LATEST NEWS FROM ANKARA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Apologies for the lack of news to all our regular readers, but there has been no good news to report.  It's all doom and gloom for Ankaragucu.

Genclerbirligi has been busy in the transfer market from what I've noticed and I think they are in Belgium and Holland at the moment.   Oz Kanka and Spine should be able to update us on that.

The much delayed Ankaragucu congress is scheduled for tomorrow ...... that is, if it is not postponed again !

So, as far as we know, Ankaragucu will be playing in the Bank Asya League which kicks off on 18 August.  As for the name which they will be playing under ........... that is still unknown.   So, the answer is ...... keep watching this space.

For Dublin Neil .......... I will be in Bodrum (Gumbet) from 6 to 11 August.   If you will be there or thereabouts then please let me know and we can have a long overdue get-together.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANOTHER MOUNTAINEERING KANKA !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

He may not be as famous as our Mountaineering Kanka Mk 1, Robbie, YET, but our Mountaineering Kanka Mk 2, Gokhan Unal, is doing his best to play 'catch-up'.

The photos were taken at the summit of Kizlar Sivrisi (Elevation 3,070 metres) in Antalya Province.   This mountain is in the Bey Mountains within the limits of the Taurus Mountains.

Gokhan conquered the summit during the weekend of 23/24 June 2012 and we all congratulate him on his exploits, especially as he took 'Ankaragucu' with him.

So, what's next guys ?    Everest ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Euro 2012. Fun in the sun

Sir Eski, Flying Dutchman, Spine and Oz enjoying the Carlsberg at the Dutch Embassy before the Holland  Denmark match

The half-time entertainment.  

Some financial figures from a Turkish club!

Spine reporting here:

Marking a congress at which Cavcav was elected chairman for the 21st time, Gencler have been shockingly open and published some of their financial statements:

assets and liabilities: http://www.genclerbirligi.org.tr/bilanco.pdf

income statement: http://www.genclerbirligi.org.tr/gelir_tablosu.pdf (address suspiciously empty url at time of posting, did they fear the taxman and take it down?)

Cash flow: http://www.genclerbirligi.org.tr/nakit_akim_tablosu.pdf

They're not super-detailed but they do show the following, if I am reading correctly.

  a) club not "debt-free": there was 9.3 million TL in short-term debts in 2011, some to banks, but the bulk to individuals and players. To be fair, debt has dropped sharply from 19.3 million in 2009.
  b) they report a doubling of sales income (I don't know what this line item covers) to 43.9 million in 2011 from 21 m in 2010. in the same period, operating expenditure rose to 34m from 25m
  c) which helps explain the net income of 17.4m reported for 2011, compared to losses of 3.9m in 2010 and 11.2m in 2009.

Finally, season ticket prices are out, and little changed for us: 100 in maraton: http://www.genclerbirligi.org.tr/haber_detay.asp?HID=2318

THE BANK ASYA LEAGUE

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Just watched the 2nd Division Play-Off Final tonight.

Adana Demirspor  2   Fethiyespor  1

Fantastic entertaining match with everything for the neutral supporter to enjoy.    The only problem is that we Ankaragucu Kankas will not be neutral next season when we have to play Adana Demirspor and teams of their quality in The Bank Asya League !

Both teams played some slick footie tonight and the 2 Adana goals were top drawer.   As I've mentioned a thousand times on this Blog, the Bank Asya League is full of excellent teams and from what I've seen of Adanaspor and Adana Demirspor, to name just two, last season, Ankaragucu will have their work cut-out even if the team is strengthened !

Another point worthy of note is that the Ataturk Stadium in Denizli was bursting at the seams.   Amazing crowd for a 2nd Division Match, even if it was the play-off final.

Well played and well done Adana Demirspor.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

UEFA Suspends Beşiktaş For One Season

Beşiktaş is not allowed to play in next season's Europa League. UEFA has suspended Besiktas from European competitions for one year and fined them 200,000 euros ($250,700) due to financial problems, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

The shares of Beşiktaş immediately fell by 9.9 percent, although the news has not been officially confirmed yet.

Beşiktaş finished fourth in the Turkish Süper Lig this season, and thus placed itself for the Europa League play-offs.

Augustine Ahinful returns to Ankara !

Former Ankaragucu Augustine Ahinful has returned to Ankara this week for a holiday and will visit the Ankaragucu training facilities. Augustine is a favourite with the Ankaragucu tribunes and scored 44 goals from 103 appearances in an Ankaragucu strip.

Many Ankaragucu fans claim the Ghana born striker is the best foreign player ever to play for the club. He had two spells at the club before moving to Trabzonspor and then eventually retiring. What we would give to have a player of his quality at the moment. He formed an excellent partnership with Hakan Keles and Ohene Kennedy his international team mate.

I'm sure the Round Ball in Ankara has many great memories of Augustine Ahinful.