The Iceman Cometh

Genclerbirligi have a new coach, the 42rd in the 36 years Ilhan Cavcav has been at the club.

And naturally enough, it's not one of the high profile names the club has been linked with in the last few weeks. It's Irfan Buz, as we hinted last week.

Born in Istanbul in 1967, Buz moved to Germany as a youngster where he played for minor teams before moving to Turkey where he played for Sakaryaspor and Vanspor, according to his Wikipedia page. As a coach his most recent job was at Bursaspor. He's just the sort of man Cavcav likes to work with: keen to build a reputation and low-key enough to be dispensable.

So while we of course wish Mr. Buz the very best of luck at Gencler, it's also worth recalling some facts about his new post.

In 36 years Ilhan Cavcav has employed 42 coaches, according to my calculations based on this Radikal newspaper article.

But that's not the really shocking number. Since Cavcav likes to give people a second chance to be fired, he has actually changed coach 59 times in those 36 years. People who've worked for him more than once include recent occupants Mesut Bakkal and Fuat Capa.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Fall rotate band members like I change my socks and they continue to produce wonderful music, guided by the eccentric genius of Mark E Smith:

Ilhan Cavcav: The Mark E Smith of Turkish Football? Discuss.

Note to readers: Fall reference in second blog post? Job done, football blogging cliche achievement unlocked.