It's been a long time coming

Genclerbirligi have had approximately 79 coaches since the brilliant Ersan Yanal left us in 2004 following our great run in the UEFA Cup that year and today was the first time since then that I have heard the crowds sing the praises of our coach. It may not have been very imaginative but towards the end of today's match against Sivas, the Genclerbirligi fans were as one singing "Thomas Doll, Thomas Doll , Thomas Doll". Well done to that man!

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Sivasspor

The lovely autumn days are continuing in this fair city but that didn't translate into the biggest turnout from the kankas. Your's truly and Little Oz Kanka Matthew were first to the pub, followed by Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and then Ambo Kanka, his good wife, son Patrick and a couple of other Aussies who were in town. Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo showed up just in time to grab a beer and then we were off to the 19 Mayis.

We got split up at the stadium but that didn't really matter. We weren't there to gossip but to watch some great football. Of course before that we had to vent our spleen as usual at someone or other in the hierarchy of the club. This time it was Tarık Artukmaç who was called on to resign following his disgusting display at our loss to Fenerbahce two weeks ago (you can read our report of the incident here)

Unfortunately the first 20 minutes or so was pretty crap. We started fast but after five minutes or so it looked like Sivas were the better side.

Plenty of rubbish in the rest of the half but there were signs that Gencler were looking the more dangerous of the two. Being slightly neutral for the match (in so far that while he was supporting Gencler he wasn't going to punch a brick wall if Gencler lost) Battle Damaged Kanka predicted that Gencler would score two in the second half as Sivas were looking tired and quite clueless.

Second half and it was time for Gencler to put on a bit of a show. Whilst there were a few badly straying passes, most of the time we looked as if we were working as a good unit, sticking to the plans laid out by the coach.

The first reward came at about the 57th minute when Kahe got the ball in the box and sent it towards the penalty spot where Mustafa Pektemek smashed it into the net. Much cheering and high fives all round.

The goal got the Gencler crowds singing louder and we didn't have to wait too long for the second to come. This time it was my latest hero Hursit Meric who sent it in to Kahe in front of the goal. I think what happened next was that it came off the keeper, or someone or other, and then bounced in. I'm not sure though and will have to see the replays.

As the crowd shouted out "Üç, üç, üç" things were looking on the up. One great passage of play towards the end had us all shouting "olé" as each pass was completed. The weird thing was that that particular string of passes was this close to a goal, ending after 20-odd touches with Kahe heading it to the keeper.

All up an excellent Sunday. Let me end by quoting a text message I have just received from Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo:

"It's a good day in Ankara. The sun is shining, we win 2-0 and FB LOST FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON! I have another EFES. Şerefe!"

Indeed. Şerefe to you all.

NOTE: Once someone has put them up onto Youtube I'll post here the two goals.

ANKARAGUCU - OH DEAR ..... BACK TO REALITY !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Sad news from Kayseri today .............

Kayseri 3 Ankaragucu 0

Looks like we were brought back down to earth again after all the euphoria of two weeks ago. A brief report will follow tomorrow sometime.

Better news from the other Ankara team.

Genclerbirligi 2 Sivas 0

A report on that one if Oz Kanka is sober tonight. Or, what is more likely ..... a report tomorrow when he is composmentis !!!

All the best from a disappointed Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU AND AHMET GOKCEK'S 'SHOPPING LIST' !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu's new Chairman, Ahmet Gokcek, son of the famous I. Melih Gokcek, certainly knows how to talk up a storm.

There was an article in The Hurriyet this morning detailing his 'shopping list' for the Centenery Year (2010). In my opinion, not so much a 'shopping list' but more of a 'wish list' !

He is quoted as saying (and not for the first time) that he plans to make Ankaragucu a serious challenger to the Istanbul 3 and to put Ankaragucu on the 'footie map'. Bold words indeed.

The two 'names' mentioned were ex-Turkish International players. Fatih Tekke currently with Zenit of Russia and Yildiray Basturk currently with Hertha Berlin.

As we know, actions speak louder than words, so it will be very interesting to see what happens in the January transfer window, and especially in the summer close season.

It will also be interesting to know where the dosh is coming from to finance all those grand plans !!

On another subject. The 'minnows' have been fighting it out in The Turkish Cup during the past two months and the stage is now set for Ankaragucu and Genclerbirligi to join the fray. The draw will be made on Monday, so watch this space on Tuesday for details.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu, a cut above the rest.

Photo of a not so good guy from http://degajman.blogspot.com/

An uncredited photo of some good guys.

There has been a lot of talk of mixing politics and football in recent weeks what with the Turkey-Armenia match coming up, not to mention the take over of Ankaragucu by the Mayor’s family. But now something really odd is occurring: The mixing of football and religion.

The first thing I noticed was the presence of Ankaragucu prayer rugs for sale just outside the stadium (starting price for bargaining 11TL in case you are interested). But what I saw in the Ankara section of today’s copy of Sabah nearly made me lose my lunch.

Apparently, Gucu’s honorary chairman Cemal Aydin (why is this clown still around anyway?) has provided the team with an animal to sacrifice after the last two victories. I was not able to locate the photograph that Sabah used, but it shows Aydın, Karaman, and members of the support staff and team looking on as an unidentified person slits the throat of what looks to be either a sheep or a goat.

Another photo shows two of the players dabbing blood on each other’s foreheads (apparently they also smeared it on their cleats). This sacrifice was apparently a move on Aydin’s part to improve the players’ morale (as if beating GS wasn’t already enough for that) and their chance of continued success. There was no mention of whether high priest Aydin read the entrails or not.

I'm not here to debate Kurban Bayram which is contextually very different, but I wonder if Ataturk would have felt that this cruel and superstitious nonsense (the Koran definitely does not call for an animal sacrifice to be done following football matches) fit his image of universal culture.

Ankaragucu is the One...

...which is of course what this is all about. Evolution, Polat, Yildirim, & Demiroren, evolution. Like the dinosaur. Look out that window. You had your time. The future is our world, Polat, Yildirim, & Demiroren,. The future is Ankaragucu's time. The days of the trinity are over. There can be only one.

Ok, I confess, I tampered with Australian actor Hugo Weaving's (Agent Smith) lines a bit, and I'm playing both sides of the movie (plus I added a bit of Highlander [as a tip of the hat to Eski Kanka]), but, hey, why not?

"We stand behind our people!" says Melih in a campaign poster captured in an uncredited photo that has been circulating on the internet since slightly before the last local elections.

So what does The Matrix have to do with Ankaragucu? Well, the above was very similar in tone to what Melih Gokcek had to say this past week as captured in the paper Hürriyet. “The age of the three great teams is coming to an end; the age of the one great team is coming...Ankaragucu in the very near future will be that one great team.”

He actually had a lot to say that day, but, in a nut shell, he basically explained that as someone from Ankara, the fact that Ankara is the lone capital city that has not produced a championship caliber team is a great disappointment to him, and it is for this reason that he has worked so hard to help Ankaragucu. He pointed out that initially he was thwarted from this goal by Mesut Yılmaz (Prime Minister in the 1990s) who accused him of wanting to use the team for political reasons (hmm, I wonder why?). Later Gokcek claims to have tried to help Gencler Birligi by pleading to Cavcav to hang on to his good players instead of sending them off in all directions, but to no avail. He then tried to succeed with Ankaraspor, and professes to have done a great job, but admits to having fallen a bit short because the team had no supporters (here at the blog we can certainly attest to that having outnumbered them at every match—at their stadium).

Morpheus: But where they have failed, you will succeed.
Gokcek: Ankaragucu is the one.

We’ll have to see, but things don’t look so promising at the moment. Gucu are up to their ears in debt, just had their team bus repossessed, got that back, and then had a servis vehicle repossessed. On top of that there is the money (a million Euro probably plus any accumulated interest) they have to pay Boluspor for Gokhan Emreciksin. I ask you, if you can’t even keep your bus from being repossessed…Well, you get the picture.

Like I said, we’ll just have to see.

All those claims are well and good, but for Ankaragucu to win the Superlig will be more difficult than it was for Obama to win the Nobel Peace Prize: concrete results will be needed.

We shall see whether those results will be forthcoming.

Cut and paste time kiddies

The blog has been inundated recently with people putting into Google searches such as "one paragraph on Ankara", or "paragraph writing about a city I have visited ankara" etc etc.

Pretty specific stuff. Clearly some school group has been visiting the city and they have been assigned some homework and we here at "The round ball in Ankara" are here to help! No need for attribution or any of that crap.... "Control C" then "Control V" is all you need.

Please find below all you need to copy (our advice is that you change the odd word otherwise your teacher might think you have the intelligence of a sad football fan).

Ankara is a really cool place. It is full of people. It also has lots of nice parks which all have signs that say they were built by a man called Melih Gokcek. He must be a very important man because none of the signs have graffiti on them.

The parks are all very nice but are not like the ones we have in (insert your city, country name here) because in Ankara they care so much for the environment that they don't allow you to step on the grass. It is nice to see a municipal council caring so much about greenery.

I met some lovely Ankara people but for some reason 99 percent of them support Istanbul football teams, but I did find one person who said he supported an Ankara team. He was nice, unlike the Istanbul yalakalar.

A guaranteed A plus

Ankara Gucu runs wild in Uganda

Greetings Kankas! I would like to inform you that several important geographical locations in Uganda have been claimed through the hoisting of the AnkaraGucu flag! The first picture that you see is of yours truly along with our guide Lucky and our "protection" George, he being the one with the AK-47. They claim it was to guard against marauding buffalo and such, but I suspect it was really to protect Mountaineering Kankie and myself from rogue Carsi hooligans. Who knows.

The mountain is actually a 3667 meter volcano called Sabinyo (which means old man's teeth) and sits directly on the border of Uganda, Rwanda, and the DR Congo. So does that mean AnkaraGucu can lay claim to all three countries? Of course it does!

The climb was a challenging one. Sabinyo has several peaks (thus its name) and we had to wait until the third for the true summit, which was accessed by rickety stick ladders plastered onto the side of its 80-90 degree face. A bit hairy, but ok. However on the summit it began raining and all those ladders became slippery for the way down. That, was really hairy. We are talking Yusuf Yusuf! Ah well, all's well that ends well!



The second photo you see is a bit of a departure from my normal antics. Is it possible to claim a river? If it is, AnkaraGucu can now claim the longest river in the world! The Nile! Hope you enjoy the pictures. I dedicate Sabinyo's climb to Gucu's most recent dismantling of an Istanbul team. An amazing victory. Miss you all and hope to be climbing for Gucu again very soon.

- Mountaineering Kanka