It feels all to good to be true being an Ankaragucu these days. Investment from businessmen of Ankara and support from Melih Gokcek were the first steps which have now been followed up with 11 new signings with more possibly still to come.
We brought you the news of the 9 signings in previous posts and the club today confirmed Sertan Vardar and Goksu Alhas have signed for the club. Vardar who is a new favourite of our Damon and signs from Akhisar. He is an attacking midfielder and brings valuable experience to the squad. Goksu is a 25 year old right back from 1461 Trabzon after coming through the Trabzonspor youth academy.
Reports tonight from Sporanki and other social media sources claim the club have agreed to sign Timur Kosovali from Goztepe who would be an excellent signing for the club, and Sedat Bayrak from Genclerbirligi who is a former Ankaragucu player.
The club are also trying to sing former Ankaragucu midfielder Harriet Gucer before tomorrows transfer deadline.
One player on his way out of the club is Emir Ozbey who has signed a loan deal with Kahramanmaras BB for the season.
The club, players and fans also celebrated the clubs 106th birthday today at Antikabir and you can see some of the pictures below.
Enes Kubat has signed a 2 year contract as he returns to Ankaragucu following his release from rivals Goztepe. Many Ankaragucu fans were disappointed that Enes left the club for Goztepe just over a year ago.
After a good start to his career with Goztepe he fell out of the first team picture and was loaned to Kartalspor at the end of last season. Enes has the pace and strength to be a very good player for Ankaragucu at this level and it will be interesting to see how he develops.
Having lost their first two matches, sacked their coach and basically up Shit Creek Genclerbirligi were desperate for a win today and no matter how ugly it was, they will be celebrating tonight.
Genclerbirligi 1 - 0 Kasimpasa
Little Oz, Dennis and myself joined a few rugby fans at the Red Lion to watch Wales defeat Ireland. A few beers and some food and it was then off to the stadium where Alex joined us. A half-decent sized crowd for us, especially considering that Passolig has pretty much decimated crowds in Turkey. For Kasimpasa though, as you can see from this pick taken during added time at the end of the match, there were about four fans, literally.
Gencler were pretty ordinary for the first half. Some really scary defending with our players not willing to actually commit to the tackle and then some equally rubbish high balls which the Kasimpasa big men at the back had absolutely no trouble in swatting away.
One of the big reasons that Baxter was sacked after last week's loss to Antalyaspor was the fact that he preferred playing Ferhat in goal instead of our new signing Hopf. Going by today's performance you would have to say that Cavcav was right. Hopf made a couple of brilliant reflex saves and also made two or three great saves deflecting the ball over the post or around the corner. Hopf had a great game.
That is something that can't be said of his opposing number. Poor old Isakson, A swedish international with 121 caps, didn't really have all that much to do. Most of what he was doing seemed compitent enough... until the 71st.
Gencler won a free kick about 30 yards out, Irfan tried to put it onto a forward's head but way overhit it. It sort of floated along and the Kasimpasa keeper flapped at it, letting it go straight through him and into the goal. Huge, Huge stuff up.
Here's Irfan Can Kahveci's goal for Genclerbirligi against Kasimpasa. Isaksson with a gaffe leading to a fluke goal. pic.twitter.com/zzfFmWdeKS
The news just keeps coming through in what has been a busy day for the club and the Round ball in Ankara blog too. According the the TFF website Here the club have confirmed the signings of 8 new players today. They are the following:
Adem Saglam - 30 Year old central defender on a 2 year deal from Giresunspor
Emrah Bozkurt - 35 year old Forward on a 2 year deal from Denizlispor
Ferhat Odobasi - 32 year old Goalkeeper on a 2 year deal from Elazigspor
Mehmet Yildiz - 33 year old Striker on a 2 year deal from Osmanlispor
Murat Sozgelmez - 30 year old Central defender from Elazigspor on a 2 year deal
Mustafa Ozturk - 28 year old Midfielder from 1461 Trabzon on a 2 year deal
Omer Bozan - 28 year old forward on a 2 year deal from Hatayspor
Salih Sefercik - 31 year old midfielder on a 2 year deal from Gaziantep BB
We will bring you more news as the club announces other players who will be signing with the club in the coming days.
And finally we can give you that long awaited news that the transfer ban has been officially lifted!! Mehmet Yiginer has just announced the news via is Facebook and twitter pages. All that is left to be said on the matter is thank you to Mehmet Yiginer and his board for all his hard work and efforts for the removal of the ban!
Now we await the news of all the players who have officially signed. Omer Bozan as you know has signed a 2 year deal on a free transfer from Hatayspor. The rest of the deals will be announced shortly!!
Here is to a successful season for the club as we look for promotion back to the PTT Lig and then we can build a team for the Super Lig!!1
According to Sporanki, Tuzlaspor forward Yakup Alkan is set to sign for Ankaragucu in the next couple of days. The highly rated 23 year old has played all his career at lower league level and would welcome a move to the club.
As you can see from the picture above he bears a resemblance to one of our Kankas and Man United forward Marouane Fellaini :-)
There were mixed news from the club today as Hasan Ayaroglu became the latest Ankaragucu youngster to win a move to the Turkish Super Lig as he signed for rivals Eskisehirspor. The player signs a 5 year contract but will move back to Ankaragucu for a 1 year loan period. It is unknown at this stage what the transfer fee involved will be.
As much as its disappointing for Ankaragucu and the fans to lose and exciting young talent like Hasan, its a good move for the player who will join former Ankaragucu players Aytac Oden, Kaan Kanak and Ozgur Cek at his new club.
The good news from today is that Mehmet Yiginer confirmed that the club will lift the transfer ban either later today or Monday at the latest. However after doing a bit of investigative work, the Turkish FA website today confirmed Omer Bozan as an Ankaragucu player on a 2 year contract. The former Hatayspor has been announced as the clubs first signing.
We will bring you more news on the transfer ban as it happens..
Ankaragucu today looked to have signed Trabzonspor right back Goksu Alhas after the 25 year old joined the clubs training camp. Having failed to break into the Trabzonspor first team, Goksu has been a regular for 1461 Trabzon their reserve side. With the arrival of Goksu, it now means the end of his Ankaragucu career for Metin Aydin who has signed for Hatayspor. We wish him all the best with his move.
Another player looking to be heading to the capital to sign for Ankaragucu is Galatasaray youngster Muhammed Ali Kurt. He plays at centre back and is set to complete his move to the club in the next couple of days.
Former Ankaragucu captain, Levent Kale has also completed a move to Inegolspor after he his contract with the club expired at the end of the season.
And finally their was a bit of bad news for the club today with the news that Hasan Kaya will miss the first 2 months of the season with an injured shoulder. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Ankaragucu today completed their pre season campaign with a 2-0 win over Tuzlaspor. The victory means that Ankaragucu won 6 and drew 1 of their 7 undefeated games. Amazingly the team didn't concede a single goal which even for pre season is a fantastic achievement.
"I don't know what is being written in the media in South Africa and Turkey, but I can tell you I did not use the words 'bonkers' or 'off the wall' that you're mentioning. I would never use such words. I am a professional. They seem more like the journalist's own words. They asked me about the situation at Gençlerbirliği and I said I found the situation here ridiculous."
And:
"Across the world, there are good journalists and bad ones and it is impossible for me to examine and stop all of their comments. As I said, I have my own views on this ridiculous situation at Gençlerbirliği and with journalists I commented on the general situation, not about individuals."
Fair enough. It's been fun, but probably time to move on.
“Cavcav is
bonkers” is actually a perfectly workable explanation for
everything that went on at Gençlerbirliği over the last few months.
And it is the one I'll use if I am asked by a newcomer to Ankara.
But for those who
are curious for more detail, the Hürriyet Ankara supplement
provided some additional treats this morning. With the warning that
the story is poorly sourced and confusing in some regards, here are
some gleanings in summary form:
- Baxter didn't want
Naci Şensoy as an assistant, preferring Erdem Akşimşek. But Şensoy
was forced on him, and Akşimşek, who'd first brought Baxter up as a possibility for Gençler, soon found himself unwanted at
the club.
- Baxter feels that
Şensoy was a liability in the dugout. Şensoy questioned decisions,
caused arguments, and bears some responsibility for losses. Baxter thinks his assistant was "not well-intentioned". The
implication I get from this -- particularly badly sourced -- section of the article is
that Baxter feels Şensoy was the Cavcav agent inside the training team. Şensoy is of course now in charge.
- Baxter had no say
in new signings, except for Skulason. His call for Kaiser Chiefs
players to be signed was received badly by the club.
- Cavcav also didn't
like Baxter pushing to bring his son, a goalkeeping coach, to the club.
- Cavcav removed
Mervan Çelik from training without informing Baxter. This was after
Mervan argued with Cavcav in the club building, silly boy.
- The club felt that
while pre-season results in Holland were good, not enough attention was being paid to
fitness and condition training. They also didn't like Baxter's
reported response: “I'm training a football team, not an athletics
team.”
- Cavcav felt the
manner of the first two losses was unacceptable and that Baxter's
substitution decisions were flawed. (Note: Subbing seems to be a
Cavcav obsession.)
- The club didn't
like the decision to play Ferhat, when they'd paid out for a foreign
keeper.
I can't vouch for any of this reporting, which has the air of being based
on a source within the club who has a measure of sympathy for Baxter.
But there's a ring of truth in a lot of it, especially since much of
it boils down to the question of “Who runs the team?”
If you've managed to
follow Gençler without knowing the answer to that question, well,
now there's no excuse.
Recently sacked Genclerbirligi coach has described Chairman Ilhan Cavcav as "bonkers". In an interview with kick.com Baxter said he was called in after the loss on Sunday night and was shouted at.
“The chairman calls me in and rants at me, even going on about my family. Then he stops ranting and simply says; ‘Okay, you can pack your things and go.’
“I’ve never met anything like him. He couldn’t even remember my name,” Baxter says.
“He’s bonkers … off the wall. He had me in meetings every day. Injured players, he’d force them to attend four sessions a day with a personal trainer."
President Mehmet Yiginer claimed last night that he would announce the removal of the transfer ban once the club had sold 5,000 season tickets. However it looks like the ban has already been removed with both Emrah Bozkurt and Ferhat Obodasi announcing they have signed 1 year deals with the club on their twitter page.
Emrah who is a 35 year old forward who spent the best part of his career with Kayseri Erciyesspor and Ferhat a 32 year old goalkeeper who also played with Erciyesspor both played in the friendly yesterday against Hatayspor.
Its also been reported the the club have signed 25 year old 1461 Trabzon midfielder Goksu Alhas which would be a major coup for the club having come through the Trabzonspor academy.
Hopefully we will have official announcements from the club shortly, in the meantime its up to the fans now to get down to Tandogan and buy season tickets!! There is no excuse for the club not to sell more than 10,000 season tickets and cheer the team back into the PTT Lig!!!!
Ankaragucu made it 5 wins and a draw in their pre season program which continued with a 1-0 win over Hatayspor this afternoon. Pre Season form doesn't really count for much, their have been times when teams haven't won a single pre season game and went onto win their league. However this pre season has saw Ankaragucu produce some impressive performances especially in defence where they have only conceded 1 goal.
As you can see from todays squad, all the players who have signed pre agreements with Ankaragucu played some part with Mehmet Yildiz scoring the only goal of the game too. There still hasn't been any announcement yet in regards to the transfer ban, but the club will be wanting to get these deals done in the coming days especially Yildiz who has a fantastic goalscoring record.
The team have 1 more pre season game to go before the season opener on the 6th September at Tokatspor. We will keep you updated with all the team news and transfer news as it happens.
El Kabir scored himself another goal last night but it wasn't enough as Antalyaspor came back to score three.
Antalyaspor 3 - 1 Genclerbirligi
Spine and myself went off to the Su'dem pub only to discover that they have changed their name to the Livorno Pub and despite having all sorts of left-wing football related posters on the wall they no longer have a television to show the damn game they are ripping off!!!!
So, a walk down to Kizilay only to find that every single pub was showing the Fenerbahce match. Arrgh. Off to another pub without any football (better than watching Fener) and some food and drinks.
So, basically. Didn't see the match.
LATE NEWS: Genclerbirligi announced that Stuart Baxter has been sacked. In charge for all of two matches. Typical Gencler, buty a bunch of players, then get a coach, and then blame that coach for two bad performances. Pathetic.
Recalling a conversation last Thursday morning as we awaited the arrival of Posh Kanka, previously known as Fellaini Kanka, Ahmet Arif, in Kizilay Starbucks .......... we know of course that he likes to make a grand entrance ! Shall we go ? When shall we go ? Shall we wait any longer ? So we left after waiting 30 minutes !!
As it happens, Posh Kanka didn't show up, but, as always, we forgive him, especially as he is now the proud possessor of his Ankaragucu Kombine ticket. Better late than never ??!!
There was some doubt if he would join us in the Maraton Tribune due to his love of the exclusivity of the VIP Area and his penchant for moving in the high circles of society. However, much to our relief and joy he has decided to join the rest of the Kankas in their adopted home of ........ Maraton !!!
We look forward to seeing him on the 13th of September for our first home league match.
How often do we hear the word positive associated with Ankaragucu? Today there was good news all around and we will start with the off field matters first of all. Melih Gokcek confirmed he has received support from local business men of Ankara who will provide an immediate 4.5 Million to lift the transfer ban, and their will be further investment of 10 million and they will look to clear the clubs debt.
We are now just awaiting an official announcement that the transfer ban has been lifted and the club can confirm the 10 deals they have in principle with players. One player who agreed a move to the club today is Hatayspor forward Omer Bozan.
Hopefully we will be bringing you more good news in the coming days, but it looks likely that the man responsible for all the financial problems at the club, could be throwing the club a lifelong, albeit with some once else money.
Ankaragucu continued their undefeated pre season form with a 1-0 win over Tarsus, the only goal of the game came through Emir Ozbey.
Team - Turgut, Orhan, Gurkan, Volkan, Onur, Mahsun, Muhammed, Harun, Metin Aydin, Hasan Kaya,
Subs - Altay, Emir, Metin Ilhan, Salih, Mustafa
Congratulations to our youth team goalkeeper Mustafa Talha Ozbey who has been called up for the Turkish U17 Squad. Another young Ankaragucu player with a bright future it seems.
It's that time of the year again when the Ankaragucu Kankas make their annual pilgrimage to Tandogan to collect their Kombine (Season) Tickets.
Of course, there are some politicians (who will remain nameless, but you know who I mean !!!) who like to change place names without consultation with the local residents, ie ....... us ! So, on our journey to Tandogan by Metro this morning when we missed our station we could perhaps be forgiven. He - the nameless one - has suddenly changed the name of Tandogan Station to Anadolu Station ............ aaaaaargh !!!! What the .......**** !!! Thankfully the Ankaragucu Headquarters sign remains unchanged at ....... TANDOGAN. It will always be Tandogan for us !!!
So, we had a little sing-song with some of the management team and then took our new kanka, Emre Onuk, the Dancing Kanka, to the Ankaragucu Shop where he purchased a soopir doopir Ankaragucu top which you can see in this photo ...........
Off to Brunch and then to Maniac Kanka Harun's Shop for tea and .............. yummy Sutas Ayran.
So, we are all set for the season. All we need now is the team to turn up on 13 September for our first home match and ............ hopefully 3 points. In the meantime, we still await news of the lifting of the transfer ban. May it happen sooooooooon !
Former Ankaragucu coach Umut Gecmen has raided his old club by taking Cihan Bal, Ali Sinan Gayla and Ramazan Adiguzel on loan for the rest of the season. The Golbasisspor used his contacts at Ankaragucu as he looks to guide the Ankara based club back to Lig 2 at first time of asking.
Cihan Bal dropped down the pecking order in goal with Turgut Kirveli and Atalay Bayinder both ahead of him. Ali Sinan was involved with the first time last season along with Ramazan but couldn't hold dow a place in the starting line up. The loan move will do all 3 of the youngsters a lot of good as they look to gain regular first team action.
Attendance: Spine, As-Yet-Unnamed Danish Kanka, a few thousand
others.
Score: 2-3
Gencler Goals: Tomic 59, Dimitriadis 74
Notable events: Rize's Kweuke insisting he must take the penalty, ignoring
coach Hikmet Karaman, and then ranting and posturing at the coach after he scored. Summary: Gençler dominated the game for long stretches, notably the 20
minutes either side of the half. But Rize were better at taking
chances and the home side sat back when they went 2-1 up and
practically invited the equaliser. Rize's late winner was just a bit
of individual inspiration by the fired-up Kweuke. A draw would have
been fair.
Gençler don't seem to be playing wingers. This meant wide gaps on
the flanks at some stages, which Rize generally did not exploit.
Gençler Players Positioned, Numbered, and Rated As TV Show
Characters: Ferhat Kaplan (Keeper, 1): Generally competent with good
distribution but worrying lack of understanding with Atta. Reggie
Perin, The Rise and Fall of Reginal Perrin. Ahmet Oğuz (Right-back, 5): Seems like a nice chap who can play.
Chandler Bing, Friends.
Ahmet Çalık (Centre-back, 2): Has become Captain and looks set to
step up to meet great expectations for this new season. Rebecca,
Cheers.
Walid Atta (Centre-back, 26): Looks classy on the ball. Inspires
confidence in everyone except Ferhat. Lee Adama, Battlestar
Galactica.
Iasmin Latovlevici (Left-back, 14): Encouraging new arrival who
may lead the gang to greater things. Frank Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in
Philadelphia. Olafur Skulason (Defensive Midfield?, 22): Ball winner, worked
hard. Bron, Game of Thrones. Panajotis Dimitriadis (Midfield, 8): Wonderfully placed header for
second goal. Good distribution. The Eleventh Doctor. Martin Spelman (Right Midfield, 88 (subbed min 58 by Berat Tosun)): Seemed
stretched at times. Was he playing the middle or the right? Missed a
few shots but worked hard and tackled hard. Terry McCann, Minder. İrfan Can Kahveci, (In the hole as them who knows these things
say, 17): A lot rides on Irfan and he sometimes over-thinks things.
He can and did create chances, but can also waste them with too many
touches. Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory. Bogdan Stancu (Striker 10 (subbed min 15 by Nemanja Tomic)): Didn't see enough of
him. Took a crunching early-match tackle. Hope the injury isn't
serious and his return will be rapid, maybe with added alien powers. Phil
Coulson, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.
Mostapha El Kabir (Striker, 11): Always a danger and fully committed.
Missed a couple of chances against Rize but remains a real asset.
Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Berat Tosun (Striker, 9): Active, chased the ball, found space.
Good to see another young, strong option up front. Bjorn, Vikings. Nemanja Tomic (Up Front Somewhere, 7): Took his chance very well,
and must have had a solid game because I didn't notice him much either way. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Evidence Spine Needs a Phone With Better Camera, and a Proper Chin:
Ankaragucu continue to add to their squad with players who have agreed deals in principle depending on the removal of the transfer ban. It now looks likely the club will be successful in removing the ban on a temporary basis.
Those claims were boosted by the news that tribune group Anti X and their leader Hakan Toka announcing that they will return to the club. The Anti X group are close to Melih Gokcek and reports are surfacing on social media that their return is a significant clue that Gokcek is already helping the club now.
Ilhan Cavcav has went back on his word of loaning Tayfur Bingol and Atabey Cicek to the club by allowing them to move to other clubs. While the president of Bursaspor has announced that Ankaragucu can take some of their reserve players on loan.
Former Genclerbirligi player Omer Bozan could also win a contract with Ankargucu as he is the latest player to be linked with a move to the club.
One player on his way out of the club is highly rated midfielder Batuhan Gulcan who has agreed a 2 year contract with Besiktas.
Reports have gathered today on social media from sources such as Yurtspor and Sporanki that Ankaragucu are set to announce that the transfer ban has been lifted tomorrow and 9 new players will arrive.
The club held a training session tonight for the players who have agreed in principle to sing for the club. It is believed that President Mehmet Yiginer will announce the removal of the transfer ban in the Haberturk newspaper tomorrow morning.
The players set to arrive are the following:
Mehmet Yildiz - 33 year old Osmanlispor striker who has an excellent goalscoring record at all levels. Big and powerful and will provide much needed firepower to the Ankaragucu attack.
Sertan Vardar - Experienced 33 year old Akhisar midfielder who has struggled to break into the first team over the last 12 months. Excellent record at lower league level and will also provide much needed experience.
Adem Saglam - 30 year old former Giresunspor centre half who has played most of his career in the lower leagues.
Ferhat Odabasi - 32 year old Goztepe goalkeeper who also has played the majority of his career in the lower leagues but has also played in the Super Lig.
Enes Kubat - Started his career with Ankaragucu before signing for Goztepe just over a year ago. The 21 year old now looks set to return to Ankaragucu. Strong and fast attacker who has potential to play at a higher level if he can get his career back on the right track.
Emrah Bozkurt - Veteran striker now 35 years old who made his name at Kayseri Erciyesspor as a fans favourite. Hasn't featured much of late but his experience will be a big help for the likes of Emir and Teoman.
Murat Sozgemez - 29 year old centre back who last played for Elazigspor. Also played in the Super Lig for the likes of Antalyaspor and Sivasspor.
Mustafa Ozturk - 28 year old former Haceteppe midfielder who is available on a free transfer.
Salih Sefercik - Towering 31 year old midfielder who last played for Gaziantep BB
Reports also today confirmed that Mehmet Yiginer and Ilhan Cavcav met yesterday and Cavcav has agreed to allow 3 Genclegrbirligi players to go on loan to Ankaragucu.
From the players mentioned above, its difficult to see many of them improving the quality of the first team. Only Enes Kubat and Mehmet Yildiz catch the eye for me with a big question mark over the rest of them.
It is not the end of the world. We didn't play what I assume will be our first 11. It was a pre-season cup that no one will remember. But still it was against Osmanlispor... so that hurt a bit.
Genclerbirligi 2 - 2 Osmanlispor (Osmanlispor won 4- 3 on penalties)
When the directors of Ankaraspor decided to re-name the club Osmanlispor I'm not sure they appreciated the irony that it was in Ankara that the Ottomans not just lost a battle, but it it was also the only time in history that an Ottoman sultan was captured.
I didn't realise the irony either until the Gencler fans started singing, "Geliyoor geliyoor Timurun filleri geliyor" - "They are coming, they're coming, Timur's elephants are coming".
Timur is also known as Tamerlane.
There is special genius in pulling out a battle from 1402 and using it as a weapon against opposition supporters, none of whom would have had a clue what the hell we were singing about. Then there is the whole thing of sort of positioning us as being anti-Ottoman. These are things that are difficult to get your head around, which I'm guessing was the whole point because as soon as the fans stopped singing they all had a good laugh.
Next inspiration for the fans was much more contemporary and came from a man who is close to the sultan himself. In May this year Bulent Arinc had a go at Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek pretty much accusing him of being corrupt. It was all part of the continuing comic festival that is the war between the Gulenists and the Erdoganists. Gokcek is a sort of a Shakespearean comic jester annoying all sides in the the drawn out conflict.
It was pretty weird when it happened. At about the sixth minute the referee blew his whistle and stopped the match. A couple of the players, from both teams, then lifted him up in the air. None of us in the crowd had a clue what was going on as the referee was being carried like a sultan to the Kapali section of the stadium (ie opposite us). The announcer said something or other but as the tannoy at the 19 Mayis Stadium is absolute and utter rubbish, the only thing we understood was "Ahmet Gokcek".
Well! This of course was the same Ahmet Gokcek, son of Melih, who took over at Ankaragucu a few years ago when it was in the Super League. Today, Ankaragucu are in the Turkey 2.Lig and in dire financial straights. You can see some of our reports on Ahmet here
It is also the same Ahmet Gokcek who was recently elected to the board of the Turkish Football Federation and is now in charge of Passolig relations (or something).
"Gokcek disari" - "Gokcek out", sang the fans before using the Bulent Arinc-inspired line, "Kim sattı, kim sattı, parcel, parcel kim sattı?" - "Who sold it, who sold it, plot by plot, who sold it".
Ahmet Gokcek gave the referee something or other and a minute of celebrations were had on the other side of the pitch. I learnt later on that this match was the referee's "jubilee" - the word being used in its Turkish version meaning, his last match. If this had been announced before the match (possibly on a better tannoy), or even at half-time, I am sure that the fans of both sides would have given the referee rousing applause, or at least polite applause. Instead the poor bugger probably had a friend record the moment and he will forever remember the booing and jeers in the background as he received the TFF version of a golden watch.
Anyway, there was some football last night and it was our first chance to see our new keeper Johannes Hopf in action... He didn't have a whole lot to do and couldn't really be blamed for the two goals we let in... so I haven't made up my mind yet.
It was a pre-season match so plenty of people were left out, Stancu and Guido being two obvious first team picks not to be in the squad last night.
One man we wanted to watch, was Olafur Skulason, a defensive midfielder, (a position that needs filling in the Gencler jigsaw) but he was injured in the first few minutes. I see today that it wasn't a bad injury.
After the silly award to the referee Gencler came out hard and even very early on we were predicting a goal feast... but... it was a counter attack that sunk us. Ahmet Celik was playing in the right back position but was also pushing miles forward. It was when he was miles forward that Osmanlispor rushed quickly down his flank, leaving him 50 yards away from the ball and the covering defenders had to rush in. The cross came in and defender Ferhat Gorgulu seemed to back off, probably wasn't sure if the keeper was going to come out or not... and the Osmanli player got to take an easy shot.
Annoying but I still thought we could come back. El Kabir probably should have scored but managed to only blast the ball at the keeper after being given a great cross by Atabey Cicek. The game went on and deep, deep into added time of the first half El Kabir scored with a header following a throw in. 1-1 half-time and all was good.
The break saw another political discussion between the Gencler fans but it was too far away for me to here what it was about. You don't have to be a genious to guess that it was about the Passolig system. The Karakizil group seem to be pretty pissed off that the majority of Gencler fans have decided to end their boycott of the system and to attend matches this season. Please note that this is ending the boycott, not ending their opposition to the system.
Back to the football and Gencler continued in their haphazard attacks. It wasn't brilliant but it wasn't terrible either. Lots and lots of work still to do though.
Osmanlispor went ahead though with a headed goal from a corner and we had had to wait, wait, wait, wait, witness some handbags between the players, wait a bit more, sing some songs... and then again in the 90th plus minute we finally scored. Ball came into the box, someone kicked it, someone headed it and then El Kabir from a metre out scored.
Full time 2 - 2
Penalties. Well, you know how these things are. You go up and give it a whack. So what the hell was Ugur Ciftci doing? He had already buggered up one very good chance in the second half and then he simply kicked it limply. A kick later El Kabir needed to score to keep us in it but managed to send it wide.
So... onto the season which starts for us on Monday August 17 against Rizespor. KO at 10 pm. I will be away but I'm sure someone will be able to write up a report.
Giving everything 90 minutes untill the last second of the game. Im proud of my team!! Happy to score… https://t.co/bVeVG6hEN8
Arrrggghhh... It was only a pre-season cup but still, the fans wanted a win but we were denied at the very end with Gocekspor winning 4-3 on penalties after the game finished 2-2. I'll post a slightly more detailed report tomorrow.
Ankaragucu completed their Bolu pre season training camp with a 0-0 draw against Fethiyespor. That means they go back to Ankara with 3 wins and a draw from the 4 games they played which will please manager Aykan Atik.
Team - Cihan, Orhan, Volkan, Gurkan, Mehmet, Muhammad, Harun, Batuhan, Hasan Kaya, Ramazan, Teoman
In other news, Ankaragucu are in the final stages of removing the current transfer ban and will complete the signings of 6-7 experienced players once the ban has been lifted.
One player on his way out of the club is talented youngster Batuhan Gulcan who has completed his move to Besiktas on a free transfer as his contract came to an end.
With Australia basically haven given up cricket for the summer it was great to be back at the 19 Mayis for some football. Not the best football in the world but Genclerbirligi did get a win to advance to the final of the four-way TSYD Ankara Cup.
Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Mersin Idman Yurdu (Gencler won 4-3 on penalties)
Still summer here but amazingly we had clouds in Ankara on Friday afternoon which meant that conditions weren't too bad for football.
But first up we met at the Red Lion to watch Australia committing suicide. Just a small group including Spine, Flying Dutchman, me, Little Oz Kanka and a new bloke from Denmark who seemed to know more about the Genclerbirligi players then we did.
Off to the stadium where we found Dan the man and his son Efe. A small crowd, as expected, but lots of the usual faces where there.
As is usual for pre-season matches the main debating point for the fans was about how
good our new players are ... whether we will be boycotting the new season. I did the rounds of the supporters groups and found out that basically everyone is going back to the game this year except for the Karakizil group who have decided to continue to boycott the Passolig system.
The main arguments being put forwa
rd were all fairly obvious. By not coming we are punishing ourselves. We are hurting the club and the team by not having home supporters at the matches, especially as every other club still get crowds. The boycott isn't working in so much as the system doesn't look like changing.
So for these reasons the decision was sort of collectively taken to get season tickets this year. We even had Nedim the amigo give us a speech during the actual match. Luckily the match was quite boring at this point and we all listened in as the Haydi Gencler leader explained the new position.
Anyway, we boycotted the whole season last year and crowds at Gencler matches were 90 percent down. The solidarity of the Gencler fans was impressive, especially when you look at how the boycotts by other clubs' fan groups all collapsed a few matches in.
The court case against the Passolig system continues on but there won't be a decision for months yet.
So... we will be back in the stadium this year.
There was also some football on last night. That wasn't very interesting though. It was a typical pre-season match - a bit slow, a bit crap.
Mersin went ahead early on after there players made it through some truely inept defence.
Gencler came back though through another brilliant goal from El Kabir who looks just as good this year as he did last year. Finished 1-1 and straight to penalties where ferhat in goal was the Gencler champion, manging to save two shots. For Gencler the penalties were scored by Guido, Taylan, Berat and Martin with our new Romanian player Latovlevici showing why he should have stuck to rugby.
Back to the Red Lion Club for Friday evening drinks and all was good with the world. (except at Trent Bridge obviously)
On to the final on Sunday. An 8 pm KO against Gokcekspor.
Time to stop thinking about swimming, sunbathing, holidays and ........... cricket. Footie is back yesssssssssss !!!
Yooro footie is already underway, as is league footie in the UK, and today in Turkey sees Bursa v Galata.....spit......saray in action for the Super Cup.
Also, not forgetting the Ankara Sportswriters Cup Final tomorrow between Genclerbirligi and IMGspor (also known as Osmanlispor).
However, we long suffering Ankaragucu kankas must wait until 6 September for the Red League to kick off when Ankaragucu travel to Tokat.
Ankaragucu's first home match will be the following Sunday 13 September against Karagumruk KO 1.30pm.
Bellshill Kanka Nadeem has kept us up to date with the comings and goings at the Club during the summer (mostly goings !!), so it is shaping up to be a long and difficult season for the young Ankaragucu team.
There are some 'new faces' in the league, so no doubt we will be 'googling' to find the locations. However, the good news is that we have two guaranteed 'away' matches to attend with Keciorengucu and Ankara Demirspor in the same league.
More details of meeting arrangments for the match on 13 September nearer the time.
In other news off the field, reports are gathering that Ankaragucu are close to lifting the transfer ban and will bring in 7 new players including former Ankaragucu striker Umut Nayir.
One player linked with a move who won't be returning to the club is Harriyet Gucer who has signed for Karsiyaka.
