaragucu played out yet another 0-0 draw, this time away to Manisa. Are any of the Ankaragucu kankas going to do a report ala Eski Kanka ripping stuff out of The Hurriyet?