Some of the crowd are on the pitch

So here we are again. Saturday football and all to play for.

But first the Husband is in mourning after the events of this morning in London. Man Utd lost to Chelski and so Chelski became Champions again. Anyway as the Husband says when they have won eight titles, a couple of doubles and a treble then and maybe not even then will we consider them worthy opponents. Hopefully by then Roman will be tired of his toy and Mourinho's head will have exploded with arrogance!!

As for Ferreira I hope he gets the treatment he deserves after the crude foul that has maybe put Rooney out of the World Cup Finals.

Anyway on to more important things.

Besiktas won last night which means that Trabzon need to win to go back into third place which hopefully means they will give the Kadikoy mob a hard time. Let us see.

So Gerets took my advice and the Galatasaray team to play Ankaraspor is the one that should have started last week, Hasan and Saidou excepted. Ergun was back and Ugur and Ferhat out, not that they are bad players but we need experience right now, although Gerets still followed his habit of giving young players experience by including "genc" Aydin.

Galatasaray started brightly with Ayhan going close after just one minute. A few minutes later the referee missed what could have been a penalty for handball as Galatsaray pressed for a goal. Hakan then was a touch late for a cross, something a few years ago he would have reached I think. Jabba the Hut then totally misskicked in front of goal.

Winston no. 5, haydi cimbom....

11mins. A well worked free kick and Goaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll Sasa Ilic, yes yes yes.

14 mins. Ayhan corner and Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllll Hakan Suker

"You're not singing, you're not singing, you're not singing any more, you're not siiinnging any more!!!!!"

Cigar no. 1.

Anakaraspor threatened briefly with "Shaken, not stirred" from a corner when the GS defence went to sleep but so far so good!

35 mins. Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllll Yeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Trabzon scored.

Pulse rate 200, blood pressure high, stress level higher......

Necati then went close and almost at the same time a disallowed goal in Trabzon, wipe sweat off brow!!!

Half time and everything looks good for a 3 point lead with 2 matches to go.

After a fortifying cup of tea and a quick look at Fox Soccer Channel where Blackburn just scored against Charlton I'm back and ready for the second half.

The second half started off similar to the first with Galatasaray stroking the ball around comfortably and no real threat from Ankaraspor. Meanwhile Trabzon hit the post twice on 30 seconds and really should have been 2-0 up. Galatasaray seem to have taken the foot off the gas which may prove expensive. But then Necatis should have scored on a one on one with the keeper but stuffed it up and Tuncay scored in Trabzon damn, damn, damn after the ball had gone out, typical!!!

Winston No. 15

Mondragon then almost gifted a goal to Jabba the Hut and at the same time a Trabzon player was carried off after being smacked in the head and no-one penalized. Of course having reduced Trabzon to ten men the bastards then scored a clearly offside goal. The same assistant referee making the mistake. And then another possibly offside goal was allowed by the referees. Terrible referee performance. Then Trabzon got one straight back. 2-3.

75 mins. Gooooooooaaaaaaallllll Ilic, 3-0.

80 mins. Gooooooooaaaaaallllll Hasan Kabze, 4-0.

Come on Trabzon.

Winston No. 25.

Suddenly the referees in Trabzon remember the offside rules but only when Trabzon have the ball though.

Damn, damn, damn, once again referee mistakes gift 3 points to Kadikoy. How many times has that happened this season, too many. In a game where Trabzon were comfortably on top three dabatable decisions cost the game and once again leaves me frustrated and angry despite a good Galatasaray performance.

Still its not over yet.

Same points and two games to go, this is going to the wire....

It was a dark and stormy night....

If you have followed my ramblings over the last few months you may just be wondering, why? Why did Gulay decide to start offering her thoughts for the benefit of the world at large. Does she think she has something to say that is of some value?

You know I never really thought about before but here goes. Originally I was thinking of starting up a home based internet business and one of the ways suggested to maximize exposure was to set up a blog. Then you would offer insightful gems into maximizing profit etc. So that's what I did and registered my blog. Anyway that whole episode was soon consigned to the garbage can but I had started to get into the blog thing.

I Googled Galatasaray and Blog a few times and found a considerable absence of blogs about the team that is so very important to me. Surely I thought there must be some blogs out there, where you can say what you feel and be provocative, without some officious Moderator blocking your posts. Well not really. There are a lot of forums where fans can shout at each other but you have to register, login and then read through considerable volumes of decideley odd comments to see what is going on.

After that it was obvious what I should do. I changed the focus of my blog to home in on Galatasaray and the disturbing and disruptive effect that being a fanatical fan can have on your life. Especially when you live 10000 miles from where the team plays! Once that decision was made it has been no trouble at all to keep it going with help from my Husband, a fanatic Man Utd supporter and Englishman to boot.

Since then I enjoy the challenge of writing match reports as the game proceeds and waiting for comments back from Fenerbahce supporters, Besiktas supporters (if there are any), and various and assorted Kankas. So there you go, I will keep this going as long as I can and remain focused on the Worlds greatest game, football and Turkey's greatest team, Galatasaray.

Until tomorrow when Ahmet Turgut should be eating his recent words regarding Ankaraspor and when Galatsarary regain the lead of the SuperLig and keep it as Trabzon insert chestnuts in the Canaries.

Hunters and collectors

Goood evening everyone.

Firstly, I just want to check something with you all. The title of this blog is Gulay, Galatasaray and the dogs. Correct so far? Good.

Galatasaray is the name of the football team I support in Istanbul. With me so far.

Now I have to use a word that I don't really like to use but here goes. The title does not include the word Fenerbahce. This means that I do not support that particular team. Therefore I am biased. Therefore I make comments in the heat of the moment. I write my matchday blogs as the game is ongoing so they are fresh, juicy and at times totally biased and one sided. That is my right after all this my blog and my place to express my OPINIONS! If you are in the You Ess of Ay check out EPL Fanzone on Fox Soccer Channel, if you do you will understand that I am in reality quite restrained!

When my team loses in the way they did on Saturday to their arch rivals I get upset with the Galatasaray players and the result and try to find a reason for the loss, the referee was biased/incompetent/blind, the opposition cheated, our kit was the wrong shade of grey (name that match and the person who uttered those words!), the players got the wrong tea at half time etc. etc.

Now according to Cagri who sent a couple of comments on some of my recent posts this means that I am making comments without knowledge, and do not understand football.

So I have to ask....

What knowledge do I need to see Nobre get Kerem sent off with a clear dive of which Klinsmann would be in awe of . What knowledge do I need to see Anelka punch the ball into the net. What knowledge do I need to see Hakan Sukur earn a penalty against Gencler. What knowledge do I need to see that Hasan Sas should have been sent off in the same game. What knowledge do I need to see that Drogba and Robben "simulate" to gain an advantage. What knowledge do I need to understand that the Bundesliga is boringly predictable, that MLS stands for must learn soccer, and that the Apetura and Clausura are more exciting this year because Boca and River are inconsistent! I could go on but I am sure you get the picture.

Just what knowledge is it that I need to be able to understand what I see with my eyes. Players dive, players feign injury to get the opposition booked or to stop play when they lose the ball. In one of my earlier posts Planet Football calling FIFA I talked about this and in my view the cowardice of FIFA in not wanting to use retrospective punishments for players who cheat to gain an advantage, because that's what it is, cheating.

In life I do not like people who cheat, I do not like corruption, I do not like liars, I do not like rich arrogant people who think money can solve all issues and makes them more important than others. A rich pig is still a pig as my husband is fond of quoting.

As for the level of violence and hatred in Turkish football and what I said about Nobre. I do not like it when players get injured, and I alluded to that in my original post on the match, but it was so ironic that after his various theatrics in the season that he gets injured when there was no-one near him. Maybe even poetic justice. Someone somewhere has a sense of humor! To be honest if he never plays in Turkey again I and I guess a lot of others would not be shedding many tears. It is not so much Nobre or the team he plays for that I have a problem with but his attitude and the way he plays the game that I really dislike. Sometimes I feel the same way about Hasan and just wish he would hurry up and reach puberty or leave Galatsaray and play for a team where his histrionics would not be so embarrassing.

By the way if you think what I said is bad you should hear what my husband as a lifelong Man Utd supporter has to say about Liverpool!

Coming soon the 6 foreigners rule and its effect on Turkish football.

Until the fat lady sings

Well I think I almost got the pain and agony out of my system with my last three rants/posts. However the result still niggles but what the hell, nothing can be done to change the result so Galatasaray have to let it go and look forward. Lets face it Galatasaray had a bad day at the office, the kind where the water cooler spills all over you, the copier is always out of paper, the last donut was stolen by the lard ass from marketing and the coffee you keep making is always empty by the time you go for a cup!!!!! We all have them and football teams are no different. All you can do is treat it as a one off and look forward to the next day!!!

I notice that a lot of media types are already awarding the Chamionship to the team from Istanbul who is not Besiktas. WHY? Galatasaray are level on points and are only in second place because of goal difference. So why all the gloom and doom. There are still three games left and Trabzon away is not a game I would like to pin the Championship on.

Even Eric Gerets seems to have been affected by it saying that whilst the Championship is still possible it is more difficult now. Come on Eric you should be encouraging the players, just concentrate on winning the last three games and don't worry about the team from Istanbul who is not Besiktas.

Actually I would be more worried if I was a team from Istanbul that is not Besiktas supporter. Considering how much money has been spent on players and other unspecified items to be level on points with Galatasaray who could not even pay their players at various points this season would be far more worrying to me. I mean if Galatasaray can do as well as they have despite all of their troubles what a waste of money to keep level with us! And all of your goals scored by foreigners, what a wonderful development centre for Turkish players Kadikoy is not.

Just wanted to send my sympathy to the Galatasaray supporters who ended up in hospital after being attacked before and after the match due to the crazy police decision not to escort them to the stadium. Don't the TFF and the Kadikoy lot think Turkish football has a bad enough image after the Switzerland game, do they want Turkish Club sides banned from Europe as well! (I do remember Leeds!). Why make more problems for ourselves. Gecmis Olsun to those injured and I hope you are cheered when we lift the Championship.

Its not all over....

Legal Robbery

I have calmed down a little bit now but I cannot promise to be totally objective about the TFF sanctioned robbery that occured in Kadikoy yesterday.

First of all to all the gloating "team that cannot be named" supporters you have not won anything yet, the points are the same and I would prefer our last three matches to yours. Oh silly me, I guess its already been arranged by Aziz and his mates at the TFF, what am I thinking. I mean after all the game should have been played behind closed doors due to previous crowd trouble but of course that did not happen, no such generosity to GS a few weeks ago. Now I guess that the TFF will punish GS again for the actions of our supporters during this game.

Secondly whether the referee had been bought is immaterial, and in all truth he probably had not been, if he is basically incompetent, inconsistent and frightened by the crowd. I have never seen a player given a yellow card for taking a quick free kick before!!! Maybe the referee was thinking something like this "Ah yes Hasan, you were hacked down for the 30th time by Servet (no card) and you wanted to take a quick free kick which gives you the advantage, but if you score my win bonus is in doubt so take the kick again and have a yellow card for almost losing me my bonus!!" As for Saidou getting sent off, I think he breathed on Aurelio who fell as if Eski Kanak Jim had used his fathers Korean Pistol on him, performed a double loop, and roll just to make sure the referee noticed and gave Saidou the red which effectively killed the game at the start of the second half.

Of course in the first half when Siadou was fouled in the lead up to the first goal the referee saw nothing worng with a two footed assault from behind!! Which reminds me, why was Alex not sent off, he was booked for insulting the linesman and then later did a degree of difficulty 5.9 in the box and was not booked for simulation! It is this inconsistency that makes for the annoyance!

And then people wonder why the only Turks going to the World Cup will be journalists and kebab sellers!

As for the game, enough said. Galatsaray did not play too well although they started okay and could have had a penalty when Hakan was pushed over in the box. Mind you GS did not make life easy for themselves. Why did Gerets start with Ugur and Ferhat, I mean they are good players but young, surely Ergun and Sabri or Cihan should have been in the defence from the start. Ferhat was to blame for the third goal and both played nervoulsy when on the pitch. I also feel that Ilic should have started the game. That was a bold but ultimatley poor choice by Gerets. Still at least we have some good young Turkish players, not just diving Brazilians and ball juggling Frenchies.

I normally dont feel this way but the only good thing from the match was that Nobhead was carried off and maybe out for the rest of the season, excellent!

Anyway its not all over yet,

Until next week.

What a Disgrace

11 against 14 is impossible. 10 against 14 totally impossible especially when the refgeree gives all decisions against you. Guess the ref got his win bonus from Mafia man by killing the game with the totally ridiculous sending off of Saidou, 2 fouls 2 cards. Servet 14 fouls one card. I AM SO ANGRY.

But remember you have not one anything yet and that eventually all this cheating and buying will come to an end.

CHEATS

How much did they pay for this referee. I have never seen a player boioked for taking a quick free kick. CHEATS.

Endless week

This week is beginning to seem endless. Waiting for the match on Saturday is becoming a horrible experience although it will be nothing like the nerves I will suffer druing the game.

Tense, nervous, stressed, smoking like a chimney, how can I cope with the pressure and then on Saturday it will just get worse, I know, it always does.

And its not just the normal stress of watching your team, the game with the team that cannot be named may be the Championship decider and with the way their management is we are playing the team and the referees and the crowd. It will be interesting to see how many minutes Nobhead spends on his feet during the game in the penalty area and whether Anelka remembers he is not Michael Jordan and if the referee is prepared to penalise the team of cheats and thugs.

Life is hell right now for my husband, he reckons its like living with a woman with the worst case of PMT ever!!!!! But its like that every weekend, but this is worse.

Until Saturday.

Coronation

All of you who follow football know that it can be a funny old game. There I was thinking that Hakan Sukur was probably past it and should have hung his boots up a couple of years ago and then suddenly since the winter break the man is on fire, well not really, but you know what I mean. Can't stop scoring goals and the second one against Rizespor at the weekend was excellent. After his performaces in Japan I had started to believe the man could not hit a barn door from five paces! NIce top be proved wrong though by the Bull of the Bosphorus.

So in recognition of his excellent retunhr to form here is a picture borrowed from the official Galatsaray web site taken from the last match against Rizespor.
.

Anyway long may goal Kral Hakan continue, at least until the end of the seaon when my instsincts tell me he might retire after helping Galatasary to the Championship. Of course he might not and could decide to stay on for some Chimps League footie against some real football teams.

It will be interesting to see how GS get on against the rest of Europe as the last few years have seen total underachievment by Turkish teams in Europe. Of course I exclude the UEFA Cup in 1999 and the thrashing of Man Utd by GS around the same time. But these aside the performaces of some of the teams have been somewhat lame, think Besiktas this year in the UEFA Cup. Personally I think one of the problems is that outside of the Istanbul teams and Trabzon no other teams in Turkey provide the consistent level of challenge that is needed.

Now I know that the Kanka's will get all excited and tell me that the big clubs steal the players etc. etc. and that LigTV and the media only concentrates on them, all of which is true, plus the inability of Turkish supporters to support their home town team, but look to the English Premier League. I don't mean look at Man Utd, Chelski etc. but I mean Wigan, Bolton, West Ham, Blackburn clubs that have made life very difficult for the so called big clubs this season and have done it on limited resources. Occassionally a challenge exists in Turkey, a couple of seasons ago Gencler were the surprise package and have done well again this season, as have Kayserispor, and Denizli and Antep have also threatened in the last few years but really until that consistent challenge exists I do not believe Turkish Clubs will do well in Europe.

Can someone also explain how the hell Kadikoy is open for fans this weekend after all the recent problems with those fans!!!!!!!!! This stinks, but its no surprise from the spinless fools at the TFF.

Galatasaray turn up the heat

Sunday and all is well.

The weather has improved recently in Cleveland with the sun shining and a hint of civilized conditions at last after what seems like a long and miserable winter. Add to that the fact that the team that cannot be named lost on Saturday, actually they were stuffed 5-3 by Manisaspor then things are definitely improving! After spending Sunday morning cleaning, washing and attempting to persuade one of my dogs Kimi that he really should not pee in the house and tidying up in the garden it was time for the match as a 12 o'clock Eastern Time Kick off.

So to the match.

It was good to see Saidou back after a few games out. One thing with Gerets is that he tries to keep a settled team unlike some of the previous coaches who would change players for no good reason and disrupt the team. Oh yes I spotted a previous GS player in an Italian League match over the weekend, Cesar Prates is now playing for Livorno. I seem to recall he was quite a useful player but was treated poorly by the coach at that time. Why do people rave about Italian football, its so boring not even Italians want to watch the games, the stadiums are always half empty.

The game started off well with the Ali Sami Yen crowd in good voice and the cameramen for LigTV focusing in on all the good looking girls! The game started openly with Rizespor creating the first couple of chances and Mondragon making a very good save. Gradually GS started to create and the pressure paid off when Hasan put in a good cross which ended up in the net off Ilic's stomach I think although the Rizespor players thought it was a handball, replays showed otherwise. Shortly afterwards Song was carried off after damaging his knee whilst clearing the ball and Emre made an appearance. Ilic then missed a very good chance to add to the score although the keeper got a finger nail to it! After a Keystone Cops moment of defending by GS the ball was finally cleared and Necati stuffed up a very good chance.

Good start to the second half as Hakan took advantage of some dodgy defending by Rizespor and tapped in after a couple of minutes to make it 2-0 and mean I could relax a little bit and slow down on the smokes! Then Hakan got booked, not sure fir what though! Ilic managed to find the keeper and not the net, Hakan was offside thankfully,. Couple of minutes after Rizespor got a goal back when despite the ball having gone out of play they were allowed to carry on and a couple of fortunate deflections gave them a goal. Time to spark up again and eat the finger nails! On the 64th minute though the game was over when Hakan scored his second goal, and a good one it was too! Maybe there is more life in Hakan after all!!! Almost straight away Cihan decided to help out Rizespor and give all the GS supporters a nervous last 20 minutes by deflecting Emre's clearance past Mondragon. Rizespor returned the favor when a boy named Allyson scored a great goal from a Hasan Sas cross, 4-2. The pulse rate is down again! It went up a couple of minutes later though when Tomas could have given a penalty away, good job it wasn't a yellow and blue Brazilian on the recieveing end of the hand!

Probably the most odd moment though was when Hasan was fouled the ref gave nothing and when Hasan went to chase the ref Hakan rugby tackled him and told him to stop! That's the first time I saw something like that and well done to Hakan, but Hasan should grow up a bit!

So GS are now back where we belong, 3 points clear of the rest! Now I can make fun of my Husband who supports Man Utd who will almost definitely not be champions this year!!! Of course England are in the World Cup unlike Turkey so I guess we will be equal!

Time for a nice relaxing cup of tea!

Stuffed canaries

Yeeeeesss!!!!

What a great result for Galatasaray today even they do not play until Sunday. Manisaspor's 5-3 win over the team who cannot be named means that when GS beat Rizespor we will be 3 points clear at the top of the Super Lig. Not only did Manisaspor win but they won with style and made the canaries look very ordinary. Maybe they should develop some local talent instead of wanting to buy more than 6 Brazilians.

On that topic the comments made by them are an insult to Turkish players. Saying that being limited to 6 foreign players affects their chances in Europe implies that there are not enough good Turkish players around. Maybe what hurts the chances is that they are simply not good enough to win in Europe plus they have to deal with different referees!

Anyway looks like the English league is now decided after Chelski beating Bolton and Man Utd only drawing with Sunderland. Every time I watch Chelski I feel like I need a shower as they make me feel dirty with their diving and complaining and over reaction, Essien getting Ben Haim sent off being a case in point. When you consider that he almost broke Ben Haim's leg off in the previous match and only get a yellow it just smells of cheating.

Until tomorrow from a warm Cleveland day

A fistful of dollars

Well, well, well what a weekend it was for Galatasaray. We now have even more in common with Manchester United than before. Not only are we the most successful team in our home league, not only do we play the best football, not only do we have the best looking supporters, but now we are also owned by Americans.

Ok in Galatasaray's case this is only 21%, now owned by George Soros, and the club has not been privatised but at least it allows the club to pay the players, and maybe keep the essential foreigners, Song, Tomas and (maybe) Ilic for next season. Ketchup can leave and please lets not hear about Pires, Zidane and all the other ludicrous suggestions now we have a bit of money. Considering the squad and the age of some of the young players like Furry Hat and Ugur who have played this season the future looks good as long as Gerets stays. Having said that I am sure the Board will not be able to resist bringing in someone, like a kid with money in a candy store, to satsify the fans but please no Brazilian divers.

For anyone, like me who was getting confused by the situation regarding qualification for Europe, check out The round ball in Ankara: Einstein would be confused where Oz Kanka attempts to calrify the situation. Of course as Galatsaray will win the Super Lig there is no real confusion, it only exists in the minds of the non-believers.

Anyway thats enough for today,

Oh for a few dollars more.......

Sunday, Sunday

Well here we are again, at the end of another weekend of fantastic football, ugly cheating and dubious referee decisions!

Friday I missed the GS match as I was flying. Sometimes the time difference between the USA and Turkey can make it a bit difficult to watch the Friday games. Thankfully GS have not had too many of them. Anyway despite the fact that the away match in Diyarbakir was played in Izmir, GS had a relatively comfortable win by 3-1 despite going 1-0 down very early.

Finally GS are getting some consistency despite all the off field problems. I am getting very worried for next season though. With Song on strike about non-payment of wages and Ilic and Tomas having done the same earlier in the season the situation is not good. I rally hope that the Board can get things sorted otherwise I think that the foreign players will leave which will make the European matches hard as we will be missing their experience. Unfortunately I cannot see things improving soon as Cunaydin was re-elected.

Anyway the team who cannot be named had a comfortable win against Sivas by 3-0 although I have to say that the penalty decision seemed extremely harsh,

I have also watched the Chelski West Ham game and the Man Utd Arsenal game. The race for the Premiership is at least interesting if not that close. Chelski had a good win but Robben is a cheat, plain and simple. The dive for that won the free kick from which they scored their 3rd goal was ridiculous and so blatant. He does that all the time and I go back to my previous post, if FIFA and UEFA are serious about eliminating cheating then there has to be retrospective action for this kind of blatant cheating that the likes of Robben and the rest of the Chelski team go in for.

The Man Utd Arsenal match was one of the best games I have seen all season, fast, open and virtually cheat free until the Gay Swede Ljunbjerg tripped himself up and got Silvestre booked. It is a shame that both these teams were inconsistent earlier in the season or Chelski would have had more competition. At the moment Man Utd are playing the best football in the EPL in my opinion.

As for the Super Lig I think the GS match in Kadikoy will probably be the decider, but its still close.

Here we go

Missed the game due to meetings etc. and work. Still GS won, will post more tomorrow.

Lets hope whoever is playing the team who cannot be named wins.

Planet football calling FIFA and UEFA

Well now I thought I would take the opportunity to get my two cents worth about the general incompetence and out of touchiness of the governing bodies of World and European football. Normally I try to confine my comments to Galatasaray and other worthwhile causes but recent comments from Splatter and the other suits in the Geneva based "organization" compel me to print my thoughts into cyberspace.

The issue that broke the camel's back is about retrospective punishment for divers, or cheats. Check out the story at Soccernet. It seems to me that this is plain cowardice on the part of the authorities. Almost every game sees attempts by players to cheat, and yes I include Hakan in that after Saturday! And yes the referees have the power to decide if the player dived or otherwise and take the necessary action which is to issue a yellow card. I seem to recall reading recently, and damn it I cant find the link now, that only 7 yellow cards had been issued so far in the Premiership for "simulation" this season. This I think highlights a problem that FIFA seem to be ignoring.

When is a dive a dive?

This might seem obvious and when you have the benefit of seven different angle replays that the referee does not have, it is easy to spot the "dive". But for the referee he has to make a split second decision on something that he might have the best view of. SO I guess 98% of the time he is going to take the view that well it was not a foul but it was not a dive either and not issue the yellow card. And really can you blame him, unless he is 100% sure that must be the correct course of action! There are incidents in games where a player will go down and it is really difficult to tell whether he was touched or not. Think back to last season and Rooney against Arsenal, in real time it looked an obvious penalty but after numerous replays it could be seen that if there was any contact at all it was minimal. So what to do in this situation. Of course you could use video technology and turn a 90 m inute match into a 6 hour extravaganza with offence and defence and cheerleaders to take your mind of the boring tedium....sounds like American Football! Or you could have a review panel that sits and reviews complaints lodged by teams or referees regarding such incidents. Of course you can't change the result but you could ensure that deliberate cheating is punished by suspension, think about Anelka's Hand of God earlier this season. That was deliberate, changed the course of the game and was unpunished. That to me is wrong!

Or how about this, a limited time expulsion, or "sin bin" during the match similar to rugby or ice hockey. Say 10 minutes to reflect on your actions, and that gives the opposition immediate redress. Personally I think the sin bin is an excellent idea for the trivial offences such as kicking the ball away etc.

To me simulation of injury is as bad. You know where a player makes a mistake, lets the opposition in and goes down clutching his head, arm, leg and the rest of the team demand the opposition kick the ball out for treatment. That is also cheating but could be dealt with very easily. The referee could let the physio on to treat the player where he is lying rather than waiting for play to stop, or the player could leave the pitch for treatment without asking the ref and picking up a yellow card. Now I know the objections but Aussie rules and rugby manages this and it seems to ensure that only serious injury stops play.

And for the last one when are FIFA going to start compensating clubs for the players they use to make zillions of dollars at tournaments and then send them back injured and worn out so the clubs who pay their wages cannot use them. FIFA accuse the clubs of arrogance well I for one think Splatter and his cronies are totally wrong on this one. If I borrowed Oz Kanka's car and damaged it I would pay to get it fixed for example, so why should FIFA and UEFA escape payment for damage inflicted on property that is not theirs. And to accuse the G14 of starting a war there is something these self elected and very well paid suits should understand. I support Galatasaray and whilst I hope Turkey does well that should not be at the expense of my team and I think that goes for a lot of people out there?

So fellow football lovers what do you think, am I right or wrong or do you have better suggestions, lets here your opinions after all we pay all of these peoples wages, without supporters the game is nothing and where is our voice!!!!

Monday Blues

Hello again. Well it looks like I started something with my previous post with regard to referees etc. This was of course my intent!

However it seems my previous comments regarding Oz Kanka "borrowing" from Ahmet Turgut may have been misunderstood. I just thought that the reports were very similar! Anyway as they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit so I will try to keep such comments to a minimum in future!!!!

Now then, I am a Galatsaray fanatic and so my comments and reports have to be read taking that into account and I make no apologies for that. I am a fan which means I am biased, thats what being a fan is, just ask any Man Utd fan who the Number 1 enemy is and I can tell you its not Chelski, its those council tax abusing scousers, Liverpool. So I see everything through red and yellow glasses. Also remember that this is a blog and I can pretty much say what I like. If others out there don't agree with me then they should start a blog or post reasoned comments like some of the comments to my last post.

So back to the GS Gencler match. I have to say I agree with others that the ref did not have a good match, there were three penalties awarded which should not have been given. There I have said it. And Hakan should probably have been booked for the first one as he asked for the penalty. Mark this down as a date for posterity!!

Now for my major ommission, the Hasan Sas rugby tackle. I have to admit I did not see it, not in a Wenger way when an Arsenal player recieves a red card but physically I dod not see it as I had to step away from the computer to separate my dog Kimi from various cats. So I only know what has been said and it sounds like he was lucky not get a red.

Personally I think that the ref was just incompetent. Having said that I just watched the Blackburn Wigan match and saw another exmaple of a referee spoiling the match so its not unique to Turkey!

Nice to see my posts have made their way back to the Turkish Soccer website again.

By the way anybody interested in things La Liga should check out the following site about Spanish Football

Perfection delayed

As I mentioned in my last post, I was hoping for Gaziantep, the town of my father, to do the rest of the Super Lig, or at least Galatasaray, a favour by not losing to the team that cannot be mentioned. As it was despite the fact that it looked like Atlantis out there they lost 2-0 which means that once again Galatasaray are in second place. Even with the fairly easy win, Nobhead and Alex spent most of the time in the penalty are falling over, stand up and be men like Hakan. Oh well we will just have to win in Kadikoy, with our current form and the ref we had this Saturday, no problem!!!!

Now I have a question for people out there. I read the report from Ahmet Turgut on Turkish Soccer Web Page, about the GS Gencler match and he stated that "the referee killed the game after 8 minutes." Then I went to the Kanka site regarding
Ankara Football, and what did I see, "the referee killed the game after 8 minutes". Now the question I have is this are Ahmet Turgut and Oz Kanka the same person, or is someone stealing from someone else, I believe the technical term is plagiariiiii or something like that. Answers can be posted to the comments section!!!!

With regard to the weekend's match and the comments made by the Kanka's about the referee recieving money, please, we cant afford to pay our players, so how the hell can we afford to bribe the ref!!! Are you sure you had sobered up! There are no construction company bosses on the GS board, just a lot of incompetent idiots with no money who seem to be taking the club into further problems, but that's something for another day!

But with regard to the refereeing of the GS Gencler match which seems to be a subject for much criticism. I agree (smelling salts please) it was poor, but I am not sure it was deliberate, just incompetent.

What annoys me though is the inconsistency in the refs. As I mentioned in my previous post I referred to Man Utd Bolton match. Ruud was pushed off the ball when going for a cross, it was a clear push but no penalty. Hakan fell over with minimal contact and a penalty was given, in the second half there was a clear pull by Risp on Hakan which went unpunished, maybe the ref was trying to equalise things? Then we have ridiculous penalties like Alex gets when he is running out of the penalty area towards the corner flag, falls over and gets a penalty. Or take any of Drogba's recent theatrics for Chelski! The point is the ref's have to make decisions in the heat of the moment but so much depends on whether he got lucky the night before, how much he was paid.... no but seriously it cannot be easy with the way players hurl themselves to the ground etc. But as they say things are supposed to equalise out over the course of the season, try telling TFF that!!!!!!!

Having said all that I don't think the first GS penalty was a penalty and the second one was also questionable. But the Gencler penalty was not a penalty as it was 1) oustide the are and 2) the player dived about 5 minutes after the "tackle". However we would still have beaten Gencler anyway even they had 27 shots, 25 of the balls were retrieved from the road outside the stadium!

So come on down, lets have some sensible comments about this. And Oz, Balmain Tigers, please!!!

Capital Display Part 2

Saturday. What a great day it is especially in the US with Fox Soccer Channel showing English Premier, Bundesliga, Italian, Spanish and Argentinean Matches. Add that to IP World for the Super Lig and its footie heaven. All I did today was watch football, perfect. And in truth it has been a good day results wise.

First game of the day was Chelski and Birmingham. A 0-0 draw was a good result. Is it me or are Chelsea a very boring team to watch? Anyway this was a result that breathes a little bit of life into the Premiership especially as the second match of the day was Man Utd beating Bolton 2-1. This means Man Utd are only 7 points behind Chelski.

Then Liverpool beat West Brom and at the same time Besiktas beat Ankaragucu which leads me nicely to the main event of the day. Galatasaray and Genclerbirligi.

The game got off to a good start with a penalty for GS after only 7 minutes. Now I have to admit that I think Hakan was extremely fortunate to be awarded a penalty given he is not Brazilian. There seemed to be minimal contact and I think Sir Alex would have preferred this referee for the Bolton match as there was a very similar situation where Ben Haim actually made contact and pushed Ruud off the ball but the referee decided no penalty. Still GS were awarded this one and Necati scored. Then on 20 minutes handball in the penalty area gave Necati another chance which he readily accepted. After a brief bout of handbags at dawn involving Ayhan and half the Gencler team things seemed to get a bit spicy but GS rode the storm. After some Gencler pressure Sasa Ilic should have scored after a mistake by the Gencler keeper. Gencler had a couple of chances after a foul by Emre towards the end of the first half but the GS defence held firm.

So the second half started in much the same way as the first with an excellent Ilic goal in the first couple of minutes. The referee then carried on his habit of awarding dodgy penalties by awarding one to Gencler for one of the finest dives seen outside of the Olympic Pool. I mean lets forget the fact that the initial tackle was outside the area! Justice was served when the penalty was taken so badly and Mondragon made the save. There were a few chances for both sides after that, Hakan could have had another penalty, Mondragon made an excellent double save and then GS brought on a couple of youth team players by the looks of them!

All in all a fairly comfortable 3-0 victory which takes us back to the top of the Super Lig.

Even though GS had to make a few changes the players coming in Emre for Song and Ergun the team played well and are making light of the missing Saidou who I think has been the best player since the winter break.

So not a very good evening for Bulent on his return to Ali Sami Yen, now we need the team that cannot be named to lose or draw tomorrow away at Antep and the weekend will have been almost perfect.