Ankaragucu began pre season preparations last week and are set to head off to Kizilcahamam for this years training camp. We have a lot of news to bring you from the last couple of weeks, and as always with Ankaragucu, some good and some bad.
Faruk Koca as expected won the recent elections against Metin Akyuz and claimed he has constructed the "best management in the history of Ankaragucu". Some Ankaragucu fans have done some research on the members of Koca's management team and agree on paper there are some strong individuals with a lot of money.
Football however isn't just about money. You need people who understand the game, can hire the right people into key positions such as Manager, Sporting Director, Scouts, Youth Academy, Social Media, Marketing etc. Koca also made some ambitious statements last season when he said Ankaragucu would be in the Champions League in 4 years time. The team went on to be relegated.
The new management team wasted no team with their first big decision, and incredible one at that, as they hired Mustafa Dalci who they parted ways with last season after poor results and despite 95% of Ankaragucu fans saying they don't want him as manager. Faruk Koca explained that he didnt want to dismiss Dalci last season but agreed to his resignation at the 2nd request. No one can understand why Faruk Koca wants to hire Dalci and use Emre Yildiz his agent either who came in for criticism last season.
The appointment of Dalci has also raised question marks over the future of Torgeir Borven. The Norwegian striker was the clubs top scorer last season and was one of a few players unhappy playing under Dalci last season. Dalci preferred Jonathan Bolingi and Emre Gural to Borven and treated him very poorly.
Borven has had offers from other Super Lig clubs including Alanyaspor and Gaziantep but he wants to stay at Ankaragucu and has asked for his contract to be renewed in line with other players. The club held a press conference yesterday where one of the Directors Haluk and Dalci both said they offered Borven a better contract. Borven has since denied this and is angry at the lies again coming from members of the club.
Again, as so often is the case, we have a management incapable of telling the truth and treating people properly.
In more positive news the club have paid the outstanding salaries of all players and want to play all the clubs debts in the next 12 months which would be a fantastic achievement if they are successful.
Alper Potuk has also confirmed he wants to stay with the club and help Ankaragucu get back into the Super Lig despite offers from other Super Lig clubs. Ibrahim Akdag announced that he is leaving the club, but Ankaragucu released as statement saying he has 1 year left on his contract and if he wants to leave, his new club will have to pay a transfer fee.
On the transfer front, Erdem Ozgenc who has a succesfull period with the club in 2017-19 winning promotion from Lig 1 and playing well in Super Lig has returned on a 1 year contract. He will be joined by Cem Ekinci from Keciorengucu and it looks like Owusu Kwabena a 24 year old Ghanaian from Qarabag is also on his way to the Turkish Capital.
Ankaragucu have signed a deal with Diadora to be the clubs new shirt and kit makers and it already looks like a big upgrade on Nike. The club have 3 new jerseys coming out and will let the fans chose the 4th.
A new 19 Mayis Stadium is being built at the same location and will hold 45,000 seats. Ankaragucu will move in once it is finally constructed.
The Ankaragucu youth academy has been doing great things under Cengiz Paca and Levant Kale and they have been rewarded with 5 of their players being called up to the first team for pre season training.
French Born Emre Eren who was outstanding for the youth team joins Ulus Yilmaz, Halil Fatih Acikgoz, and Kaan Cinkaya who has just recently been called up for the Turkey U17 Squad. Sirozhiddin Astankulov a 15 year old striker from Kyrgyzstan has also been called up. The youngster is said to be one of the best prospects to come from the academy in a long time and scored 20 goals last season despite playing above his age group.
Berke Gurbuz is also training with the first team. The 18 year old burst onto the scene 2 years ago but hasnt quite kicked on with question marks against his size and work rate. He clearly has the talent though and this will be a big season for him.
As always, we will have all the latest news and developments as they happen over the summer!
Ankaragucu management certainly know how to talk the talk, most of which we have heard before from the Gokçek Era to the present.!!! However, now is not the time to critise....... let's see what happens in the next few months and let's hope that they are not empty words.!!!
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