Hibs have only managed two points from their last two games and find themselves stuck in the middle of the table. When Rangers and Hearts have been dropping points Hibs could have been closing the gap but instead lost 2-1 away to Aberdeen and then drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock on Saturday. The draw with Kilmarnock was John Collins first game in charge and he will probably be looking back to Monaco for a goalkeeper as Hibs weakest position came back to haunt them.
The defeat up at Aberdeen was a sore one to take as the winning goal came in the dying seconds of the game, Hibs had been reduced to 10 men (again) and looked comfortable in holding on for a draw when Scott Severin hit a 25 yarder past Zibi. I believe the draw with Kilmarnock was a fair result, I am still not getting to the games due to other committments but after next Saturday will be able to give a better account of the game.
Hibs play Hearts on Wednesday in the League cup quarter final, hopefully we will see a win for a change.
Hibbee Kanka
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Monday, November 06, 2006
THE TURKISH CUP AND UPCOMING LEAGUE FIXTURES
Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
The Turkish Cup sectional matches continue this week and the BIG ONE is right here in Ankara. Another helping of Genclerbirligi and ANKARAGUCU.
Wednesday 8 November KO 2pm.
Not a particularly good time to stage another local derby match, however, having missed yesterday's great ANKARAGUCU win, I will be going to this one. Gencler is the home team again, so if you are coming, then please remember which end of the Stadium you will use. Meeting in The Chopin Bar at about 12 noon and going to the Stadium at 1pm.
Next weekend sees Gencler playing away against Erciyes, but ANKARAGUCU is at home.
Sunday 12 November KO 2pm. More details of meeting venue nearer the time.
Hope some of you can come on Wednesday and join me. All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
The Turkish Cup sectional matches continue this week and the BIG ONE is right here in Ankara. Another helping of Genclerbirligi and ANKARAGUCU.
Wednesday 8 November KO 2pm.
Not a particularly good time to stage another local derby match, however, having missed yesterday's great ANKARAGUCU win, I will be going to this one. Gencler is the home team again, so if you are coming, then please remember which end of the Stadium you will use. Meeting in The Chopin Bar at about 12 noon and going to the Stadium at 1pm.
Next weekend sees Gencler playing away against Erciyes, but ANKARAGUCU is at home.
Sunday 12 November KO 2pm. More details of meeting venue nearer the time.
Hope some of you can come on Wednesday and join me. All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
Not as cold as we thought
Genclerbirligi 1- Ankaragucu 2
At 10 o'clock Sunday morning the snow was coming down and the wind was howling. It was bleak. But that wasn't going to stop us from going to the match and so wrapped up for a Siberian winter we headed down to the Chopin for pre-match beers and then off to the 19 Mayis stadium. By the time we got to the stadium however the weather seemed to have changed completely. We were sitting in the sun and it was actually quite warm. Weird.
Ten of us made it today for the match, unfortunately the Ankaragucu Kanka crowd were thin on the ground, only Casanova Kanka Gokhan made it for the sari-lacivert side, but us Gencler supporters were out in force including Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo, Spine, Legal Kanka Saadet, Jac, Roger, Arja, Oguz and Viking Kanka Jens.
On to the football and it was nice to see Ankara's two top teams gathering pre-kick-off to salute the crowd together. After all, this may have been a a damn important derby but in the end the real enemies are all in Istanbul.
First half and Gencler were definately on top. The Ankaragucu keeper was never really challenged but that is not because he shouldn't have been. Yet again, this blog's favourite striker, yes, Mr. Isaac Promise, buggered up in front. We should have been one, possibly, two in front by half time.
At the same time I have no idea what the hell our keeper Jesus was thinking. At one stage he came off the line attempting to punch a ball, buggered it up and went running off towards the corner post to clean it up. At this stage he was beaten by a 'Gucu player and if it wasn't for luck the ball would have ended in the back of the net.
If they served beer at the 19 Mayis stadium, we would have been crying into them.
Second half and Gencler had clearly taken a sedative or 11. It was dire stuff. Midfield rubbish, defence... oh dear.
In the 56th and the 64th minute Ankaragucu pounced, with Ceyhun and Mustafa Ozkan scoring. The second goal in particular was nice with Mustafa scoring from what we thought was an impossible angle.
As for the first goal, was it offside. I guess we will have to look at the replays (which I shall put up as a link here soon).
2-0 down and Ankaragucu started to play act, players were falling down left, right and centre in an attempt to run down the clock.
One might have thought that our keeper Jesus might actually have wanted to speed things up a bit at this point, but no, he took his time whenever we had goalkick and did Promise have any idea what the score was when he was so so so rightly replaced towards the end.
Promise! If your team is 2-0 down and you are replaced your job is to bloody well run off the field, not saunter off as if you had just scored a hat-trick!
After Promise was replaced we finally started to play some football and it resulted in a goal from Mehmet Cakir in the 76th.
It was all Genclerbirligi for the rest of the match but to no avail.
Depressed we trudged, not unlike Isaac Promise, out of the stadium and off to the Red Lion Club to watch England get slaughtered by the All Blacks. At about half-time we finally came across some Ankaragucu Kankas in the form of Maniac Kanka Harun, his mates and Sir Eski Kanka Jim.
Smug would probably be the best word to sum them up.
EDIT: Just fixed up the spelling of Arja. Sorry about that.
At 10 o'clock Sunday morning the snow was coming down and the wind was howling. It was bleak. But that wasn't going to stop us from going to the match and so wrapped up for a Siberian winter we headed down to the Chopin for pre-match beers and then off to the 19 Mayis stadium. By the time we got to the stadium however the weather seemed to have changed completely. We were sitting in the sun and it was actually quite warm. Weird.
Ten of us made it today for the match, unfortunately the Ankaragucu Kanka crowd were thin on the ground, only Casanova Kanka Gokhan made it for the sari-lacivert side, but us Gencler supporters were out in force including Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo, Spine, Legal Kanka Saadet, Jac, Roger, Arja, Oguz and Viking Kanka Jens.
On to the football and it was nice to see Ankara's two top teams gathering pre-kick-off to salute the crowd together. After all, this may have been a a damn important derby but in the end the real enemies are all in Istanbul.
First half and Gencler were definately on top. The Ankaragucu keeper was never really challenged but that is not because he shouldn't have been. Yet again, this blog's favourite striker, yes, Mr. Isaac Promise, buggered up in front. We should have been one, possibly, two in front by half time.
At the same time I have no idea what the hell our keeper Jesus was thinking. At one stage he came off the line attempting to punch a ball, buggered it up and went running off towards the corner post to clean it up. At this stage he was beaten by a 'Gucu player and if it wasn't for luck the ball would have ended in the back of the net.
If they served beer at the 19 Mayis stadium, we would have been crying into them.
Second half and Gencler had clearly taken a sedative or 11. It was dire stuff. Midfield rubbish, defence... oh dear.
In the 56th and the 64th minute Ankaragucu pounced, with Ceyhun and Mustafa Ozkan scoring. The second goal in particular was nice with Mustafa scoring from what we thought was an impossible angle.
As for the first goal, was it offside. I guess we will have to look at the replays (which I shall put up as a link here soon).
2-0 down and Ankaragucu started to play act, players were falling down left, right and centre in an attempt to run down the clock.
One might have thought that our keeper Jesus might actually have wanted to speed things up a bit at this point, but no, he took his time whenever we had goalkick and did Promise have any idea what the score was when he was so so so rightly replaced towards the end.
Promise! If your team is 2-0 down and you are replaced your job is to bloody well run off the field, not saunter off as if you had just scored a hat-trick!
After Promise was replaced we finally started to play some football and it resulted in a goal from Mehmet Cakir in the 76th.
It was all Genclerbirligi for the rest of the match but to no avail.
Depressed we trudged, not unlike Isaac Promise, out of the stadium and off to the Red Lion Club to watch England get slaughtered by the All Blacks. At about half-time we finally came across some Ankaragucu Kankas in the form of Maniac Kanka Harun, his mates and Sir Eski Kanka Jim.
Smug would probably be the best word to sum them up.
EDIT: Just fixed up the spelling of Arja. Sorry about that.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Real footy weather
As you may deduce from the photo taken from my window a few minutes ago it is a little snowy in Ankara and thus I'd advise everyone coming to the match later today to wear appropriate clothing (in fact just put on everything you own) . To think it was only 10 weeks ago or so that we were wearing shorts to the football. They say that rain is a leveller in football. What do they say about snow?
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The Ankara derby details
Forget about the over-hyped Spanish siesta that is Real Madrid versus Barcelona, Chelsea-Arsenal is a yawn attended only by sponsors and those with much too much money, and who on earth cares about ancient religious squabbles that most of the world has managed to leave behind except for Rangers and Celtic fans.
Yep, those matches are just media beat-ups because the toughest derby of them all is on this week: Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu.
Gencler go into the match on a bit of a low. Last week saw them play dissapointingly, losing 1-0 away to Galatasaray. That loss came after a brilliant 3-0 drubbing of Trabzonspor.
Ankaragucu are flying high. After a dismal start to the season the sari-lacivert boys have won their last two league matches, both by impressive scores.
Of course, this is the match that pitches mate against mate, kanka versus kanka with Sir Eski Kanka leading the Ankaragucu crowd and yours truely rallying the Gencler troops.
The match kicks off on Sunday at 2 p.m. and in the spirit of love and peace all kankas, whether they be Ankaragucu or Gencler supporters, are invited to be at the Chopin bar at midday for pre-battle drinks.
Those details again:
Sunday November 5
Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu
Kick-off 2 p.m.
Meeting at Chopin at Midday
Also, if any of you guys or girls with Gencler season tickets aren't coming to the match please tell me so I can collect them off you. You Ankaragucu lot, have fun in the away section.
EDIT: Wednesday afternoon. It has just been announced that the match has been put back to 3pm. How nice of them to give us an extra hour at the pub. ie still meeting at midday.
Yep, those matches are just media beat-ups because the toughest derby of them all is on this week: Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu.
Gencler go into the match on a bit of a low. Last week saw them play dissapointingly, losing 1-0 away to Galatasaray. That loss came after a brilliant 3-0 drubbing of Trabzonspor.
Ankaragucu are flying high. After a dismal start to the season the sari-lacivert boys have won their last two league matches, both by impressive scores.
Of course, this is the match that pitches mate against mate, kanka versus kanka with Sir Eski Kanka leading the Ankaragucu crowd and yours truely rallying the Gencler troops.
The match kicks off on Sunday at 2 p.m. and in the spirit of love and peace all kankas, whether they be Ankaragucu or Gencler supporters, are invited to be at the Chopin bar at midday for pre-battle drinks.
Those details again:
Sunday November 5
Genclerbirligi versus Ankaragucu
Kick-off 2 p.m.
Meeting at Chopin at Midday
Also, if any of you guys or girls with Gencler season tickets aren't coming to the match please tell me so I can collect them off you. You Ankaragucu lot, have fun in the away section.
EDIT: Wednesday afternoon. It has just been announced that the match has been put back to 3pm. How nice of them to give us an extra hour at the pub. ie still meeting at midday.
HIBERNIAN APPOINT A NEW MANAGER
Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
The following article was nicked from the Hibs Web Site (with apologies !!)....
`Hibernian FC today announce the appointment of John Collins as Manager. John emerged from a group of strong candidates following a rigorous process conducted by the Club. John has agreed a 3 year managerial contract.
Chairman Rod Petrie said: “John is a man with talent, ambition, drive and determination. A footballer of international renown, whose playing career spans five clubs in three countries over 19 years, his achievements make him a role model for our players.
“John has spent three years preparing for today. He has all the technical qualifications, including a UEFA Pro Licence, which means he could be considered for any job in Europe. John decided that he wanted to be a manager in his own right and turned down a number of opportunities to become a coaching assistant.
“John has the ambition and character to be a top manager. We have a talented group of players and a tremendous infrastructure at the Club. John joins us at an exciting time.
“Hibernian gave John his start as a professional footballer. However he is not being appointed for what he achieved here as a player but for what he can achieve here as a manager.”
John Collins said: “I am delighted to be taking up the managerial position at Hibernian and returning to the Club where I started my football career. This is a Club of tremendous stature with a great tradition for playing entertaining and attacking football.
“I would like to let the supporters know that my philosophy is all about playing a passing game with passion, enthusiasm and commitment. Supporters want to win and they want to be entertained. It is our job to give them that.”
Eski Kanka said......On a personal note, I have seen John Collins play for Hibs many times and he was always the true professional and well respected by players and fans alike.
However, I am unsure of what he has been doing recently. So, perhaps Hibbie Kanka Athole can fill us in. Also, the reaction from the fans on the appointment.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
The following article was nicked from the Hibs Web Site (with apologies !!)....
`Hibernian FC today announce the appointment of John Collins as Manager. John emerged from a group of strong candidates following a rigorous process conducted by the Club. John has agreed a 3 year managerial contract.
Chairman Rod Petrie said: “John is a man with talent, ambition, drive and determination. A footballer of international renown, whose playing career spans five clubs in three countries over 19 years, his achievements make him a role model for our players.
“John has spent three years preparing for today. He has all the technical qualifications, including a UEFA Pro Licence, which means he could be considered for any job in Europe. John decided that he wanted to be a manager in his own right and turned down a number of opportunities to become a coaching assistant.
“John has the ambition and character to be a top manager. We have a talented group of players and a tremendous infrastructure at the Club. John joins us at an exciting time.
“Hibernian gave John his start as a professional footballer. However he is not being appointed for what he achieved here as a player but for what he can achieve here as a manager.”
John Collins said: “I am delighted to be taking up the managerial position at Hibernian and returning to the Club where I started my football career. This is a Club of tremendous stature with a great tradition for playing entertaining and attacking football.
“I would like to let the supporters know that my philosophy is all about playing a passing game with passion, enthusiasm and commitment. Supporters want to win and they want to be entertained. It is our job to give them that.”
Eski Kanka said......On a personal note, I have seen John Collins play for Hibs many times and he was always the true professional and well respected by players and fans alike.
However, I am unsure of what he has been doing recently. So, perhaps Hibbie Kanka Athole can fill us in. Also, the reaction from the fans on the appointment.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
Sunday, October 29, 2006
ANKARAGUCU ......... ON FIRE ..... AT LAST !!!
Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
Good news at last…… ANKARAGUCU are now realising their potential. I’m not saying that they are the `finished article` but it is beginning to come together. Today…….
ANKARAGUCU 4 Erciyes of Kayseri 1
The day started out slowly……. in The Chopin Bar. Yours truly, Huso Kanka and Nuri Kanka, met and conversed for over an hour in our broken Turkish and English. We made it though. Perhaps the EFES helped a little ??!! It’s amazing what you can achieve when there isn’t a translator (Oz Kanka) there to make it easy !!! Maniac Kanka was at a Volleyball match with his daughter and couldn’t come and so he was forgiven. However, what about all the other Ankara Kankas who are (were ?) so famous in Ankara ? Where were they today ??!! Marash Kanka Hakan came late and joined us just as we were leaving for the Stadium.
Off we went to Maraton again and met up with Maniac Kanka Harun and his beautiful daughter Hazal, who will NOT be called Little Maniac Kankie ! Her name is Melek (Angel) Kankie and she is now the official Kanka Mascot.. For those of you who have never met an angel before then you need look no more. Just meet Melek Kankie and you will have met your first angel !!
ANKARAGUCU started with the same line up as in the past 2 matches and again their tactics were similar…….. attack …….. attack ! I have to take my hat off to Hikmet Bey. Since his arrival, the team are really all fired up.
The match was only 5 minutes old when Mustafa put ANKARAGUCU into the lead after some nice work down the left wing and a cross ball in which Mustafa met unmarked.
The Gecikondu End was full, Maraton was almost full and Kapali was almost full. So, the volume of the singing increased as the crowd anticipated more……… and it came. Five minutes later and the moment we were all praying for after many weeks……. a goal for Bebbe ! Good passing (Hikmet is NOW reading our blog !!) put Bebbe clear and he struck an unstoppable shot to open his account for the season.
What a start. Could it continue ? Good question. 10 minutes later came the answer and yet another ANKARAGUCU attack down the right wing with Abdulrahman Dereli involved. With everyone expecting a cross, he fired in an angled fierce shot which screamed into the top left hand corner of the goal with the goalkeeper clawing air !
3 – 0 up after 20 minutes and we were all jumping up and down shouting, singing, dancing and kissing each other. Was there more to come we were thinking ???
Actually, no. The pace slowed down a little and Erciyes came more into the match leading up to the half time whistle, but that’s how it stayed.
Into the 2nd half and it was more end to end stuff now and all credit to Erciyes for not throwing in the towel. However, after only 10 minutes came the goal of the match. Ceyhun disposessed the Erciyes full back, who was in half a mind what to do with the ball, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, cut it back for the incoming Bebbe to slot it home for his 2nd goal of the match. The Stadium errupted at this stage and Bebbe’s name was resounding around the Stadium. This must have been sweet music in his ears after so many near misses and frustrations over the past few weeks.
The pace of the game slowed even further as ANKARAGUCU made 3 substitutions with the match well won. However, a bad mistake from the normally reliable Emre gifted a chance to Erciyes in the last few minutes which they took very well.
This was more like the ANKARAGUCU of old. Attacking and scoring, and defending in depth. Running off the ball, passing accurately and playing as a team. An excellent performance which will be leaving Genclerbirligi supporters trembling in fear as next Sunday’s local derby match approaches.
Moving up into the mid-table region now and……… thinking SERIOUSLY about the UEFA Cup next season !!!!
After the match it was to The Cappakokia Bar for celebration drinks and lots of toasts to Bebbe, the hero for the day !!
Details of the Gencler V ANKARAGUCU match next Sunday coming up from Oz Kanka in an email soon.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim……… still on a high !
The goals can be seen here
Good news at last…… ANKARAGUCU are now realising their potential. I’m not saying that they are the `finished article` but it is beginning to come together. Today…….
ANKARAGUCU 4 Erciyes of Kayseri 1
The day started out slowly……. in The Chopin Bar. Yours truly, Huso Kanka and Nuri Kanka, met and conversed for over an hour in our broken Turkish and English. We made it though. Perhaps the EFES helped a little ??!! It’s amazing what you can achieve when there isn’t a translator (Oz Kanka) there to make it easy !!! Maniac Kanka was at a Volleyball match with his daughter and couldn’t come and so he was forgiven. However, what about all the other Ankara Kankas who are (were ?) so famous in Ankara ? Where were they today ??!! Marash Kanka Hakan came late and joined us just as we were leaving for the Stadium.
Off we went to Maraton again and met up with Maniac Kanka Harun and his beautiful daughter Hazal, who will NOT be called Little Maniac Kankie ! Her name is Melek (Angel) Kankie and she is now the official Kanka Mascot.. For those of you who have never met an angel before then you need look no more. Just meet Melek Kankie and you will have met your first angel !!
ANKARAGUCU started with the same line up as in the past 2 matches and again their tactics were similar…….. attack …….. attack ! I have to take my hat off to Hikmet Bey. Since his arrival, the team are really all fired up.
The match was only 5 minutes old when Mustafa put ANKARAGUCU into the lead after some nice work down the left wing and a cross ball in which Mustafa met unmarked.
The Gecikondu End was full, Maraton was almost full and Kapali was almost full. So, the volume of the singing increased as the crowd anticipated more……… and it came. Five minutes later and the moment we were all praying for after many weeks……. a goal for Bebbe ! Good passing (Hikmet is NOW reading our blog !!) put Bebbe clear and he struck an unstoppable shot to open his account for the season.
What a start. Could it continue ? Good question. 10 minutes later came the answer and yet another ANKARAGUCU attack down the right wing with Abdulrahman Dereli involved. With everyone expecting a cross, he fired in an angled fierce shot which screamed into the top left hand corner of the goal with the goalkeeper clawing air !
3 – 0 up after 20 minutes and we were all jumping up and down shouting, singing, dancing and kissing each other. Was there more to come we were thinking ???
Actually, no. The pace slowed down a little and Erciyes came more into the match leading up to the half time whistle, but that’s how it stayed.
Into the 2nd half and it was more end to end stuff now and all credit to Erciyes for not throwing in the towel. However, after only 10 minutes came the goal of the match. Ceyhun disposessed the Erciyes full back, who was in half a mind what to do with the ball, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, cut it back for the incoming Bebbe to slot it home for his 2nd goal of the match. The Stadium errupted at this stage and Bebbe’s name was resounding around the Stadium. This must have been sweet music in his ears after so many near misses and frustrations over the past few weeks.
The pace of the game slowed even further as ANKARAGUCU made 3 substitutions with the match well won. However, a bad mistake from the normally reliable Emre gifted a chance to Erciyes in the last few minutes which they took very well.
This was more like the ANKARAGUCU of old. Attacking and scoring, and defending in depth. Running off the ball, passing accurately and playing as a team. An excellent performance which will be leaving Genclerbirligi supporters trembling in fear as next Sunday’s local derby match approaches.
Moving up into the mid-table region now and……… thinking SERIOUSLY about the UEFA Cup next season !!!!
After the match it was to The Cappakokia Bar for celebration drinks and lots of toasts to Bebbe, the hero for the day !!
Details of the Gencler V ANKARAGUCU match next Sunday coming up from Oz Kanka in an email soon.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim……… still on a high !
The goals can be seen here
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