Not the best start

This report is a few days late due to A) depression at the result and B) having to look after a hyperactive 22 month year-old all weekend.

As you can guess from that line Genclerbirligi lost 3-0 away to Fenerbahce on Friday night.

Eski Kanka Jim and I went down to Knight and Flight to watch the match on the big screen and after a couple of pilsens and some darts we sat down with hopes high.

After six minutes we were almost 1-0 up but Ugur Boral managed to hit the post with a brilliant strike. It was the sort of shot that proves that if there is a God he too supports the Istanbul big teams.

A couple of minutes later Fener went up thanks to a wonderfully taken freekick by Alex which was headed in by Onder. Questions must be asked though as to why no one was marking Onder right in front of goal.

Towards the end of the first half Alex again took a free kick which Nobre sent in. The Gencler players all complained that Nobre had fouled a defender. Looking at the replays it seems as if he did but it would have been a brave referee to not award the goal in front of the Fener fans in Istanbul.

The next half was all Gencler. Fener hardly got the ball at all but still Gencler were hopeless up front. Isaac Promise once again had a crap game and considering we had about 90 per cent of the ball I think more than one or two shots on goal was called for.

On the fly Fener then got their third goal but by this stage I was too depressed to figure out who got it.

The result means we are now seven points behind 3rd place (the position needed to guarantee a UEFA Cup spot). Still gettable, but Gencler have to sort out their stuff up front.

Next week Gencler are at home to Ankaraspor. Sunday. 2 p.m.. Not sure if I'm going as it is bloody cold here.

PS: Eski Kanka. Any news from Ankaragucu?

Second half kick-off

After a month or so off the football in Turkey is back with Genclerbirligi playing away to Fenerbahce on Friday night. This should be interesting what with all the crap going on between the chairmen of the clubs and news on Thursday that Gencler are sueing Fener for 1 million dollars after Marcio Aurelio signed some sort of contract with Gencler and then went on to sign for Fener (or something like that).

Anyway, Eski Kanka Jim and I are going down to Knight and Flight on Cevre Sk (next to Manhattan) at about 7 pm on Friday night to watch the match on the big screen. So if you are in Ankara and not snowed in come along.

As for Ankaragucu, they are playing Manissaspor on Saturday at 4:30 pm. As everyone knows I am a true fair weather fan and so will not be going. It's just too bloody cold.

ANKARAGUCU - PISSED OFF

Greetings Kankas. I'm really getting pissed off with the antics of Cemal Aydin (Chairman) and all the coaches we've had recently. Just read in the Hurriyet this morning that Umut Bulut (the only player who can score goals for us) has been approached by Trabzonspor and there is a possibility of a move. If it happens I will be really really really pissed off. Not content with breaking up our successful UEFA Cup team of a couple of years ago, eg,
Gokmen to Ankaraspor
Burak to Denizlispor
Adem to Besiktas
Yilmaz to Manisa
Hakan Keles to Antalya
and Augustine to Trabzon
we are at it again. As soon as any of our players start showing up in the MVP section of the Hurriyet just call Cemal Aydin and name your price !!!
Its enough to make me want to support Genclerbirligi, but NOT Ankaraspor !!!!

All the best from a disgruntled Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARA FOOTIE......STOP PRESS .........

The EFES Cup Final ??? Dunno and who cares anyway !!! After all there was a more important match yesterday....

ANKARAGUCU 3 Turk Telecom 0

Is this an omen of an Ankaragucu surge up the league after the winter break and qualification for the UEFA Cup me wonders ??????

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

JOCK FOOTIE - CORRECTION

Greetings Kankas. Correction to my last blog............

Re Hibees, it wasn't 5 `lucky breakaways`, it was ....... SIX !!! With apologies to all the Hibee supporters out there (Hibbie Kanka Athole) !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

JOCK AND INGALLISH CUP SHOCKS

Greetings Kankas. Most of you will have seen all the recent cup shocks in the UK, but surely the biggest was in Glasgow when The Bully Wee (Clyde of the 1st Division) knocked the `Mighty` Celtic of the Premier League out of the Jock Cup. Sheer joy !!! The other tie of interest was The Hibees being totally outplayed by 2nd Division Arbroath but managing to squeeze by with FIVE lucky breakaways !!!! As a reward, Hibees have been drawn away to The Huns (Rangers) in the next round. Hmmmmmm, wouldn't like to put any YTL on the outcome of that one !

Watched the Burton Albion V ManYoo match on TV last night and what a shock ManYoo received. They were lucky to go back to Manchester with a 0-0. The other match on TV last night was a very entertaining one when Leicester came back from 0-2 down to beat Spurs 3-2.

Tonight in Antalya is the EFES Cup Final between Besiktas and Galata....spit...saray and do forgive me if I ...yawn....don't watch it......... yawn !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Cavcav deprived of his rights

More weird news from the world of Turkish football with Genclerbirligi chairman Ilhan Cavcav being fined 20,000 TL for his winning the "Article 301 'Should've kept your mouth shut, idiot' Award for 2005.

According to the Anatolia news agency he was also "deprived of his rights" (hak mahrumiyeti) for 30 days by the football federation. There was no further explanation of what exactly being deprived of his rights actually means but if any of you out there want to sue Cavcav, for whatever reason, I suggest you do it in the next 30 days.

Meanwhile, Fener fans in Antalya apparently shouted anti-Cavcav slogans when the team arrived down there for a winter camp. The whole affair is going to make the first match of the second half of the season Fener V Gencler in Istanbul rather interesting.

In other news, Galatasaray seems to be imploding at the moment with three of their foreign players refusing to show up in Antalya for winter training due to not being payed for months. Poor darlings.

In other other news, Haluk Ulusoy has just announced he is running for the presidency of the football federation. Well, he didn't actually say he was running but did say that "Haluk Ulusoy is ready to do his duty."

Referring to himself in the third person at least a dozen times surely makes him a shoe-in for the job. "What has Haluk Ulusoy done for Turkish football?" Ulusoy asked himself at a press conference on Friday, before going on to claim that he personally was responsible for Turkey coming third in the World Cup a few years ago. He's got my vote.