Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Ankaragucu book their place in the Turkish Cup Group stages!




Tavsanli Linyitspor 0-2 Ankaragucu

Team - Gokhan Akkan, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Serhat Gulpinar, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Orhan Evci, Hasan Ayaroglu, Umut Nayir, Levent Kale, Mehmet Erdem

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Volkan Geyik, Ali Sinan Gayla, Ramazan Adiguzel, Mehmet Tasci, Gokhan Erdogan, Teoman Erkan

Ankaragucu this afternoon booked their place in the Turkish Cup group stages thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win at Tavsanli Linyitspor. Its now 3 wins from 4 for Mustafa Kaplan and it will give the team more confidence going into the weekends match at Pazarspor.

It all started so well when Hasan Ayaroglu gave Ankaragucu the lead in the 1st minute. It will be a huge boost to the injury tormented youngster who is looking to get his career back on track. Ankaragucu would take the 1-0 lead into half time.

Into the second half and top scorer Umut Nayir made it 2-0 as he continues his good form. Umut hasn't quite reached his best form yet as has strike partner Levent Kale who has yet to score this season. As the weeks go by Levent will get closer to full fitness which should benefit both players.

The match ended 2-0 and Ankaragucu will now join Genclerbirlig and Keciorengucu in the group stages. It will be interesting to see who we will get in the group stages but lets hope for some Super Lig teams which will bring some much needed revenue to the club.

Blocked widgets on the right

I've just discovered that the two league tables on the right are in fact blocked in Yeni Turkiye. These are automatically updated tables of both the Super League and League 2.

For those who have only ever seen "404 Not Found" messages on the right, you are missing out on not just the tables but also dates and times of upcoming matches and the results of previous matches.

These tables are provided by Soccerway Click on that link and if you are in Turkey you will get the following message: 

(After technical analysis and legal consideration based on Law Nr. 5651, ADMINISTRATION MEASURE has been taken for this website (soccerway.com) (soccerway.com) according to Decision Nr. 421.02.01.2008-321210 dated 26/12/2008 of Presidency of the Telecommunication and Communication)

That is as clear as mud.

It is probably banned in Turkey because it takes adverts for betting companies, but I prefer to think it is part of the government's measures to destroy football in Turkey.

My suggestion as to how to get around this. Use Tor or get yourself a VPN.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Ankaragucu vs Tavsanli Linyitspor match preview!




Ankaragucu travel to Tavsanli Linyitspor tomorrow as both sides fight it out for a place in the group stages of the Turkish Cup. The home side are having a tough start to the season as they sit second from bottom in the Beyaz group. The lost 2-0 at home to Menemen at the weekend and it could be a good time for Ankaragucu to take on Tavsanli.

That said you just have to look at Tuzlaspor who beat Kasimpasa 3-1 and Cizrespor who won 2-0 at home to Goztepe. Both amateur sides showing that anyone is capable of winning a one off cup tie. Ankaragucu won 3-0 on Sunday against Duzyurtspor and the second half performance gave the fans something to cheer about as they created many chances, something that they have struggled with this season.

It will be interesting to see weather Mustafa Kaplan will play a full strength side or play some of the fringe players. With the potential lucrative games against Super Lig sides and TV revenue, I'm sure Mehmet Yiginer will have had a word with the manager to tell him how important this match is for the club in terms of finances.

As Harun mentioned today, Mehmet Yiginer has today stated he won't be suing Melih Gokcek, it now leaves Ankaragucu with the almost impossible task of recovering their finances and it looks like it will be some time before the Ankaragucu fans watch Super Lig football again.

Reports tonight also claimed the Ankaragucu fans have been banned from traveling to Tavsanli after the Tavsanli council banned them. I don't even know where to start on this. Yet again Ankaragucu fans been treated like criminals while the board sit back and do nothing.

Will tonight prove anything?

I'm not going to pretend that the words below are some kind of report of Genclerbirligi's match this afternoon. For the vast majority of us at the stadium this was a chance to prove a point. That point was simple and was made through chants over and over again. We refuse to accept Passolig.

Genclerbirligi 6 - 0 Etimesgutspor

No Passolig card required... but it still seems as if Passolig
were in charge of the paper tickets
Not a huge crowd of Kankas down at the Beer Bus for pre-match drinks... but perhaps this can be excused by the fact that this was a weekday, and we were drinking at 2pm. But Carl was there, as was Flying Dutchman, myself and Little Oz Kanka. Later at the stadium we joined up with Dan the Man and his young one Efe.

Just a bit of background to today's Turkish Cup early round match. This was not a league match. It was against a team miles below us. It was during the week. It was taking place at a time when Gencler are not doing all that well. The weather was grey and overcast. In previous years this would have been a one-lira ticket match and still only get a crowd of a couple of hundred people. This was not an important match.

What was important today, however, was that you didn't need to have a Passolig card to get in. We lined up, handed over 10 lira and were given a black and white paper ticket... something that is now not allowed at normal league matches.  

Considering the circumstances, we got a great crowd in. And while it was not huge, huge, the crowd was made up of quality people prepared to sing for the full 90 minutes. And sing we did. Right from the off were continual chants against the e-bilet system. This was not a crowd of "Gencler-season-ticket-holders-but-true-Bizans-team-supporters", these boys and girls were true Gencler fans.

L to R: Carl, Flying Dutchman Kanka, Dan the Man,
 Efe and Little Oz Kanka
At some stage the football started. Gencler put out a very young team with not a single first team player. None of us cared though. I saw one tweet from @malicetinkaya that seven of our players were from our own youth system. That's got to be good for the future.        
 
We went ahead with just a few minutes on the clock. We pushed it further and scored again. And again. Three-nil at half time.

But we didn't care about the score, it was all about the atmosphere. It was about the singing. It was about showing the players and the management what they are missing when no-one goes to the stadium. They know full well that the crowd today will not be showing up next week, nor the week after that, nor the week after that. "Chairman, save us from Passolig", was one of the chants. "We are fans, not customers," was another. This was a plea to the management... it is time for you to stand up and oppose Passolig, not because you give a shit about us, but because without fans you lose money and our players lose the bonus that a good home crowd can deliver.
Singing loud.

This match was as much of a mismatch as you can imagine, but it was good to see our younger players doing their best. We are through to the next round of the Turkish Cup. Let's hope the next round is also a non-Passolig match.

The atmosphere today was fantastic and it was great to finally be able to go to a match this season. I hope there will be many more.      

Monday, October 27, 2014

DUZYURTSPOR ENCOUNTER AN OBSTACLE BETWEEN THE ANKARAGUCU STICKS !



Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Duzyurtspor didn’t come to Ankara with a reputation (only footie fanatics know where Duzyurt is in Turkey !!), but nor did they come like lambs to the slaughter.   They knocked at the door a few times and were awarded TWO penalties, but Man of the Match Gokhan was in a mean mood and refused entry !

Team -  Gokhan Akkan, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Serhat Gulpinar, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Orhan Evci, Mehmet Erdem, Gokhan Erdogan, Levent Kale, Umut Nayir

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Volkan Geyik, Hasan Ayaroglu, Ali Sinan Gayla, Ramazan Adiguzel, Mehmet Tasci, Teoman Erkan

ANKARAGUCU   3      Duzyurtspor   0

The kankas met-up at The Chopin Bar – Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Ahmet, Onur (after a 2 years absence in Izmir), Tony and his beautiful lady, Jessica who both hail from Scotland’s 3rd city Glasgow (we all know the 1st and 2nd cities are Edinburgh and Leith !!).

Surprise surprise ......... the Stadium wasn’t full, and surprise surprise .............. Sol Kapali was empty !    So there was no bad mouthing last night much to our relief.   Gecikondu was half full but noisy, Maraton was quarter full but noisy and I counted FIVE in the away end !

I spent the first 30 minutes of the match still sniggering at Battle Damaged Kanka’s attempt to enter the Stadium because there wasn’t much to enjoy or get excited about on the pitch with both teams playing some dreadful footie.   Oh yes, what a panic when Damon was refused entry with his Season Ticket.   The look of panic and anger on his face was priceless !    However, there was a happy ending to the story when the Gate Guard informed him that it was perhaps not a good idea to use last season’s card !!!     Ho ho ho ..... ha ha ha .... we won’t let you foget this one Damon !!!

So, it was on the half hour mark when we finally had something to cheer when from a free kick on the left Serhat (I think it was him – it was at the away end) headed in to make the match interesting.

Then just before the half time whistle we had Ankaragucu hitting the post with a shot and then down to the other end for Ankaragucu’s No14 (forgot his name) to handle the ball needlessly with his arm when clearing a throw-in within the penalty area.   The penalty kick was well taken to the centre of the goal, but Gokhan made a great save.   Cue ....... chorus around the Stadium ....... Gokhan, Gokhan, Gokhan !

Mustafa Bey obviously read the riot act in the Dressing Room at half time because we saw a different Ankaragucu in the 2nd half with some neat passing moves and less of the ‘hoofing’ the ball out of defence to ‘anywhere’.

Just 2 minutes into the 2nd half and Levent almost made it No2.   A great move down the left with good running off the ball by Levent.   Just inside the box on the left, he looked up and angled a great shot past the keeper.   We were up sand shouting ‘Goal’.    But .......... the ball hit the right post and was cleared to safety.

However, the 2nd goal arrived 4 minutes later from a comedy of errors and ‘ping pong’ in the Duzyurt penalty area, but Umut was on hand to poke the loose ball in and we were up and shouting ........ with, I may add, relief !

Duzyurt was not throwing the towel in and were still pressing forward and on the 67th minute mark one of their attackers was brought down in the box and ......... oh no ...... here we go again ........ another penalty.    No criticism of the penalty effort again, but yet again Gokhan made a fantastic save and the ball was cleared for a corner.   Chorus .......... Gokhan, Gokhan, Gokhan !!!

It was mostly all Ankaragucu now, but it took until 5 minutes from the end to find the net for No 3.   The ball was collected in midfield by Ankaragucu’s No11 (forgot his name too) and he took it forward with the Duzyurt defence backing off expecting a lay off to left or right.    He just carried on and just inside the box let fly to leave the goalkeeper helpless.   Great effort and great goal.

Seconds from the final whistle and Umut had a headed attempt from a left wing cross but it was just over with the goalkeeper helpless.

So, the bottom line is that Ankaragucu won 3 points, but they lived dangerously at times last night.   They will have to up their standard for the upcoming matches, especially the one against Goztepe in a few weeks time.   With Goztepe and Bandirma both winning at the weekend there is no let up at the top of the league from those two especially.

Ankaragucu will be away against Pazar next weekend, but before then there is the Cup match away in Tavsanli on Wednesday.    It would be a tick in the box if they can win on Wednesday and qualify for the group phase of the Cup.   

Watch this space for more.

Onur, Damon and Yours Truly before the goals started to go in !!!


All the best from Eski Kanka Jim


ANKARAGUCU V DUZYURTSPOR

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

A good result for Ankaragucu last night, but ........... not plain sailing as the scoreline might suggest.   At least there was no trouble and no bad mouthing !

ANKARAGUCU   3     Duzyurtspor    0

Full match report will be up tonight.

Watch this space.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Fenerbahce rely on the ref... again!

I'm not going to say we were the better team. If it wasn't for some heroics by Dahlin and one of the weirdest line clearances I've ever seen we could have been crushed. But still... the decision to give that first penalty was appalling.

Fenerbahce 2 - 1 Genclerbirligi

Off to the Red Lion Club last night with various Kankas to watch some footy. On the big screen was some match from Europe but for us it was the small screen with sound down.

It seems normal now to start the report with the fact that hardly anyone showed up. The biggest club in the country can only get about 10,000 to a match on a Saturday evening? Thanks Passolig.

Match kicked off and from the start we were under the kosh. Fenerbahce are a good team and speed-wise they were in a much higher gear than our lot. It was pretty clear to us that this was going to be a difficult 90 minutes.

We could have been a couple down but Dahlin, back from a week off, pulled off two blinding saves. We had a couple of attacks but no real shots. Half-time and Damon commented that Gencler should be happy to have held off the giants of Turkish football. He was right.

Second half and, well, more of the same really. And then, and then (let me just cut and paste from my report of the last time we faced Fener) the referee "pointed to the spot. 'No!!!!!!!!' we cried. 'That was a dive you moron.' Replays proved it was indeed a dive. In fact a bloody obvious dive in my opinion."

History repeated itself as Alper went down in the box. Frustrating as hell. Emre scored it.

Fenerbahce continued to look very dangerous when Alper got one-on-one with the keeper. Alper then did what comes naturally to him and attempted to score dived. This time the referee was actually looking and gave Alper a yellow card.

Then what was one of the best line saves you will ever see. Fener's Sow had the ball, Dahlin had to come out to smother it but Sow managed to lob him and the ball was heading towards goal. Tosic was running towards the goal and attempted to sort of bicycle kick it out... he almost got it right but kicked it straight up where it hit the cross bar, bounced on the ground in front of the goal and was clearly spinning back towards the goal when another one of our defenders chested it off the line. At any stage of all this had the ball gone a inch further it would have been a goal. Amazing stuff.

We then annoyed the couple of people watching the match from Europe, I think it was a Spanish, when Gencler managed to score from open play, Fenerbahce have now scored four times against us in our last two matches... all of them penalties.          

Mervan stole a ball, got it into the box, a bit of scrambling then Antal, one of our new signings this year, bashed it in.

Fener continued their attacks and then again the referee pointed to the spot. I think Sow dived but our defender had gone down with legs out and well... probably a penalty. Kuyt stepped up and bang.

That was that. On balance, the right result but the way it came about was definitely not right.
                         

Friday, October 24, 2014

Ankaragucu vs Duzyurtspor match preview!




Before we look at this weekends match with Duzyurspor, i just wanted to update the Kanka group on some breaking news this week. Selim Teber has terminated his contract with the club after failing to overcome a serious injury which has kept him out this season. The Ankaragucu management team said he is welcome back at the club once he gets over his injury problems.

President Mehmet Yiginer has reduced the ticket prices for this weekends game in line with what they were last season. Not all good news for the club though as Yiginer today announced he will leave the club in January with the view of becoming President of Lig 3 side Sekerspor to continue his footballing career.

Former president Cemal Aydin also spoke this week reminding the fans of the damage the Gokceks have done to the club claiming they are to blame for all the problems. Who could disagree with him there?

Onto this weekends match, and Ankaragucu are back in action after a 2 week break due to last weeks Diyarbakir BB match being postponed with all the trouble thats going on in Diyarbakir and the Turkish border with Syria.

They host Birlik Nakliyat Duzyurtspor at the 19 Mayis stadium on Sunday night looking to make it 2 wins in a row for the first time this season. A 1-0 home win over Polatli gave Mustafa Kaplan his first win in his second spell at the club and he has had a lot of time to work with the players in training over the last couple of weeks.

The Ankaragucu fans will not only be looking for a win, but also a good performance to go with it. The likes of Levent Kale, Mehmet Erdem, Gokhan Erdogan, Hasan Ayaroglu and Umut Nayir haven't hit their best form yet with both Hasan and Levent looking to get back to full fitness.

Duzyurtspor lost 1-0 at home to Pazarspor last time out and sit 14th in Lig 2. Gokhan Erdol will be their star player and the man Ankaragucu will need to watch having scored 3 goals in 8 matches from Midfield this season.

It will be interesting to see if the break has served Ankaragucu well and gave them time to prepare under new coach Mustafa Kaplan as well as getting key players back to full fitness, or will it be another turgid frustrating performance? Jim will have the full match report on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Sport Minister Sticks to His Passo-Guns

Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic has said the government will press on with the Passolig ticket system that has decimated attendance at top-level matches so far this season.

The poor attendance and complaints are part of a "transition period," Kilic said today. "Everyone needs to make a bit of effort" to make the system work, he said.

His comments follow sharp declines in attendance and criticism from club owners including our beloved Ilhan Cavcav, who said last week that Passolig is damaging the game. Cavcav said the system was a "pettifogging" attempt to deal with football violence, and the real solution lies in applying the law to deter bad behaviour.

Those looking for good news in the minister's comments may reflect on the following:

1) In football, when anyone says "We have complete confidence in X", X generally ends up getting fired within a month.

2) Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic is not the most powerful man in the Turkish Government.

Finally, the word "decimated" may not be entirely accurate in this context, but it's not far off.



Monday, October 20, 2014

That was a bit crap

"This is just like watching England", said Spine, an Englishman.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Suat Altinwanker Kayseri Erciyesspor

It was boring, boring, boring!

But at least we were nice and warm at the Su'dem Pub.

We had our chances, but we blew them.

And look at the 360 degree picture of the stadium tonight. Click on the picture for a better view. Passolig has killed football. Even the LigTV people tonight were saying so.

That's it for my match report. Next week we are away to Fenerbahce and then on Tuesday the 28th we will actually be going to a match! Genclerbirligi v Etimesgut in the Turkish Cup. KO: 4pm.... NO PASSOLIG REQUIRED!!!!  

PS: I've changed the league tables on the right hand side of the blog. I finally found one with the Division Two table. Yea!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Slicing Up the Baby: Ankaragücü - Polatlı Bugsaşspor


From Ankaragucu.org.tr: An upside-down Gecekondu sign

Today's post on Yurtspor has a simple metaphor for Ankaragücü fans and management. King Solomon reputedly settled a fight between two women who claimed to be the mother of a baby by saying they could have half each. The true mother of the child objected, saying that she would rather give it up than see her baby cut in half.

Before the match, 11 Ankaragücü fans were arrested in Yüksel Caddesi for fighting with leftists over their apparent support for the PKK. At the match, the management closed an entire tribune (Sol Kapalı) that it had a difference of opinion with and gave out free tickets to the police in order to fill it: the police at one stage even tried to chant in favour of the management and were shouted down. Gecekondu had hung their banner upside down in protest of the management. During the match, a few fans invaded the pitch to try to fight with Mehmet Yiğiner, and a few people from the dugout needed to be held back from fighting back. Later, all the tribunes in unison shouted insults at the management, which will almost certainly lead to a punishment for the club. Then, after the match, the fans went over to the other side of the stadium to fight the police, only to be teargassed and hit by rubber bullets.

It looks like both the fans and management are happier slicing up the baby than losing an argument over it.

---

I (Cider Kanka), Battle Damaged Kanka and Eski Kanka were in Maraton for the evening's game.

In footballing terms, Ankaragücü had a small yet consistent advantage over an extremely weak Polatlı Bugsaşspor team, and that advantage was largely that Polatlı usually fell to pieces as soon as they made any significant ground.

In the 19th minute Ankaragücü got their first cross into the box, but it was not difficult for the Polatlı keeper. It wasn't until the 30th minute when Ankaragücü looked dangerous again, with a well-placed corner shot about ten metres vertically into the air right in front of the net. In the 38th and 39th minutes Ankaragücü looked a little more confident, with a missed chance by Levent and an offside shot.

The first half (and most of the game): scrapping around in the centre with no killer instinct.

The second half started slowly: in the 50th minute, Umut got in front of the goal but sent the ball into the clouds rather than the net. In the 61st, Ankaragücü got their second best chance of the game: a ball came through, was shot at the keeper, saved but bounced over to number 16, who had a beautifully lined up shot a few metres from the goal. But even this went over.

In the 75th minute, Ankaragücü's saving grace arrived. Umut outpaced the defenders in a sudden counterattack away from the box, and kept it up until he got close enough to slot it comfortably behind the keeper. Although there was 9 minutes injury time (!) Polatlı never had the midfield strength to employ much more than a shoot-and-hope strategy from set pieces. A few minutes before the match ended, some wag outside the stadium set off a miniature fireworks display in celebration.

---

Today's match was a win that felt like a loss. Relations between management and fans are at such a low point that rather than reacting with joy at the scoring of a goal, fans reacted by calling on the management to resign and yelling insults at them. Let's hope that both tribune leaders and Mehmet Yiğiner find a way to swallow their pride and make peace for the good of their baby.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Ankaragucu vs Polatli Bugsasspor match preview!




Ankaragucu are back at home on Sunday night as they face Polatli Bugsasspor in the local derby with both teams looking for the 3 points to get their promotion challenges back on track. Ankaragucu were dealt a huge blow midweek with a disappointing defeat at Bandirmaspor, while Polatli won 2-0 at home to Pazarspor.

Although no games in this league are easy games for Ankaragucu, most of the difficult games have been played except Goztepe, Diyarbakir BB and Nazilli. The next couple of months see Ankaragucu face most of the teams at the bottom half of the table. That said, the way Ankaragucu are playing at the moment its difficult to see where the next win is going to come from.

The team will be without Gurkan Alver, Mehmet Erdem, Selim Teber and Cihan Bal who are all out injured. Its likely that Aytac Oden or Mehmet Tasci will fill in at centre half with Orhan Evci or Onur Atasayer coming in at full back.

Hasan Ayaroglu could start his first game of the season with Mehmet Erdem injured, and its an opportunity that the youngster will want to grab. Hasan has so much potential but due to inconsistency and injuries he has so far failed to life up to his expectation.

Levent Kale has yet to score a goal and will be looking to end his drought to give him some confidence to go on a scoring spree as he did last season. Polatli themselves will be looking to take the 3 points from the game and are certainly capable of doing just that.

Last season when the two sides met, Ankaragucu won 1-0 at Polatli and 3-0 at the 19 Mayis stadium in Ankara. Ankaragucu have lost a lot of players since those games and will have to be at their best if they want to win this one.

Mustafa Kaplan spoke after the Bandirmaspor match saying he felt the team were unlucky with the two injuries and the missed Umut Nayir chance. He said he is confident this team can win promotion and will get the 3 points against Polatli.

Lets hope he is correct. The game will be taking place at 7pm Turkish time on Sunday. The Kankas are meeting 5pm at the Chopin bar. Enjoy

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Ankaragucu 0-2 Bandirmaspor match report !



Mustafa Kaplan didn't get off to best start in his second spell in charge of the club from the capital as his side lost 2-0 in Bandirma. As discussed in the match preview, the Ankaragucu fans were banned from travelling to Bandirma for the match, the second time this season the fans have been banned from travelling by the local council.

Amazingly not a word was uttered from the Ankaragucu management on this subject, yet the Altay official supporters group defended both Ankaragucu and Goztepe who were also banned from travelling to Tepeckispor. They pointed out when Turkey was founded it was based on people having the freedom to move around the country and this is against everything it stands for. Well done Altay, pity our management don't share the same feelings, or have the balls to fight for the club.

As you can probably tell from the tone of my typing (if there is such a thing), I'm in another shit mood because of Ankaragucu and Turkey. Part of me wishes i didn't care so much, but i will never give up on Ankaragucu, for it isn't the club or the fans I'm angry with, its the management team, Melih Gokcek and all the other politics that come with supporting the club.

Team - Gokhan Akkan, Aytac Oden, Gurkan Alver, Volkan Geyik, Mehmet Tasci, Harun Aydin, Serhat Gulpinar, Mehmet Erdem, Gokhan Erdogan, Umut Nayir, Levent Kale

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Onur Atasayer, Metin Aydin, Hasan Ayaroglu, Ramazan Adiguzel, Orhan Evci, Teoman Erkan

Not much change in personnel for the new coach's first game in charge. Gokhan Erdogan was brought into the starting line up for Orhan, otherwise the team was unchanged.

It was Ankaragucu who had the first chance of the game 10 minutes in as Umut Nayir missed a glorious chance to give them the lead, but the big striker couldn't finish his chance. An early goal and early lead could have saw a different outcome in the game, but as so often the case, if you don't finish your chances it will come back and haunt you.

And haunt you it did, on the 17th minute mark, Bandirma took the lead through Ali Kuleli. And thats how it stayed until half time with Ankaragucu failing to create anything.

Into the second half and again Ankaragucu were failing to create any decent chances, Kaplan brought Hasan Ayaroglu and Orhan Evci on to try and find the equaliser, but it was Mustafa Karabulut who gave Bandirma their second of the game and tied up the three points.

A disappointing result again for Ankaragucu who have now only won 1 of their opening 7 games. As Damon pointed out we have only lost 1 too, but its not good enough when the teams you are playing against are of a very poor standard.

It doesn't matter who is in charge of this Ankaragucu team, Yiginer could appoint Jose Mourinho tomorrow and it won't make any difference. The club has lost Emre Tasdemir, Mehmet Cakir, Erhan Guven, Serhat Aykuz, Kaan Kanak, Bayram Olgun, Omer Yalcin, Ibrahim Sahin, Aydin Toscali and Volkan Yilmaz from last season and added no one to the squad.

If the team wasn't good enough to win promotion with those players, then why does Yiginer think we are good enough this season? Unless he brings in players, then the team must start preparing for a relegation fight and forget the playoffs.

No disrespect to Orhan Evci, but when your looking to bring him on to change the game in an attacking sense, you know you are lacking attacking options. Levent has yet to score a goal and looks a shadow of the player he was last season, but the big loss is Emre Tasdemir and Mehmet Cakir.

Another thing that annoys me, Bursaspor have twice singed our players on the cheap. Firstly Adem Kocek and Stanislav Sestak, then just recently Emre Tasdemir. Both times they said they would send youth players to help Ankaragucu. Where are these players? Is the offer still on the table, if so then why is Yiginer not taking them up on it?

Anyway, we are back at home on Sunday, kick off is at 7pm Turkish time against Polatli Bugsasspor. The following Saturday we are at Diyarbakir BB, its looking doubtful that game will go ahead due to the trouble with Islamic State. My thoughts are with the people of Diyarbakir and Kobane, may there be peace in the area and stop the suffering to innocent people.

Nadeem

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Ankaragucu vs Bandirmaspor match preview !





Before we talk about tomorrows match in Bandirma, i want to discuss a couple of stories that broke earlier this week regarding the club. Firstly it looks like Selim Teber has played his last game for the club. The experienced midfielder picked up a a back injury in pre season and went to Germany for treatment. Unfortunately the injury has reoccured and reports claim a decision has been made to terminate his contract. Muhammed Gonulacar also had his contract terminated last week and its also reported he was paid 160k for early termination.

In other news the Bandirma council has banned Ankaragucu fans from travelling to Bandirma. This is the second time that Ankaragucu fans have been banned from travelling to away games this season by a council after Sariyer took the same action. I cant quite get my head around this as to how a council can ban people from traveling to a town. I cant ever imagine Glasgow council banning Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen fans. It wouldn't be allowed.

I will never hide my love for Turkey, Ankara or Ankaragucu, however I'm slowly starting to question how much more i can take. Everything that happened to the club with Gokceks and Cemal Aydin is difficult enough to take. But adding Gezi Park, Passolig System and other decisions people of power can make in this country make me so angry. The great man Kemal Mustafa Ataturk would be turning in his grave if he knew half of whats going on in this country which is being ruined by people of power.

Yesterday i was accused by an Osmanlispor and Melih Gokcek supporter of being a spy because i had a go at the Passolig system. This is what you are up against??? Maybe its not just Turkey, the whole world is spoilt by greed and lies and its something I'm struggling to come to terms with.

Anyway back to the football. Ankaragucu tomorrow travel to Bandirma for their upcoming Lig match which is a must win for Ankaragucu. It will be the first game in his second spell for Mustafa Kaplan who will want to get off to a winning start. It will be interesting to see how Kaplan lines up his team. For me the team lacks pace and their should be a place in the team for Onur Atasayer. Levent is still struggling for form and fitness as is Hasan who has been out injured for 6 months.

Umut Nayir has started the season well but their is still room for improvement from him too. Mehmet Erdem is a key player but he needs to bring more to the team. Mustafa Kaplan is known as an attacking manager so we can expect more goals than what we scored under Muammer Ozdemir.

Ozdemir however did help bring stability to the defence and thats something Kaplan must continue. Bandirmaspor are joint top with Nazilli, however they have had a much easier start to the season with only Diyarbakir and Tepecikspor the only two tough matches they have had. They were destroyed 4-1 by Diyarbakir BB and won 2-1 at Tepeckispor.

The main threat from Bandirma will come from Hakki Ismet who has scored 3 goals from his first 6 games. Bandirma are a fast and technical side and Ankaragucu must up their game if they are to take anything from this game.

A draw won't be the worst result but Ankaragucu need to turn these draws into victories or they face being left behind by the rest of the clubs chasing promotion to the PTT Lig.

Team i think we should go for tomorrow - Gokhan Akkan, Orhan Evci, Gurkan Alver, Volkan Geyik, Mehmet Tasci, Harun Aydin, Serhat Gulpinar, Mehmet Erdem, Onur Atasayer, Emir Ozbey, Umut Nayir

Prediction 1-1 draw

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Ankaragucu appoint Mustafa Kaplan as manager !



Thats right Kankas !!! Mustafa Kaplan is coming home !!

Ankaragucu tonight appointed Mustafa Kaplan as manager after the resignation of Muammer Ozdemir earlier in the day. The Ankaragucu management didn't waste anytime in finding their man and held talks with Kaplan tonight. Kaplan said 'i am very happy to be returning home'.

It will be the second stint at Ankaragucu for the new coach having previously managed the club in the PTT Lig. Although the club were relegated Kaplan won many admirers for the style of football the team played and bringing the best out of the youth players as Ankaragucu had to rely solely on the youth team that season.

He also won promotion with Haceteppe last season to Lig 2 and was rewarded with the vacant managers job at Genclerbirligi. Strangely that only lasted 2 games having lost and drawn his opening 2 games.

With all the doom and gloom news surrounding the club this is certainly some welcome news for the fans. Having said that Ali Imdat leader of the Gecekondu group has tonight asked Mehmet Yiginer to resign from the club after last nights clashes with fellow fans.

Muammer Ozdemir resigns as Ankaragucu manager !





As expected Muammer Ozdemir has tonight resigned as manager of Ankaragucu. After only 6 games in which he won 1 game and drew the other 5 Ozdemir believes its best for both parties if he steps down due to the problems off field. He thanks the management and fans and wished them all the best in the future.

Ozdemir has spent over 14 years as the club as a youth coach and just recently the manager of the first team. His appointment in the summer raised a few eyebrows due to him being out of football for 3 years. Although the team weren't winning games, Ankaragucu were unbeaten in 14 games including pre season under his leadership.

Reports tonight claim that Aykan Atik will takeover as the new manager of the club. If these reports are true then its another dull appointment by the management. Atik has previously coached Haceteppe, Gebzespor and Gumushanespor. He is also currently working as a coach at Ankaragucu and it looks like it will be an internal appointment instead of bringing back the fans choice in Mustafa Kaplan.

Muhammed Gonulacar terminates contract !




Ankaragucu youngster Muhammed Gonulacar has terminated his contract with the club. It is believed the player and manager Muammer Ozdemir had a fall out which has lead to the youngster requesting to leave the club. The Ankaragucu board granted his wishes last night and he is now free to talk to other clubs.

Its more disappointment for the club as Muhammed was very highly rated. He singed for the club last January from Batman Petrolspor and was regarded as one for the future. He didn't feature much under the new coach who preferred Harun Aydin in the holding role in midfield.

Its also believed that there is unrest in the dressing room due to Mehmet Erdem, Levent Kale and Selim Teber all receiving down payments in their wages. The younger players aren't happy with this and quite rightly so as every one should be treated the same.

Muammer Ozdemir is expected to hand in his resignation later today so we will keep you posted on any breaking news there. After last nights clashes between Mehmet Yiginer and a section of fans which left some Ankaragucu fans needing hospital treatment, a criminal case has been opened. Fans are questioning why members of the VIP section had sticks and other weapons when Ankaragucu fans are searched by the police upon entering the stadium.

More to follow.....

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Sinan Kurumus comes back to haunt Ankaragucu !



Ankaragücü 2-2 Tepecikspor

There was a game on tonight at the 19 Mayis Stadium as Ankaragucu hosted Tepecikspor, unfortunately not a single member of the Kanka group including myself knew it was on. The game had been changed apparently due to the Bayram holiday this coming weekend. I was just about to tuck into my dinner at my parents house when i got an alert from Fanatik to say the Ankaragucu vs Tepecikspor game had just kicked off.

Team - Gokhan Akkan, Aytac Oden, Gurkan Alver, Volkan Geyik, Mehmet Tasci, Harun Aydin, Serhat Gulpinar, Orhan Evci, Mehmet Erdem, Umut Nayir, Levent Kale

Subs - Ishan Kirveli, Onur Atasayer, Metin Aydin, Hasan Ayaroglu, Ramazan Adiguzel, Hasan Kaya, Teoman Erkan

So the coach went with the same team that started last weekends match at Altay with Orhan Evci keeping his place in place of the injured Selim Teber. Youngsters Ramazan Adiguzel and Hasan Kaya both made their debut in the second half. Hasan Ayaroglu also came on as he continues his return from injury.

Levent Kale has gone another game without finding the back of the net. If Ankaragucu are to have any chance of making the playoffs he really needs to find full fitness and start finding the back of the net.

Tepecikspor started the game with former Ankaragucu strikers Metin Akan and Sinan Kurumus up front, and it was the later who would return to punish the club he started his professional career with. Sinan scored twice to put Tepecikspor ahead both sides of half time, while Umut Nayir and Serhat Gulpinar scored the goals for Ankaragucu.

Sinan had a good spell at Ankaragucu impressing in the PTT Lig before moving onto Besiktas. Many were surprised to see him make that step up but there is no doubting he has the quality and is too good for this level. Tepecikspor are a poor side, they have one player of quality and thats Sinan. It just goes to show that if our chairman Mehmet Yiginer would take his head out the sand and sanction a couple of good signings to help the attack and wingers then we could win this league.

This league is there for the taking, there are no teams such as Altinordu or Alanyaspor who will go on long winning runs. Having said that Bandirmaspor, Nazilli and Goztepe all won their matches tonight. As it stands Ankaragucu are only 1 point outside the playoff places but they are no 5 points behind leaders Nazilli and Bandirmaspor. Next opponents for Ankaragucu? A tough away match at Bandirmaspor next Wednesday.

There was more bad news at the end of the match as Mehmet Yiginer got into an argument with supporters near the VIP section. He had to be taken away by other members of the management team. Coach Muammer Ozdemir also refused to give a press conference after the match and will instead give one tomorrow morning.