More troubles at Ankaragucu

As none of us could be bothered to go to the Ankaragucu-Fenerbahce friendly on the weekend thanks to Cemal Aydin deciding to charge so much I thought I would do nothing but give the result (which I did in a previous post, Ankaragucu lost 2-3 by the way).

I thought that would be the end of the matter but having read this morning's Hurriyet I think I'll have a nother go.

Apparently around 700 Ankaragucu supporters paid their 15tl and watched in gecekondu. Just like in the last few matches their main song for the match was "yonetim istifa". One interesting aspect Hurriyet reports was that Ankaragucu Captain Hakan Kutlu was also being booed every time he touched the ball.

Casting my mind back to the Ankaragucu-Trabzonspor 2-2 draw, despite singing all match for the management to resign the fans still called the players over at the end of the match to give them a boost.

One player didn't go over the fans... yep, Hakan Kutlu.

So now the captain is in the supporters bad books along with Cemil Aydin.

Hurriyet reports that at half-time during the friendly match on Sunday went over to gecekondu and told them he was quitting football. He took a shower, refused to come out for the second half (he was probably going to be replaced anyway as it was a friendly match) and went off without watching the second half.

Kutlu is pretty old (just a few months younger than me) and probably ready to retire anyway. Ankaragucu coach Hikmet Karaman says he won't let him retire... but still.

Oh dear, oh dear.

There is one other piece of interesting news from Ankaragucu. Forward Victor Agali seems to have gone missing. He was given permission to go back to Nijeria due to the league break but didn't come back on time. According to Hurriyet he hasn't answered his phone for four days.

It doesn't rain but it pours.

Who are France

I'm back it's me mini hibeekanka. Who are they Scotland 1- France 0. Former Hibee Caldwell got the goal after 67th minute goal. Da boys in blue had about 5 chances but rest was defending. Henry hit the post, two times the ball hit the back of the Scotland net but were offside. That leaves Scots on top of the group by 3 points.

Meanwhile at home Hibeekanka has lost a tone of hair and is trying to brake my arm by trying out his new poilce moves on me, he's no chance in catching me.

As for Eski Kanka calling me aggressive, i'm no way near aggressive i'm just a cute cuddle teddy bear (your a bully Eski kanka). The referee couldn't take me scoring any more. He was a fish.

In despair for the youth of today

In line with my job as full-time reporter for this blog I receive all sorts of stuff from research companies, PR outfits and purveyors of junk. Normally most of it gets thrown out quicker than it takes for me to actual sign for whatever it is.

I was having a coffee this morning though and decided to at least skim through the latest document to make it to my office, a survey concerning "How young people see life" by a group called International Politics and Strategy Research Centre, or UPSAM using the Turkish acronym.

I'm not really sure what the "views of the youth" has to do with international politics, but anyway.

The survey is full of all the normal sort of tosh. No real surprise that the majority of Turkish youth have had a cigarette or that chat rooms are their favourite places on the internet. But one question certainly grabbed my attention. "Who do take as an example while you you are growing up?" It was something like that. Perhaps a better translation would be "Who is your role model in life?"

Now these are always interesting questions. Times change and so therefore do people's role models. As a Generation X person I would guess that if this question had been asked when I was a "youth" the biggest answer would most probably be Kurt Kobain, followed by whoever invented ecstasy.

So who is the most popular role model for Turkish youth.

Polat Alemdar.

This bloke plays the part of a tough, no nonsense, Turkish intelligence officer who goes around the place upholding Turkish honour in a TV show that is amazingly boring. 19 percent of Turkish youth have this bloke as a role model. Scary.

The rest of the list is a funny read though. In descending order
Polat Alemdar
Mother
Father
Teacher
Auntie
Uncle
Big Brother (I assume this is not the TV show, cause if it is we are really stuffed)
Ataturk
Hulya Avsar (oh dear)
Prime Minister Erdogan (oh dear)
Al Pacino (what the f...)
The Prophet Muhammed
Cousin
Seray Sever (Mrs. Oz Kanka says she is famous for not wearing much)

And then bottom of the list:

Fenerbahce Chairman Aziz Yildirim (no comment)

A pricey friendly

With the small matter of international matches on this weekend we don't have any local league action. Instead most teams are organising friendlies for those left behind. As these are next to useless I normally don't bother even mentioning them.

I'll make an exception this time as Ankaragucu are taking on Fenerbahce on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.. When I first saw the news I thought I might pop along. The weather in Ankara is still good and I'll take any excuse for a pre-match beer.

That was until I saw the prices. Ankaragucu Chairman Cemal Aydin, not content with sqeezing us fans in the league, has decided to squeeze us in friendlies as well. The tickets for gecekondu are 15tl and 25tl for maraton. This is the same as they were charging last week for the league match against Trabzon.

So I won't be going and I doubt too many others will be either. Cemal Aydin will get to watch Ankaragucu with no supporters. An interesting tactic to avoid hearing chants calling for his resignation?

EDIT: Sunday night result. Ankaragucu 2, Fenerbahce 3

THE TURKISH CUP - A VERY INTERESTING DRAW !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Further to my previous blog on the Turkish Cup (ANKARAGUCU - Reason to be Cheerful) the sectional draw has been made and a very interesting situation has developed. We have ANKARAGUCU and Genclerbirligi in the same group !!

The other teams in our Group D are Besik...spit....tas, Rize and Buca from the 2nd League.

The first matches will be played on Wednesday 25 October and Gencler received a `rest day` for that particular day.

ANKARAGUCU will play Rize at home and Besik....spit...tas will play Buca away.

Don't have the KO times yet, but I anticipate an afternoon KO, probably late afternoon. Details when I have them.

So, a `mouthwatering` derby match in the Cup to look forward to. I wonder which team will have home advantage for Gecikondu ???

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Kirkcaldy Kanka's horse encounters

Kirkcaldy Kanka Martyn is clearing suffering from Ankaragucu-withdrawal. He has been trying to treat this terrible condition by heading off to matches in Liverpool but somehow I don't think it is working. Kirkaldy Kanka takes over:

I went with Sinead to Everton v Wigan. As we arrived at the stadium we stood watching a police horse trotting in the middle of a narrow side road. We were transfixed as we hadn't seen a horse at a match in a while. Not sure Sinead ever had.

We were slightly on the road ourselves when I noticed the horse shitting. And not normal shit, like very milky weetabix. I pulled Sinead onto the pavement, obviously in the belief that if a pedestrian is on the pavement, he is safe. There was a man selling raffle tickets ahead of the horse in the middle of the road. He was wearing a nice pair of cream trousers. We noticed the horse shit rebound off the road and spray on the man's trousers. The man swore in disbelief at the horse. The horse was unaffected by this and continued to relieve itself.

Myself and Sinead were laughing at this unfortunate man, when I noticed Sinead's jeans had an interesting pattern on them. When I pointed this out it was her turn to give the horse abuse. I was still laughing when I looked at my own jeans.

'Ya dirty big bok horse!'

Still had to laugh though. My jeans were not too bad, Sinead's were worse. The other guy was a mess, and it really served him right for wearing cream trousers.

We sat way back in the old stand for the game. Probably just as well considering the fumes we were unleashing. 2-2. Good game. We were impressed with Andrew Johnson.

I went back last weekend to watch Everton v Manchester City. This time I had a good seat behind the goals. The stadium is impressive. Inside the stand they actually serve beer before kick off and at half time. You can't take it to your seat, but it is an improvement from sunflower seeds. There are video screens showing previous games both in the corners of the stadium and inside the stands.

Quite a good game this one. Everton scored on the stroke of half-time and looked to be heading for a victory. In the 93rd minute however, City equalised. 1-1. Can't say I was upset. All the more exciting really. I'm at that stage of not really caring about the result, just wanting to see things happen. And I certainly saw something different next.

After the game the City keeper and Joey Barton went to the away fans. Barton is hated by Everton fans. He's actualy from Huyton in Liverpool. He punched an Everton fan in Thailand on an away tour with City, and was sent home. His step brother was charged with murder. The Everton fans had reminded him of this during the game. At the end he gave his shirt to a disabled City fan. Then he walked past our stand and mouthed off at the Everton fans, who were mouthing off at him. Barton then dropped his shorts and flashed his ass at us.

As I left the stadium I passed some Everton supporters who were complaining about this to the police. Barton will find out today if he will be charged by the police or suspended by the FA. The media seem to be making light of the incident.

Another thing I should mention is the Galatasaray Liverpool game. Since I live less than 1 minute walk from Anfield, I was hoping to get tickets. But Anfield is always sold out. I must look for ticket touts.

It is a terrible feeling to hear all the noise of a match inside your own house, and not be able to go. Even more so on this day. From the afternoon I could hear Turkish football chants. Since these rarely change much, I recognised all of them. And it hit my old heart. Everywhere in the house I could not escape them. It was in my toilet that I decided that enough was enough.

For the Kankas I was setting out in full Maniac Kanka sponsered Ankaragucu gear. I walked around the stadium getting funny looks from Liverpool fans. Then I saw a group of Turks heading to a kebap shop. They never looked at me. A part of me felt relieved, what was I doing? And then ahead I saw the travelling suport. Maybe 100 of them dressed in Galatastaray gear. For Gucu, I decided to walk right through them and their drums. They looked me up and down, and parted to let me through. The songs stopped, and I was allowed to pass. Most were dressed in Galatasaray gear, but a couple had Fenerbahce tops and one had a Malatyaspor top on. It was also red and yellow stripes.

I knew when I saw the Fener tops that I was safe. Many of those supporters were no doubt living in England. That would explain the lack of diverse songs. I got a few funny looks as I walked up the street in my gear, and even more ones as I opened my front door. An Ankaragucu fan, living in Anfield road?! Some Turks shouted at me before I pulled the door shut, 'Ankaragucu mu?' I turned and sang at them. 'En buyuk baskent!' Amoung other things. They smiled and gave me the thumbs up. They had seen something they never expected to see on Anfield Road, I had been reminded of something I missed.

PHOTOCAPTIONS: The picture of the statue is from Manchester Town Hall. The other photo is of my nephew Paul who went to the Battle of Kayseri. This is him at Raith Rovers in the League Cup 2-1 defeat to Airdrie United.

HIBERNIAN LADIES - LEAGUE CUP IN THEIR SIGHTS

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It may not have been a good weekend for the mens team, but the ladies certainly showed them how to play footie and WIN.

They thrashed Raith Rovers Ladies in the quarter final of the Ladies Scottish Premier League Cup 8-1 (I say again......... EIGHT !).

3-1 up at half-time, the coach told them to go out for the 2nd half and do it all again. It must be great to be a coach when the players do exactly what you tell them !!!

I wonder if Kircaldy Kanka has any comments to make about his beloved Raith Rovers being put to the sword by HIBERNIAN ???!!! Comments awaited with anticipation !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim