Awards time

To celebrate the fact that my humble offering is the only blog to be officially declared as "It sucks" by Oz Kanka over at AmerikanTurks I offer the following....

Bad Craziness

What is the world coming to.

I am not sure what is more amazing, Oz Kanka beating Ahmet to the draw on The round ball in Ankara: Nick Carle signs for Genclerbirligi or that Nick Carle actually signed for Genclerbirligi. Obvioulsy the draw of a fellow antipodean soccer nut in Ankara offset the chance to play for something resembling a decent club in Istanbul!!! Only time will tell.

Next up. Genclerbirligi install a revolving door in the coaches office. This will help to avoid the coach having to actually sit at his desk between signing and resigning.

And next up we have Tuncay heading for the smog bandits or Middlesborough as they are really known. I guess most Turkish soccer fans have no idea of what kind of place Middlesborough is. So I asked the Husband who went to University just up the road in Newcastle. Here is what he told me because I have never been there and from the description I am not sure I want to..... Boro is an old Industrial town and has one of the biggest chemical works in England as its main employer. Hence the name smog bandits, as the air is always polluted from the chemicals etc. It also has a large port Teesport and there is absolutely no reason for any normal person to want to go there. Guess Tuncay will have a bit of culture shock then as there is not much that resembles the marina, Moda or Bagdat Caddesi nearby.....However just South of there is the North Yorkshire Moors National Park with some semi decent places to live and Durham is not that far away and that is very civilized.

Ankaragucu copies Galatsaray. Thats right, you know what I mean. Just because we employ a pensioner German you have to follow hoping this a cunning plan to global soccer domination. Oh and somehow I cant see Alpay or Sergen setting the Lig alight.

Galatasaray find spare change under the couch. Well that can be the only explanation I can see as for a club that owes something like $35m we can suddenly afford Linderoth, maybe Lincoln, possibly Riquelme plus a lease on a shiny new stadium!!!! Either that or Polat has been saving all his change in a jar and finally counted it up.

And then the Kadikoy mob, what can you say. Get rid of Umit Ozat, Tuncay and probably Rustu despite having Chimps League to look forward to and bring in Roberto Carlos who is past his prime and more excitingly for Turkish Soccer in general Kazim Richards. Like Tuncay he will suffer culture shock, Sheffield is definitely not Istanbul.....

As for Besiktas well who knows what is going on?????

And thats just this week folks. Wonder what will happen this weekend and next week.

Will Genclerbirligi get another new coach? will Ankaragucu become the Chelsea Pensioners?? will Anakarspor be the top Ankara team, will Kasimpasa prove they exist???

Will Ulusoy resign.???(please, please,please....)

Exciting times we live in....

Something to be happy about....

Its official, well sort of.

Galatsaray are finally going to get a stadium worthy of the most successful, most winning, most points earned and most goals scored team in the SuperLig and if you don't believe me check out the stats.

TOKI have just released the Tender for the new stadium to be built in Seyrantepe. That seems to me like an excellent use of Taxpayers money. Just think all the FB, BJK and Ankara boyos contributing to the new CimBom fortress.. excellent and not a thing they can do about.

Now all that remains is to make sure we get a squad together that make sure we stay in the Superlig and qualify for Youro footie for the foreseeable future.

Dedication and comittment

Couple of headlines I enjoyed:

Roberto Carlos surprised by Fenerbahce move

Middlesbrough agree terms with Turkey's Tuncay

Swedes and Turnips.....I mean Tuncay

At last a new signing. Swedish International Tobias Linderoth formerly of FC Copenhagen has agreed to join CimBom. Well that got my pulse racing and made me more excited about next season and hanging on every word coming out of Canaydin's mouth.......not.

Still at least hes not as old and past it as signings at other clubs...Carlos at FB and Alpay and Sergen for Ankargucu!!!!!!

Good to see my tongue in cheek effort to find employment for Sven is working out over at TurkishSoccer.com. You never know he could be the next Turkish Manager.......or not.

And finally....the FB types are getting all hot and bothered about Tuncay and the possibility he might move to England. Whilst a move outside of Turkey appears to be tolerated its the fact that the clubs interested are Middlesborough, Birmingham and Newcastle that has the budgie fanciers worried.

A few facts of life might be in order here.

The EPL gets 4 spots in the Chimps League, 2 direct and 2 qualifying. The SuperLig gets 2 spots both through qualifying. The EPL gets 3 spots in the UEFA Cup plus the FA Cup and Carling Cup winner. The Superlig gets 1 and the Turkish Cup Winner. This would appear to suggest that the EPL is somewhat stronger than the SuperLig. At the moment FB are the strongets team in Turkey but that really is not saying alot given the quality of the opposition. I mean apart from CImBom, Besiktas and Trabzon there has been no real challenge and the majority of games are or should be given the relative strengths of the teams not much of a contest. Compare that to the EPL where a team like Bolton or Reading on limited resources can beat or draw with the big 4 on a regular basis. I would suggest that none of the Superlig teams would be regulars in the EPL, they are more like Championship sides. So why on earth do FB supporters think Tuncay is moving down if he plays for one of the less big clubs in the EPL, they are more professional and better run than almost every club in Turkey. If he plays for Birmingham or Middelsborough for example he would probably be in the starting line up and would be playing against world class players in almost every match and every match would be competitive and he would no longer have the benefit of Turkish refereeing. Wonder how he would cope with Robbie Savage, Joey Barton, Paul Scholes, Carvalho, Terry, Faye, Nelsen, Hyppia, Carragher, Ferdinand, Vidic et al He would be fitter, learn to concentrate for 90 minutes (something FB failed to do on a number of occasions last season), curb his theatrics, play at a high tempo and become a better player for the experience. I think Tuncay is one of the bright lights of Turkish football but I do not think that at this stage in his career he should be picking splinters out of his ass by moving to Man Utd, Arsenal etc. or playing for the reserves which is what he would be doing at any of the top clubs. On the other hand he could stay at FB and play in exhibition games most weeks with only 6 or even 4 meaningful games each season.

TFF favor CimBom

Over the last few months I have read an awful lot of drivel from Kadikoy types that TFF is biased against them. Please. The recently handed down punishment from TFF should put paid to that idea, 5 matches behind closed door and a 110,000 Euro fine. If anything the Kadikoy mob should be happy they only got a what 2 match stadium closure for hitting Mondragon with a smoke bomb in an incident which if he had walked, indeed the ref should have stopped the game, would have seen a 3-0 win to GS. Witness the recent Denmark Sweden game.

So the next budgie mouthed yellow and blue that comes over with "Ulusoy hates us crap" will get an even less sympathetic hearing than normal.

Thats not to say that GS did not deserve punishment.

Despite that the TFF totally failed to address the underlying problems in the Super Lig and Turkish Soccer in general. Instead of using last seasons problems as a vehicle to discuss and introduce structural reforms on media rights, club ownership, limits on foreign players etc. what do they do?????? nothing. Until some radical restructuring takes place you will continue to get similar episodes and also crazy stuff like what happened at Genc, pity poor Oz Kanka, darling of the media.

Anyway that pretty much means we have nothing to look forward to for next season, just a second rate team playing in a third rate league, run by the village idiot committee, in a 5th rate stadium against aging Brazilians and managed by a pensioner. The stuff of dreams, cant wait, yippee, rah rah etc. etc.

Fast forward to the past

When I first heard the news I could hardly believe it but now it appears that it is true. Next season CimBom will be coached by a 73 year old who quit his last position due to health reasons!!!!

I am sure Feldkamp was an excellent coach back in the day, but surely the Board could have looked forward instead of reaching into the biscuit tin and pulling out a stale digestive. I know he won the championship back in 92/3 and the Turkish Cup but really what were the Board thinking. I can only assume that this is a symptom of the problems at the club, especially financial as no younger coach would accept the job and I can hardly blame them as we probably have absolutely no money to recruit players and then pay them.

The other problem with Galatasaray and most other Turkish clubs is that they only ever look at the short term. For example the Championship score is now 17-16 against CimBom which means that the media and management feel the need to even things up next year. With the cycle of elections and the chairmanship battles which lead to instability for the coaches there is no chance that a coach can have time to rebuild a clubs playing staff and plan for the long term. This is made worse when the Managers go out and buy players they think are okay and then recruit a coach to turn them into a team without bothering to find out of the players can play together. I mean for a perfect example of how to mess things up look at Chavski, Ballack and Schevchenko were bought by the owner, the managers need for a defender was ignored and the balance of the team was upset. Man Utd on the other hand are benefiting for a couple of years of rebuilding and the process is continuing. It has been 4 years between titles for Man Utd and when you consider the money spent and the pressure Sir AF is under to deliver that kind of gap is hard to take. Of course whilst Canaydoin is chairman nothing will change and in fact until they do away with the Charimanship and start managing the club professionally nothing will change.

Anyway all I can hope is that Feldkamp does his best and that we are not humiliated next season!!!

Spring cleaning

So Mondragon gone, sort of a surprise, as well as Inamoto and Ilic. These will probably not be the last t leave I hope. Just wonder who they will be bringing in. Seems odd that Mondragon is going to Koln with Umit Ozat but good luck to him he has been a good servant of the club. However this season he did not seem quite like the Mondragon of the last couple of seasons. I would imagine that being hit by a smoke bomb and then watching his teams supporters destroy their own stadium may well have influenced him as well!!!

As for the National Team surely we can do better than Hakan and Rustu as starters!!!!!! and surely we can do better than Terim as coach.

Gerets gone

Not altogether unsurprising but still a shame. He was a good coach who managed to get an unpaid bunch of players to the Title last season and 3rd place this. I am not sure anyone else could have done much better. Thanks to that arrogant asshole Terim the squad he inherited was full of hangers on and some has beens who should have been pensioned off a couple of years previously, Ergun, Hakan etc. He also had no money to recruit. When Inamoto is your main attraction you know there a re problems, still he's also gone as well as I predicted.

We all know that Ribery was a big loss when he left but what about the other one who got away, Berkant, remember him. Well here is a good story from Soccernet about what can happen when things go wrong.

That was the season that was

Finally its all over and Galatasaray signed off with a whimper losing 2-0 away to Bursaspor. Pathetic.

A points haul of 56 is hardly going to keep Gerets in his job for too much longer and despite his new contract signing I have a feeling there will be a new coach for the start of next season. Fiishing in third spot at least means we have UEFA Cup football to look forward to. I just hope that the team gets to play at home rather than in the anonymity of the Olympiat stadium. Of course it could be that UEFA say Ali Sami Yen is not fit for European matches.

Of course now th silly season starts with regard to transfer rumors etc. It seems already that Mondargaon is going to Koln and Rustu is moving to CimBom. I hope Hakan and Ergun realise its time to retire. We need to find a new central defence or at least someone to cover when either Song or Tomas is out, Emre Asik is not the answer. A few other underperformers could also be on the way out, Okan, Hasan Sas, Cihan, Carrusca, Inamoto, Ilic etc. These guys have played well occasionally but not consistently enough and their body language has been wrong, at times they did not look interested. I really hope that Arda stays and that of Gerets is the coach that he has the courage to let some of the young players take centre stage.

Of course the fact that we have no money is not exactly going to help the situation in attracting good players from outside of Turkey but so what. I believe that CimBom have some good youngsters who can be developed into a good team.

Now the question is what to do with the summer. No World or Euro's just a bunch of friendlies and some qualification matches. Of course living n the US we have the arrival of the messiah.....I mean Beckham to the LA Galaxy. I guess I can entertain myself for a while with the Formula 1 season, the NBA playoffs and finals hopefully with Mehmet Okur and the Utah Jazz and the MLS. If I can get tickets I may even get down to Giants stadium to see the New York Red Bulls when LA come to town. That should keep me going to August or whenever the hell the TFF decide to start the season this year.

Morons

What a bunch of idiots in the Ali Sami Yen last night. And I am not referring to the players although they were not much better. I am referring to the idiots in the stands who tuynred the game into a fiasco.

Its fine to be passionate about your club but this was too much, although its not surprising given the abuse that happens when Galatsaray play in Kadikoy. I recall Hasan being hit by eggs one year!! But to rip seats out and thrown them on the pitch and then set fire to what is left, pure madness. CimBom have not had the best season and I would have expected a better performance against the Kadikoy mob but the "supporters" behavior was too bad. I guess there will be a big fine and games behind closed doors. In my view the club and Polis should use the match video to identify those responsible and make sure they are not let in again, but that will probably not happen.

I can see there being a big clear out of players during the summer. There are too many players just making up the numbers and there was no hears on yesterdays performance. New defence is needed and I hope Arda stays but I have a feeling he will be moving on. I know Gerets has signed a contract extension but I have a feeling he may also be leaving.

Oh well. Thats life

Looking forward to the weekend

So this weekend should be the last weekend of football here in New Jersey. On TV that is as the Husband is playing every Sunday morning at the moment. I think he is one of three non-Spanish speaking players in the team!!!!! Weatgher forecast is crap for the weekend so nits a perfect day for sitting watching TV.

Should be a good weekend though. Man Utd - Chelsea in the FA Cup and then Galatasaray later the same day against someone else. It will be good to see Chavski only win the Carling Cup after all the moment they have spent. Mourinho's shaggy dog story this week will not have helped either.

As for Galatasaray, a win on Saturday together with Besiktas not winning would put them into second on goal difference. Then its Bursa away for CimBom and Kayseri away for BJK. We could sneak into the Chimps League if we are not careful!!

The fat lady has sung....

So thats it for another season, the EPL title back where it belongs n Manchester and the SuperLig title temporarily over in Kadikoy.

I notice there are not so many conspiracy theories around at the moment from the boys in yellow and blue. I guess a bit of silverware solves all the problems! Pathetic.

Gulay and I cannot comment on the weekends match with Galatasary as Digiturkwebtv did not seem to able to get the feed sorted. All I know is that Sivas scored in the last minute, a depressinly common occurrence this season to cause points to be dropped and for the Kadikoy mob to be handed the title with games still left to play after Besiktas capitulated at Bursa. Bet Tigana is glad he is leaving before he is chased out.

Somehow this season has felt very anticlimactic after last season. It just felt like the title was going to Kadikoy irrespective of how teams played on the pitch. We can't even get particularly enthused about this weekends game even though the UEFA spot is on the line. If Galatasaray had spent so much money on players etc. we would have expected more than just the championship but I guess our standards are higher, having won the UEFA cup etc and being the most successful team in Turkey in terms of points gained, matches won, goals scored etc.....

I think thta is all for now.....

Fresh air and hills

Last year when we were in Cleveland I commuted to work every day by bike. Since we moved back to New Jersey that is not possible because that would give me a 100 mile ride every day in and out of Manhattan. Somehow I dont think that is practical. So I have been riding at weekends and whenever else I can find the time.

Snce last fall and all through winter I was riding on my mountain bike in the loal state parks and now that Spring has sprung I am back on the road again. Well at least I have been for the last three weekends since I got the warranty replacement rear wheel from Trek.

So I decided that today would be a long ride and cover some roads I have never used before, I tell you internet maps are the way to go. I had ridden about 50% of this route before so some of the scenery was not surprising but some was. Near where we live its quite hilly, not mountainous but there are a number of lakes and ridges which makes riding tough as you are either climbing or descending, no flat bits where you can spin and recover. So the first part of the ride included a 35 minute gradual uphill pull from the lake past Mahlon Dickerson reserve, through Russia and on over to Ogensburg. that was the familiar but. Dropping into Russia was the highlight speed wise where I hot 78km/h!! The next part was all unknown and started with a cruise past the Sterling Mine Museum and then a rolling ride into more "English" countryside, the rock shattered areas near home giving way to rolling fields and greenery. With no wind and a pleasant 25 degrees this was great, very mind relaxing. Eventually picked up a known route near Andover and then headed back into the ridges and the West shore of the lake to get home.

Rode for 3hrs and 20 mins at an average of 25 km/h which compared to many is not great but then I am not that bothered with comparisons, I enjoyed it.

One thing I believe is that the best way to see a place is on two wheels, you have time to look around and check things out. In a car you just zoom past with the iPod hooked up and the brain in neutral.......

Tomorow will be a short ride after attending to Mothers Day duties!!!!

Nationalists wet dream

Better be careful what I say here but morons springs to mind....

Turkey adopts law to block 'insulting' websites

Monday, May 7, 2007

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ANKARA - AFP

Turkish lawmakers adopted a law on Friday allowing the state to block access to Internet sites that are deemed to insult the country's founder, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The legislation also authorises authorities to cut off access to sites whose content includes criminal activities, such as the sexual abuse of minors and prostitution.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who proclaimed modern day Turkey in 1923 on the ashes of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, is seen as a national hero by secular Turks in the mainly Muslim country and his legacy is protected under a special law.

In March, the country's largest telecommunications provider, Turk Telekom, blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube on a court order over a clip that allegedly insulted him.

Users regained access two days later after YouTube removed the video and Turk Telekom petitioned the court to revoke the ban

Bah humbug

I have been an intermittent if opinionated contributor over at AmerikanTurk with regard to politics etc. which will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog. However there is something I feel the need to say as someone who is proud of her country and proud to be a Turk.

Erdogan, Gul and the AK Party are not the problem in Turkey right now, neither is the Army who are after all fulfilling the legacy of Atatürk in defending the Turkey we have today and its separation of religion and state. Much as it pains me to say it but the man in the picture is the biggest single obstacle to progress in Turkey.

I cannot believe that a responsible political party boycotted the vote in Parliament today and this mans ignorance and intolerance is almost single handedly handing the country to the AK Party.

There are a number of things that are severely wrong with the CHP and Baykals position in particular:

1) Proportional representation as practised in Turkey is absurd with the 10% threshold limit. Why is a party that attracts less than 3 million votes not accepted as being representative? However the CHP and other educated secularists supported that as it meant the hardline Islamist parties and other assorted nutters were kept out of Parliament. Now the AK Party has a massive majority in Parliament with only 30% of the vote because of it.
2) Not being present today shows contempt for democracy. The CHP and its allies should have been there and voted against instead of not bothering to turn up. That is childish.
3) The great unwashed in Turkey will be lapping this up. The media will be pumping out that fact that the AK Party wants to make sure people power elect the President, etc. As the CHP have appeared to stop due process electing a President in accordance with the laws and procedures they themselves were party to this virtually guarantees that the AK Party will be providing the next President.

Alot of commentators have stated that Ataturk would be turning in his grave at the thought of a President with a headscarf wearing wife in Cankaya. Surely the Law would prohibit Mrs Gul from actually entering Cankaya as it is a public building? I am not so sure. What could be a better example of separating religion and state than an outwardly religious man being president of a determinedly secular country and upholding that separation. Surely this would have been the best example of how democracy and acceptance of religion as a personal statement rather than as an article of government could be articulated.

Whilst I do not disagree with the protesters who tuned out en masse their hijacking by Baykal and his cronies is odious. If anything this is likely to result in an increased majority and vote for the AK Party of new elections are held and a definite vote for an AK Party Presidential Candidate. As much as I dislike Erdogan for his hectoring, arrogant, patronizing, shouty manner you have to give the man his dues he is a far better politician than Baykal and understands the 60 million in Turkey who do not live in villas or apartments near the Bosphorus....

In summary Baykal has left the filed open now for the AK Party to dominate the discussion....what kind of politician is that.......a very, very bad one.

What a difference a day makes

Football is an amazing game. Yesterday morning there was all to play for oin the Super LIg and th EPL. At 2.15pm Eastern Time the EPL is finished for the season with Mancehster United claiming the 9th Championship in 15 years and Chavski finishing second after a draw with L'Arse. And the SuperLig is pretty much done and dusted as well. Looks like all the money spent over the last few seasons on refer....I mean players has finally paid off for the kadikoy mob short of an implosion of massive standards, whihc cold happen but is looking more and more unlikely, unfortuantely.

Of copurse Galatsaray's shprtcomings have not excatly helped this season and today's match was a snapshot of the season. Dodgy defending giving up a soft goal early in the match then meant we had to chase the game for the next 80 minutes against a side, which could be labeled as Besiktas old boys, was desperate not to lose to avoid relegation. Mind you CimBom had chances to score but did not take them, Necati in particular and why Hakan Sukur was playing I really do not know as he just confused Umit and Necati.

As for the match at Iononu stadium yesterday, Besiktas totally dominated the game but appeared to have left their shooting boots in the changing rooms and even when they got shots on target they managed to hit the goalie. As for the complaints about the TFF having some kind of plan to upset the kadikoy mob, well the extremely indulgent and lenient treatment of Kezman yesterday should put paid tp that myth. The only time he stayed upright was when he scored the goal, he spent the other 85 mins feigning injury, praying to the ref to book people and generally behaving like a petulant spoilt prick. I noticed as well Tumer having a chat with the ref as they came out at half time, I guess the converstaion was along the lines of, look in 15 mins time there is a red card for one of these balck and whites and then on 25 mins its a poenalty when Alex trips over his own laces by the corner flag okay, and the cheques in the post.......

This weekends results were a pity because it was developing into an exciting finish but now its hardly worth bothering with. The only thing I hope is that the team who have scored more goals, won more games and earned more points since Super Lig started and therefore are the most successful win in two weeks time to put the other lot in their place.

Squeaky Bum Time

A couple of posts ago I mentioned the predicament the Anakara based teams find themselves in, that is still not safe from relegation and looking nervously over their shoulders.

I use the phrase "squeaky bum time" and I was wondering where that came from, well now I know. Apparently it was from the great man himself, Sir Alex.

Link to this article courtesy of The Global Game

From The Times

June 9, 2005

Have a word - Dowie and Ferguson rewrite the dictionary

By Tom Dart

THEY are wordsmiths with a genius for originality whose linguistic inventions have passed into everyday usage and given us a greater understanding of what it means to be human: Shakespeare. Dickens. Joyce. Dowie.

Iain Dowie may have failed to preserve Crystal Palace’s Barclays Premiership status but he has secured himself a place in history as the author of “bouncebackability”, one of 1,500 new words in the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary. Football-speak has an oblique relationship with the English language and while Ron Atkinson’s removal from the commentary box seems to have slowed the flow of neologisms , Dowie is not the only manager capable of producing coinages as well as corner routines. Also giving the dictionary some verbals is Sir Alex Ferguson, whose memorable description of the climax of the 2002-03 campaign, “squeaky bum time”, is another addition.

There is a nod to terrace chant culture with the inclusion of “Ingerland”, the fans’ solution to the unmelodic shortage of a third syllable in “England”.

Justin Crozier, an editor of the dictionary, which is out today, said: “Language doesn’t belong to professors and lexicographers, it belongs to its everyday users and that’s what we want to reflect. The language of the terraces is real, spoken language.”

The first citation of bouncebackability was in September last year, with the word passing into common football parlance by December. It has four times as many recorded instances of usage than a typical neologism according to Collins’ database of words, underlining its popularity. “Bouncebackability works better than resilience, and squeaky bum time is almost poetic in the way it describes nervousness at the end of the season,” Crozier said.

“Galactico”, the Spanish term that, roughly, means “highly-paid, famous Real Madrid footballer who has lots of skill but wins no trophies”, is added. Few at Stamford Bridge will need to thumb to the “T” section to find out what “tapping-up” means. Reflecting football’s trends, “groundshare” and “silver goal” are fresh inclusions. Jargon from rugby, cricket and extreme sports is also featured.

The Lions will aim to avoid being “monstered” this month by the All Blacks; England’s batsmen will hope they are not victims of an Australian version of “chin music” (a baseball term for a ball thrown near the head). This summer, the Ashes could bring another set of neologisms to popular attention. “There’s the Antipodean thing of making everything shorter. Australians love to shorten. Why say ‘scrum half’ when ‘scrummy’ will do?” Crozier said.

Hakia Search Engine

I don't know how many of you may have heard of this company but there is a new concept in search engine technology. This is where you type a sentence and the engine tries to understand both the words and the meaning of your search. There are a number of companies out there looking into this and one of them has a significant Turkish element to it.

Te company in question is called Hakia and is based in New York with a satellite office in Istanbul. The founder is a fellow by the name of Dr Rize Can Berkan who I believe has been in the US for a while and at one time represented Galatsaray in water polo amongst other achievements.

Just though other Amerikan Turks out there might like to know about this and setting aside loyalties check out the engine.

A funny smell alright

I tell you what, with all the bans and fines handed out by the TFF recently to those poor misunderstood and victimized folks over in Kadikoy they should be thankful they are not in France.

Baros gets three-match ban for nose pinching

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - Olympique Lyon's Czech striker Milan Baros was handed a three-match ban by the French professional football league (LFP) on Thursday for pinching his nose in front of an opponent. Former Liverpool and Aston Villa player Baros pinched his nose in front of Stade Rennes's Cameroon-born midfielder Stephane M'Bia and waved his hand as if he were repelling an offensive odour during the French champions' 0-0 draw at Stade Rennes on April 18. The LFP's disciplinary committee said in its ruling that it came to the conclusion the gesture was not racist. Baros is suspended until the end of the season and the sanction will take effect on Monday, the LFP said in a statement. That means the player will miss his side's last three Ligue 1 matches. Lyon have already made sure of winning a sixth consecutive title. Baros has said there was nothing racist in his gesture and that he had only wanted to signify to M'Bia that he should move back and let him breathe. Baros, 25, joined Lyon from Aston Villa in January.

It always ends in tears

The Husband was originally planning to post something triumphalist I believe but one look at him slumped in the chair with the look of a stunned disbelief on his face tells me I had better post instead....

Man Utd got their asses handed to them tonight ion a Milan that more resembled Manchester thro the rain or was that tears from the Manyoo fans. Whilst it was a poor display from Man Utd and Milan deserve to go through it has to be said that they were helped by some dodgy defending by one of the most consistent performers in Heinze, when he could have cleared he passed and then Brown slipped leading to the second goal courtesy of a lucky ricochet to Seedorf.It was one of those games where nothing seemed to go right and they could be playing still next week and Man Utd would not score.

One interesting stat was that not one Milan player was on a yellow from the first game whereas Scholes, Ronaldo and Heinze were and you could sense that depite the pre-match words there was some trepidation there. Personally I find that incredible given the tackles Gattuso puts in but he seems to be able to get away with tackles that others such as Scholes regularly get booked for.

I must admit that one point it seemed that every decision was going Milans way and over the last few matches it must be said that Milan have benefited from some shall we say generous refereeing, the phantom penalty against Bayern readily springs to mind and tonight the rather blatant push on Rooney when he was in mid air that went unpunished only for seconds later when Pirlo tripped over his hair a free kick was awarded. English clubs remain in my opinion more naive than Italian and Spanish clubs in ref manipulation and Milan gave a master class in frustrating the opposition. Every time Ronaldo or Scholes got the ball in the first 20 minutes they were flattened by a different Milan player which never allowed Man Utd to get into a rhythm, although I'm not sure it would have made much difference if they did.

Anyway it was infinitely better than Tuesday nights tosh and although Man U did not make many chances they played some football at least.

Must be emabarrasing for UEFA though to have a club found guilty of match fixing and referee pressuring to be in the Chimps League final and you really do have to ask whether they are there on merit or whether there is any slightly dodgy stuff going?

Whatever all we can do now is hope that Liverpool repeat Istanbul in Athens......

Tedium, laziness and helium

My goodness I thought it would never end.

I am referring of course to two things, one being the "good advert" for the EPL that was dished up between the port of Manchester and Chelski. Six shots on goal, lots of huff and lots of puff but hardly any class, it was almost worse than watching the Kadikoy mob play. The Milan Man Utd game can only be better after that rubbish.

The second is the comment on my previous post that was cut and pasted from AmerikanTurk. I freely admit that my previous post was, shall we say, a bit free form and stream of consciousness and deserving of criticism especially from a literary sense and maybe even a factual sense and especially a conclusion sense, so why not make your comments like that, what you did was just lazy.

Meanwhile over at planet TFF record breaking fines have been imposed on the Kadikoy mob as well as suspensions. I am sure the fact that coincides with the Besiktas game will have all the budgie fanciers reaching for their X-Files but really what choice did the TFF have espeially with Aurelio? As for the rest I don't know, not that I am upset or anything, me?, but this may be a final reckoning as far as the TFF are concerned! Or maybe they were just snorting helium!!!

Having said that this will have one of three outcomes.
1) They will either be fired up for the BJK match and rip Besiktas to pieces and go on to win the Superlig on a wave of "no one likes us we don't care" type mentatlity, or
2) They will be fired up for the BJK game and take matters into their own hands on the pitch leading to even more suspensions for red and yellow cards
3) Or their will power will be drained and they will sulk at the injustice and the season will get flushed away

Whatever, this Saturdays match up looks set to be tasty, not sure if the ref has been decided for the game but lets just hope it is Cem Deda now that would make for entertainment

Why is everything negative

Murat over at AmerikanTurk does an extremely good job of postings that provoke discussion, although sometimes it seems he would prefer to just say, please no more!!!

One thing that happens is though is that the comments end up in a he said she said condition where people with entrenched positions be they Muslim/Christian, Turkish/Armenian/Greek end up shouting at each other, trading insults and not listening......and you wonder why he wants to quit!

For a change I thought I would devote a post not to the beautiful game (sic.) but to reasons why and where religion or similar has made a positive contribution.

Where shall we start.

I know how about philosophy. Well the Greeks, and I use that term loosely were the masters of this, many of the cities where the philosophers lived and published were in what is now modern day Turkey but so what it makes no difference to what they said or published.

Architecture. Where to start. Maybe the sun worshipping, incest tolerating Egyptians and the pyramids? Or how about Ayia Sofia in Istanbul consecrated in 576 and built by the Romans because they could and effectively the heart of the Orthodox church until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, whereafter it became a stable and then a mosque. More impressively it was the biggest domed structure in the world until St Peters was built in the 1800's. With the fall of Constantinople the Ottoman empire flowered as did patronage of the arts and the talents of Mimar Sinan came to the worlds attention. The mosque at Edirne being the supreme example. Prior to that and if you research the history of architecture you will see the shifting paterns of development. The Islamic arched window for example was transported back from the "Holy Land" by Crusaders. Military architecture reached a high point with the scientific design of the Krak des Cheavliers and siege warfare became an art that the Islamic armies had to master against their bedouin inspired inclinations which culminated in the breaching of the walls built more than 1000 years before 1453 and still standing today in Istanbul. Between 744 (I think) and 1453 no Muslim army troubled Istanbul, that is a longer period than from 1453 until now...think about that. Excellent book on the subject is "Constantinople, the Last Great Siege" by Crowley. Suffice it to say that religion has influenced most of architecture and given that for centuries the main patrons of architects were religious, government or both that is hardly surprising.

Medicine. For a long while Islamic doctors were streets ahead of western doctors in the diagnoses and treatment of illness, mainly as the catholic church considered prayer the best for of cure and discouraged learning and inquiry. Then for whatever reason scientific inquiry or debate became less tolerated in Islamic circles and western scientist in mainly protestant countries pushed the boundaries of medical science to where they are today with each benefitting from the other. Interestingly in warfare Islamic armies suffered less "camp fever" than western as they understood the link between hygiene and illness which was helped by the necessary ablutions. However it should be noted that most Ottoman armies had their fair share of non-Muslim mercenaries and conscripts who also benefited form the attention to hygiene.

I guess what prompted this post is that I just finished a remarkable book entitled "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" by Arthur Herman. despite being one of the poorest nations in Europe Scotland has produced more than its fair share of free thinkers, scientists, economists etc. whose contribution to what we see around us today should not be overlooked. Why did this happen. Well Scotland benefitted in the 17/1800's from a religious viewpoint that considered "bettering yourself" and education to be of greater import than slavish adherence to a set of rules and edicts issued from Rome. Sunday Schools flourished, illiteracy decreased, Universities were filled with enquiring minds freed from the threat of persecution by Priests who still considered it was heresy to claim the earth was a globe and not flat. Although religion was important in this case it freed the mind and assisted in the invention oif many of the items that have created the world we see around us today. Interestingly another set of non-conformists ,the Quakers, were busily developing the iron and steel industry in Ironbridge in England that would pave the way for the start of the Industrial Revolution that has culminated in me being able to post this blog. It is no coincidence that the countries not controlled by a repressive religion, Britain, with the USA and Germany caught in the wake were at the forefront of this development as challenging the status quo did not lead to ostracim and burning at the stake or equivalent.

My point is this. It is very easy to blame religion for all of the problems, strife, conflict and hatred we see in the World today. But stop and think of the benefits that the atmosphere created at different times and in different parts of the world has created that benefits people today. Turkish Muslims undertaking the haj would not be able to fly from Istanbul to Jeddah on an Airbus or Boeing for example, a nice example of the benefits the muslim world obtains from non muslim developed technology. Cataract removal was being undertaken by Islamic doctors in the 1400's and todays techniques owe alot to that. There are thousands of other examples that illustrate the cross pollination of ideas and practices, these are two I could think of easily as its getting late.

I say lets celebrate our differences, the world would be an incredibly boring place if everyone was the same, but not use those differences as an excuse to kill each other.

Titles and tantrums

I was having a look at the history of the SuperLig today and the statistics are as follows.

Founded in 1959 the league has been won by the following teams.

Galatasaray 16
F******** 16
Besiktas 10 (or 12 depending if you count 57 and 58).
Trabzon 6

Taking a look at the last 10 years shows that Galatasaray has won the Lig 6 times, F***3 and Besiktas once.

Given the amount of money and number of players that the Kadikoy mob have gone through that represents a serious under return on investment in my opinion.

Given that CimBom also picked up the UEFA cup and Super Cup in 2000 and topped the world club rankings in 2001 it is clear which is the best and most successful club side in Turkey and its not on the Asian side.

Whilst Galatsaray are unlikely to win this year, I have a feeling that Besiktas will as I think the other lot are beginning to crumble just like last season, no character you see just a bunch of mercenaries. Lets face when you are 2-0 up at home to Denizlispor you really should not end up with a draw if you want to be champions. Next up is Besiktas away and if BJK win then they go top and if the slide continues CimBom could slip into second, wouldn't that be sweet.

We now wait to see just what punishment TFF decide is appropriate for the scenes we saw after the Besiktas match. I'm guessing none as Aziz seems to think he is bigger than TFF.

Who the F**** do they think they are

I was going to follow up my earlier post with a standard piece about the routine 3-0 victory for CimBom over Sakarya today. Two more goals from Umit, good season for him and one for Mehmet Guven. I really hate watching games when there is no crowd, but what can you do.

However I was absolutely appalled by what happened after the Besiktas Mafia match on Thursday and full marks to Ahmet for raising this issue because the Kadikoy mob have excelled themselves this time with proof that they really are the scrapings of a very foul barrel.

I am refering to the attack on Ricardinho first by a fan and then by Aurelio in the car park after the game. First of all how can a fan get that close to the players and secondly what was Aurelio doing???? And why was the fan seen walking with Aziz Yildirim later on, did he hire him. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered but one thing that must be clear is that some form opf punishment has to be delivered to Kadikoy, and I am not talking about fines and playing behind closed door I am talking about points. Will this club stop at nothing. I mean they spend all that money every year and still they struggle and have to resort to cheating and bad attitude.

But I expect TFF to do nothing and let the Kadikoy scum get away with this kind of lowlife behaviour.

Oh dear, oh dear.........

Is Ankara going to have a Super LIg Team next season....well maybe Ankaraspor....tee, hee

Rizespor 3-1 Ankargucu

Genc 1-2 Erciyes

Maybe Erciyes can escape the drop at Ankargucu's expense????

After todays matches the situation looks like this

9 Genc 39
10 Bursa 38
11 Antalya 37
12 Manisa 37
13 Ankargucu 36
14 Gaziantep 36
15 Rize 35
16 Denizil 34
17 Erciyes 32
18 Sakarya 21

That is seriously squeaky bum time at the bottom with none of those teams from 9 to 17 absolutely safe.

I am positive the Kankas will let us know.....

The sublime and the ridiculous

Anyone who watched the Man Utd Milan match was treated to a superb display of what football should be about. Speed, excitement, dodgy defending, goals and edge of the seat nerve shredding moments. What a game and what a contracts to the usual fare served up in Turkey. Mind you watching Aston Villa against Watford is not quite as exciting either!!.

Man Utd seemed to revert to their treble winning style that is you score 3 we will score 4 which makes for excitement but does not do much for the blood pressure. In a way it was like watching a basketball match! It also seems that the long held myth that Italian clubs can defend has been vaporised with 11 goals scored in two matches against Italian teams.

The less said about the scousers and chelski the better. A nasty spiteful game crowned by misery guts moaning about the ref, the fact hi players got their hair wet etc. etc. what a miserable sod Mourinho is and the sooner Chelski sack him the better. His recent complaints about injuries and possible suspension are absolutely pathetic. He was missing Bollock injured and Essien (Drunk) suspended. Compare that to Utd who were missing Vidic, Ferdinand, Neville, Saha, Park.

As for the ridiculous I am referring to Galatsaray's loss in the CAS about Ribery. If what is said is true why did they think they had a chance to win, really what an embarrassment.

Somt5imes I wonder about the management at Galatasaray. All the money that has been spent, where did it go, why play at the Olympic stadium, sacking Lucescu, appointing Terim etc. etc. Oh well I guess its the way it is and there is not a lot I can do about it......

Until the weekend

Tea for two

This season is rapidly becoming one to forget. However Galatasaray still need to win todays match to cement third place and so a UEFA Cup position. With Besiktas and the others winning on Saturday and Friday the Championship is gone so third place is all we have to play for although if Besiktas make a mistake we could still sneak into second and the Chimps League.

Here in New Jersey it was a nice warm afternoon for watching football and after having watching Newcastle frustrate Chelski, to the Husband's relief it was time for a nice cup of tea. First of all Mondragon was not playing but Aykut is a reasonable replacement as he showed after about 15mins with a great save from Biryol. Does anyone else think that Altan and Umit look like brothers, although Altan has less hair!!!

There was also an Alien siting, thats right Fatih "Imperator" Terim was in the crowd, cannot be to check out players for the National Team, or was it nostalji.

Both teams set out like express trains and the crowd was in fine form. Lots of chances and poor defending and after 20 minutes it could have 1-1 but it was still 0-0.

And then somewhat against the run of play some poor defending at a corner allowed Rizespor to go ahead 1-0. After the 5 chances CimBom had created in the preceding 10 minutes that was hard to take.

Then in the 42nd minute after some excellent approach play Necati scored a very good goal to level things at 1-1, great pass by Inamoto to set up Necati who then got a yellow card for his celebration. More good pressure in the last 3 minutes of the first half almost brought a second goal but half time ended 1-1. Now for some tea......

Just sitting down with a cup of tea when Umit calmly slotted home from 4 yards after a mistake by the tea boy's defence and some quick think by Ayhan. And Inamoto should have scored almost straight away from the restart.

3-1 finally arrived in the 54th minute with a superb goal by Necati although the credit should go to Umit who controlled the ball superbly to then set up the cross for Necati.

On came Hakan for his comedy turn, and at the same time the game began to die a little bit, even with Sabri trying to win a non-existent penalty, and Cire flashing a shot just wide of the post, shot being cleared off the line.

So a 3-1 result, which helps for third place. Bit more exciting than the second city derby....

Mirage or reality?????

Hello out there its the Husband here on behalf of Gulay who is busy with Zeynep.

Going into this weekend round of matches we find that the Kadikoy Mob are at the top oh the pile with 56 points followed by Besiktas with 52 and Galatasaray with 48. There are 6 matches or 18 point left. Most commentators including Ahmet over at Turkish Soccer seem to have conclude that the race is effectively over an the Championship is heading to Kadikoy.

I am not so sure given the way all three teams have been playing recently. WIth CimBom brushing aside Genc and both FB and Besiktas drawing against lowly placed teams the situation once again became interesting rather than foregone last weekend. Similar results this weekend and we could see FB collapse again like last season. Whilst it would take a minor miracle for Galatasaray to finsih top its not impossible but would require FB to lose 3 games and CimBom to win all remaining games.

CimBom's run in is:
Rizespor (h), Sakarya (a), Antalya (h), Sivas (a), FB (h) and Bursa (a)

which apart from Sivas and FB is against teams in the lower half of the League so should be good for 12 points although GS's recent form does not inspire total confidence. As for FB well their temperament must be questioned as they have had chance after chance top open that gap and failed just like last season. I guess that about now the players are beginning to let last season enter their thoughts.......

If course its not a two horse race and if anything Besiktas are in better position than Galatasaray and if any team is realistically going to push the Kadikoy mob its them.

I would estimate though that 12 points from the remaining six games will get CimBom into the UEFA Cup where i hope they can perform a bit better than this years embarrassments in the Chimps League. Note to GS management NEVER, play games at the Ataturk stadium again, no atmosphere, no character and a terrible place to watch soccer!!!!

Lets just hope that the quality of play in the last few matches improves so watching SuperLig does not feel like some new form of punishment.....

Canned Tuna

These days when I buy Tuna I buy the dolphin friendly, in water, tree huggers special. I use this to make a very refined dish known as HUMBLE PIE for the folks in Ankara who can only Promise such a fishy delight but never deliver the real Tuna......

As I accurately predicted yesterday Galatasaray trawled to a routine win over extremely limited opposition whose main threat seemed to be....nothing. In the interests of fairness and my previous post I will however state that Cem Deda's mum had obvioulsy let him stay up late, or had worked out how to programme the VHS in the house as he had obvioulsy taken on board the fine referee skills shown in the Tottenham and Milan games with regard to penalties. As for the rest of his performance it was fair........ fairly bad that is.

The match had an end of term feel about it with players hugging, shaking hands and none of the usual stupidness except the one occasion when Umit Karan was given help to replace his socks....Mehmet Nes and Cem Deda seen with their arms around each other....what were they doing I wonder, swapping cep numbers or comparing hair care products?

I guess Genc have absolutely nothing to play for now and for Galatasaray this probably guarantees UEFA football next season unless they suffer a complete meltdown over the next couple of weeks. Mind you on recent performaces that is nothing to get too excited about!!!

And now I await the comments!!!!!!

Conspiracy theory

I have spent the last 10 days watching the Champions League and UEFA Cup quarter finals and have reached a conclusion about the standard of referees. Absolutely terrible.

I just finished watching the Tottenham Spanish Cheats match and could hardly believe some of the decisions. Every time one of the long haired Spanish cheats was so much as brethed on it was a free kick. However according to the fat bald Austrian incompetent in charge a rugby tackle in the area is not a penalty, stampng on an opponents head is not even worth a free kick, deliberate handball is not worth a yellow card, pushing in the back from a free kick is not a penalty either but one late tackle and a collapse and roll worthy of an Socar is enough for a red card if you playe for Tottenham. Although I am not a Spur fan I think they have been very badly tretaed after the ridicuous penalty in the first match and the non-award of three penalties tonight. I wonder if UEFA gave the referees istructions to make sure cheats prosper.

It was the same in most of the games. I think only Lubos Michel in the Man Utd Roma game actually had a good match. But he was helped there as Roma gave up after 3.

Bayern Munich also were on the end of a terrible performance in the first match with the award of a penalty for a perfectly good tackle. Man Utd were playing 12 in Roma in the first game and so on. Generally very very poor standards of referee performance. As for some of the acting performances, UEFA have got to introdue video review to make sure retrspective action is taken against the players like Gattuso who fign injury to stop and attack and then when the play is stoped for tretment are suddenly okay, but after the drop ball the ball is kicked way back to the goalkeeper. There is a name for this, cheating and Spanish and Italian teasm are masters at it.

Actually I was wondering how a team found guilty of bribing referees is allowed to compete in the Champions League, AC Milan of course. In addition the level of violence at Italian matches should have led to UEFA kicking them all out. But of course it did not happen, you have to wonder what the punishment would have been if the teams involved were English or Turkish as it seems to me that no matter how bad things are in Italy they never get punished.

The response of the Roma police to the Man Utd supporters was also interesting. Only put ploice on the Man Utd side and then when the Roma fans have run out of missiles to throw, the crowd runs n the terraces towards a barrier separating the supporters, you start to bet the crap out of one set of fans only! Then you justify it afterwards by saying you had no choice. I see when person is lying on the floor and you continue beating him with a stick that is acceptable even he has not attacked you in the first place. Interesting how the Italian mind (assuming they have one) works. They demand that GI's swo shot an Iatlian agen in a car that crashed through a checkpoint in Iraq are handed over for trial but the facists thugs....oops sorry police who attack unarmed supporters and use excessive levels of force have no identification and therefore cannot be prosecuted for what was in effect assault and battery. Hypocrites but what do you expect from a country that tolerates blatant racism and facism on the terraces and generally in life, name me a black Italian National Team soccer player........

I like the old joke bout Italy Q: Why is Italy shaped like a boot? A: Becos you cant get all that shit in a shoe.

Sums it up perfectly I think.

Oh well.

So Friday we have the small matter of Galatsaray beating Genclirbirlgi (I hope). Well they will have to play better than they did last week!!!! But then thats not tooo difficult..just so long as we win and can make sure of a UEFA Cup place for next season to help with the 33million of debt we have accumulated. I have to wonder how that happened coz it certainly is not on transfer fees and salaries!!!!!!

Whatever......

So the season is finally over after the embarrassing and pathetic performance at home against a team in the relegation zone. After last season when the players fought to the end it seems like most of them have given up now. Well I assume that as many of them will be on the way out of Istanbul at the end of the season they don't care any more. Well if that is the case then maybe the club should not play them and let some of the younger players through.

Even though Gerets has signed a new contract it is difficult to see how he can survive although I have to say the choice of who to buy is not his!

Lets hope next season is better.

April fools

A classic match in Ankara today, free flowing foorball, no controversy, silky skills and no cards.......oh sorry that was the Spurs Reading match!!!!

All I can say is that CimBom certainly deserved to win today against a very limited Ankargucu team whose main aim was to kick the Galatasary players off the pitch. They almost succedded!! I cant remember who it was that made it his peronal mission to do this but he was correctl sent off in the second half. The strange thing was thta it was for a second yellow. However the double footed dive onto Inamoto's shin was worth a straight red but it seemed the referee was not too bothered about the tackle, just his reaction afterwards.....amazing.

If any of the Kanaks were there I guess they will be needing to buy new lighters or cep's, or they can ask Hasan for them!!!

Absolutley not a classic game, Necati's first goal being the highlight, a superb strike from a great cross from Hasan. The only Ankara player I can remember was Bebbe, an unfortunate name as the whole team may be crying like one soon.....

With the Kadikoy mob beating Ankaraspor and Galatasaray winning it has been a weekend for the first city to put the second city firmly in its place. Just hope Besiktas fail to round it off tomorrow. What is that all about anyway, matches on a Monday!!!!!

Reality Check

So after the euphoria of beating Greece 4-1 in Athens came the reality of playing the Vikings in Germany. Considering how well we played against Greece the performance was a real disappointment although the result was okay. At least we are top of the group but that was hard work.

I guess the players were still hyped from the Greece game but even so, they should have known the danger of the Norway team, lets face it Carew was Besiktas recently.

Oh well, life goes on and here am I complaining about a football performance whilst 15 innocent people remain pawns in a vicious power play game of chess. Feel sorry for them, or the people who die in Iraq every day as a result of the suicide bombing of....markets, how brave these people are....

Hard to believe

Well, well, well, that was certainly a turn up for the books. After all the doom and gloom from the majority of Turkish supporters the outcome was better than anyone could have seen. I mean even Volkan played well.

As well as Turkey played they were helped by a Greek side that looks past its sell by date, especially the goalkeeper. I was starting to think that Volkan and nikopilidis had swapped souls or something because Volkan actually played well as Nikopilidis had a nightmare. I would not like to be him and read the newspapers tomorrow!!!!!!

I was impressed with the way Turkey played after the Greeks scored. No panic and they looked the best side for most of the game. I am glad Stelios missed his chance when it was 2-1 though as if he had scored we might not be so happy!!! Anyway he missed and the rest is history.

Most of the players we were saying were not good enough or in poor form played well, Sabri was great, Hakan led the line very well, Volkan made a couple of good saves. Lets hope they can continue in this form now and beat Norway on Wednesday.

As for the Husband, that was a pathetic display be England. Not sure how much longer McClaren will be the coach.

Anyway who cares Turkey won, the biggest ever win for either side in the Greece Turkey matches.

Calrification

Finally I have succumbed to the need to differentiate between Gulay and myself the Husband. From now on when I post comments or posts you will see who is who.

Just to ensure everyone understands the difference is simple.

Gulay is Turkish and supports the most successful team in Turkey, Galatasaray.

I on the other hand am English and support the most successful team ever, Manchester United.

Got it.

Good.

Brought your boots.....

Fatih Terim alien watch Day 3.

Given the state of the Turkish squad with all the injuries it appears that my prediction about Alpay and Ilhan has actually tuned out to be true according to Ahmet on his have a take page. I really hope not but lets see.

More evidence of Fatih Terim as an alien is that depsite losing almost all his strikers Umit Karan is sitting on the beach in Antalya. Out of this world......

Alien siting confirmed

It's true and Ahmet over at Turkish Soccer confirmed it that Fatih Terim does indeed have no contact with earth at all and that he is an alien. This was of course confirmed by his decision to ignore all the evidence in front of his eyes, as if he has not been on this planet watching the Super Lig games and picks Volkan as goalkeeper for match against Greece.

Absolutely unbelievable.

There is nothing else to say, nothing...........

Back to the past.....

It has taken me a couple of days to absorb the information and get over the shock but finally I have worked out the answer. The Fatih Terim we see and hear everyday (unfortunately) is actually an advanced hologram or alien life form because no normal, sane human could have picked the squad that he has picked for Turkey's rather important Euro 2008 Qualifiers.

The squad:

Hakan Şükür, Arda Turan, Sabri Sarıoğlu, Emre Aşık (Galatasaray A.Ş.), Volkan Demirel, Tümer Metin, Tuncay Şanlı, Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahçe), İbrahim Toraman, İbrahim Üzülmez, Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş A.Ş.), Gökdeniz Karadeniz, Hüseyin Cimşir (Trabzonspor A.Ş.), Gökhan Ünal, Mehmet Topuz (Kayserispor), Mehmet Yıldız, Servet Çetin (Sivasspor), Hakan Arıkan (Ankaraspor A.Ş.), Ferdi Elmas (Çaykur Rizespor), Orkun Uşak (Kayseri Erciyesspor), Bekir İrtegün (Gaziantepspor), Hamit Altıntop (Schalke 04), Nuri Şahin (Borussia Dortmund), Emre Belözoğlu (Newcastle United FC), Tugay Kerimoğlu (Blackburn Rovers FC), Fatih Tekke (Zenit St. Petersburg)

Even as a Galatasaray supporter I find the selection of Sabri and Emre Asik questionable to say the least especially as Umit who is banging goals in at will is left out. Hakan Sukur is past it but lest not forget he scored 4 last time so at the least have him in the squad and maybe on the bench. Volkan should not even be playing for the Kadikoy Mob let alone in the National Squad as he is probably worse than David James. Tugay whilst being a great great player does not have the legs anymore for Internationals. I know lets bring back Umit Davala, Alpay and Ilhan, why not they cannot do worse than this lot and where is Halil Altintop. Of course things may changes as Arda is injured. I can also guarantee that whatever the result the Imperator will not accept any blame and will also be rude and aggressive to the reporters.

I hope it does not happen but I have a feeling we will get hammered by the Greeks unless Terim has some cunning plan, which I doubt. Oh well it could be worse and be like the Husband who has to put up with Steve Maclaren and is refusing to talk about the England Israel match saying he has no interest in International games and only wants Man Utd to win things!!!!!

Snow, snow glorious snow..........not!

So Friday, what was all that about? 2-1 up and a couple of minutes left and what happens we let the Konya player score apparently. Useless thats what they are this season, useless. and withe Kadikoy mob winning at Bursaspor thats pretty much it for the season I think. Now all we ca do is hope we get a UEFA cup spot and hope the management can bring in some reasonable players in the summer.

I say apparently because I did not see the game due to the weather conditions in New Jersey. On Thursday it was 17 degrees and then Friday morning it started to snow and by Saturday morning we had 15 inches of snow!!!!! I had to go into the City to get my laptop sorted as some slimeball had sent an email with a virus or something which corrupted my Outlook that I use for my work email. The snow was causing problems for the trains so I did not get back in time to watch the match.

Husband and I watched the Man Utd Bolton match. Now there is football, speed precision, excitement and good spirit! Pretty much all of which is missing from the Super Lig this season.

Looks like there was some excitement at the Vestel Manisa game, anybody know what happened?

Here is a picture of our area after the snow last night and the neighbors clearing efforts.

Ouch!!!!

Before anything else I would like to say Gecmis Olsun to Musa who suffered a horrible injury, probably a broken leg, in todays game when he inadvertently kicked Arda I think it was. Thank you to LigTV who kept on replaying the scene, I am not sure I wanted to see it 20 times!!!!

Well at the edn of the first half the best Turkish Player on display was ........Tuday who was playing for Blackburn against Man City in the FA Cup. I was keeping an eye on that game and at 36 Tugay still appeared to be the calm centre of the storm. What a pity that not one of the players in Istanbul could copy him. Its no wonder Terim has recalled him but what a bad statement about the quality of the other Turkish players.

Inamoto was terrible, I think he made one successful pass and the Ergun was the same!! Thank goodness for Arda who appears to be able to control the ball.

The second half was a lot better, in fact Galatasaray controlled the game apart from the Trabzon goal that is. The Husband compared to the goal to watching Nat Lofthouse in his prime who apparently was famous for knocking goalkeepers into the goal.

I think the 2-1 result was a good result and the performance in the second half was much better than recently so that was encouraging.

No change in the league positions though as the Kankas obviously failed miserably to get behind Ankargucu who lost to Besiktas. Keeps things alive for a another couple of weeks though.

Lessons to learn

First of all congratulations to Oz Kanka's sister in law who has recently given birth and chosen the superb name of Rose.....not that I am biased of course.

I was having a discussion with a Besiktas supporter the other day, not an everyday occurrence I admit but at least its possible unlike with some teams.......and we were talking about the poor state of play in the Turkish league. He made some interesting comments and I thought I would share them especially on a Chimps league day which could see four English teams through and where not that long ago we could have expected Galatasaray or even the Kadikoy mob to at least be involved and have some hope.

These days it seems that when a Turkish team lose in Europe it is almost expected and people are not surprised. For example when AZ Alkmaar knocked out FB the reaction was not as great as it would have been a few years ago. Its the same when Galatasaray kept losing in the Chimps League this season to teams with the exception of Liverpool we really should expect to beat. Have the standard in the Turkish League fallen so low that we now consider ourselves worse than French League 1 or Dutch Eerdivisie teams and that we expect to lose????

If thats the case what can/should be done, anything? nothing?

Another point was that what is the Turkish team going to do for a goalkeeper now that Volkan is effectively finished, maybe hope that Mondragon changes his name to Abdullah or something but even he has been less consistent than previously....where are the Turkish goalkeepers????

Also what about a target man. Other than Hakan Sukur there is no forward in the Turkish League who can play with his back to goal and bring in payers form midfield, for a prime example Dimitar Berbatov gave a textbook example of how to do this when Tottenham played Bolton recently almost all of the attackers play the Brazilian way which is to drop deep take the ball and then run at the defence. Unfortunately Hasan Kabze and the rest are not very good at it.

What do you think?

Cultural monday monkey

Husband here......

That's the first day of the week over with and here in New Jersey the brass monkey's balls have been falling off....or at least they will tonight.

Now for everyone out there who is wondering what on earth I am talking about this means it will be extremely cold. But what I hear you ask does it have to do with monkey balls and why are they made of brass????????

Ahhhh the subtle joys of Wobbly arrow's language indeed...

I must admit that I thought this had to do with cannon balls, brass, monkeys and cold but according to Wikipedia I am sadly mistaken.....still it will be a balmy -10F tomorrow with the wind chill or -23C. It's March for goodness sake, I don't know about brass monkeys but its cold enough to freeze the balls off me.......and lets not forget the db's.

Anyway after a weekend of doom and gloom I will make some predictions. Manchester Utd will win the Premiership but only just, Chavski will win the FA Cup to add to the Carling cup and thats all, Lille are a bunch of winging french fries and should be smothered in mayonnaise, Fenerbahce will not win the SuperLig but I have no idea who will.....any suggestions (and for those in Ankara, I mean realistic suggestions.....)

In addition I predict Cem Deda will learn to tie hi show laces and stop having his mother buy underwear for him before the end of the season.

Enough enough I hear you cry...........

Cem Deda II

Another really excellent result form Kadikoy where Sivasspor really should have won the match to really open up the SuperLig. As it is with the Gencler result and others teh end of the season could be quite interesting for all concerned.

Mr Deda showed his usual brand of incompetence and inconsistency which on this occassion meant that the Kadikoy mob did not get everything they wanted!!!!

Season over?

Well it seems that despite the fact that Gerets has signed an extension this has not had the desired effect of settling the players down. A loss last weekend, knocked out of the Cup during the week and now a loss to the referee....I mean Besiktas today. Contrary to last season the team is now playing worse after the winter break than before and I really cannot see any way for Galatasaray to win the SuperLig this season. Results since the restart of the season are WDWLDL which is not the form needed.

This was a strange team that Gerets put out for such an important match no Song, Ilic, Inamoto, Hakan, Orhan Ak or Hasan Sas.

Having said that the team played relatively well although Necati was in one of his more profligate moods today as he should have had a couple of goals in the first half after good work from Arda. One thing that left a bad taste in the mouth though was the play acting of the Besiktas defenders especially the slap head. A couple of times he was beaten and a GS player was in very good position only for a free kick to be awarded against them as the slap head was rolling around pretending to be hurt even though replays showed no foul. That is cheating, pure and simple but with todays referee, Firat Aydinus, Besiktas were rewarded for all of their underhand tactics.

On the balance of play I believe a draw should have been the result, certainly CimBom were not good enough to win but I also don't think Besiktas really deserved to win especially with the rather dodgy penalty they were awarded. Apart from the fact that Bobo the clown was pushing Mehmet in the back handball should be hand to ball and the replays clearly showed this was not the case. What makes it harder to take was the rather obvious foul on Umit a couple of minutes that resulted in nothing........as I have said time and time again the referees in Turkey are poor and inconsistent, I don't believe they are corrupt rather they are just crap and easily influneced by the home crowd.

Great result in Liverpool today, serves the scousers right for being so arrogant.....but again the ref was not exactly consistent.....Carragher gets a yellow for a studs up, late, high vicious challenge on Rooney and Scholes gets a red for swinging and missing at Alonso who was clearly dragging him back and was already on a yellow. Todays ref was also infliuenced by the Liverpool crowd so its not just Turkey....

Lucky Escape

Excellent result in Antalya today with Antalya winning 1-0 which keeps the gap manageable.

Seems like all the Istanbul teams are in meltdown at the moment but is anyone else going to take advantage?

What the f***

Husband here again.

Gulay is not happy after Friday's result in the Super Lig, a 1-1 draw with Denizlispor. I must admit I did not see the game as I was at work in Manhattan and Gulay did not see it either as she was asleep!!!

That is probably that as far as the Championship is concerned, all we can hope is that the Kadikoy mob implode as Volkan continues to stuff things up. At least we are still in second place as Besiktas managed to lose to Trabzon but this season is rapidly unravelling for CimBom. There must be a clear out at the end of the season, new defence, new midfield and new attack needed! The coach could stay as Gerets has in our opinion done a reasonable job but I doubt if the management will let him if the Championship goes to Asia. GS need to finish at least second and then hope we can do better in the Chimps League next season. Of course FB getting knocked out by AZ Alkmaar means fewer points for Turkey so fewer chances to get on the CL.


At least Man Utd got a won today against Fulham so now they are 9 points ahead of Chavski, which is good as the next away game is Liverpool! Normally I would expect 3 points from that game but the last couple of matches Utd have not payed too well and Liverpool having beaten Barcelona away are on a high, plus we have a FA Cup replay against Reading on Tuesday, no rest for the wicked!

Well thats that so bye for now!

Supposedly cultural hooligans

Watched the Man Utd Lille match last night.

Very poor game won by a piece of quick thinking by Giggs. Unfortunately it seems that most French football players and their manager do not know the laws of football. The quickly taken free kick is something you see week in week out in the EPL, the ref asks, and moves away from the ball and its up to the team that committed the offence to keep their eyes on what is happening, if they are looking at their goalkeeper then tough luck! As for Puels comments that Giggs should have been booked or sent off then yes if the player had said he will wait for the whistle and takes it quickly, I have seen that happen but not if he says I'll have a quickie!

As for walking off the pitch to protest if thats what typically happens in France than maybe UEFA should be considering whether French Football should be in Europe at all as they appear to play to a different set of rules.

Typical French, can't stand being beaten, again and again and again by the English. What a bunch of cry babies.

As for the problems in the crowd, pictures of old ladies and kids being carried out of a prison cage, now banned in the UK of course, as a result of tear gas being used on fans who appeared to being crushed, good on you you French morons, way to manage a situation properly. It looked like Hillsborough was about to start all over again.

And then there were the missiles being thrown on to the pitch by the French "Supporters". How sad is that, this again shows the complete inability of the French to police things properly.

IN short it looks like the French Riot Police were itching for a fight, it looks like they scored an own goal though and should have targeted the home fans and the stewards who were responsible for the problems.

It will be interesting to see UEFA's response to this. I am half expecting Man Utd to be punished more severely than Lille actually and it would not surprise me if UEFA somehow convince themselves that the referee made a technical mistake and order the game relayed. Just remember what happened between Bahrain and another Asian team before last years World Cup when Bahrain claimed the referee should not have awarded a penalty and forced the game to be replayed. Why the cynicisms you ask, well Platini is the new boss of UEFA and he will of course support the French teams in the same way Splatter supports anyone who is not Turkish or English.

Lets face it UEFA have been silent so far on the trouble in Italy but whenever there is problems in Turkey or UK they are very quick to talk about bans etc. The only country to have been banned from European competition are English teams after Heysel , and Feyernoord, and yet it seems that other countries can kill, maim and cause general chaos without sanction. I expect almost nothing to be done to Lille even though they should be kicked from the competition. Lets face it of Turkey are banned from home games for 6 matches after the Swiss match then what should be Lille's sanction?

Trail of incompetence

The Husband here again.

Just finished watching the Galatasaray Gaziantepspor match and also the Man Utd Reading match in the FA Cup. On view tonight was one known incompetent, who generally lived up to his reputation, and one total and relatively new incompetent who proved he should not be a referee in the Super Lig. I refer of course to Messrs Poll and Deda. Now we all know about Mr Poll but Cem Deda excelled himself in the GS Antep game.

In the last 10 minutes there were two clear penalties for Galatasaray, one for the clear foul on Hasan by Fukrat (or whatever the hell his name was) and one for the tosting of Oakn by........you guessed it Fukrat. There was a third on Umit but that was less clear. According to Mr Deda it is not a penalty when the defender slides through from the back takes your legs before getting the ball, and when you complain it is a yellow card. That was only one of his many poor decisions and let me be clear he was consistently incompetent with regard to decisions made against both GS and Antep. This man is so incompetent I bet his boots have velcro on them so he does not have to worry about tying his own laces!

This was a frustrating game as GS dominated but could not get close to the goal, partly because of the incompetence of Mr Deda but aslo partly because of the Antep game plan which seemed to rely on fouling any GS player with 25meters of the goal and hoping Mr Deda gave them the free kick? It worked too.

As for the Antep goal there was a non-free kick awarded by the ever consistent Mr Deda from which they scored. Not much else to say really except that even Mr Poll would have managed to get at least some of the decisions correct.

Anyway its a setback in the race for the championship and all we can hope is that Sakaryaspor can pull off a surprise result in Istanbul on Sunday, faint hope but anything is possible.

Happy days

This has been a good weekend.

Why?

Fenerbahce lose.
Galatsaray win.
Manchester United win.

The only negative was Chelsea also won but that would, perhaps be too much to ask for.

Good game today with a performance that was about 500% better than last weeks garbage. Considering the start that Vestel Manisaspor had they have fallen off the pace rather badly and seemed a shadow of the team that existed before the winter break. Still, who cares as long as the might CimBom keep on rolling, catch and overtake the budgies from Kadikoy......again. How ironic that would be for the same meltdown to happen two years in a row. Probably it will not but one can only hope.

Umit Karan had a stormer today and finally Inamoto appeared to remember why he was picked for Japan. Ilic gave another strong performance although I have to say the defence still makes me hyperventilate occasionally. Wish we could have brought reinforcements in during the transfer window.

Actually, having seen the results from yesterday I am beginning to think that the draw last week in Kayseri was not a bad result given the pasting they gave Ankaragucu on Saturday. Nothing like a trip to the second city to get your dander up and give the AC Milan wannabes a lesson in passing, shooting and generally playing football.

Dont know if anyone else caught it but I watched the Wigan Areshole game as well and Henry gave another demonstration as to why he is NOT a class player. His gloating and frankly childish reaction to the won goal that Wigan conceded to bring L'Arse level (from an offside cross) went unpunished but I really think his attitude sucks. He may be a technically gifted player but when you do things like that you merely incite stuff and he was lucky it was not a more fiery character than Kirkland that he did it to.

I think thats about it.

Contrasting styles

Here I am in snow covered New Jersey watching Galatasaray play Kayseri on a snow covered farmers field. And I have to say I am not overly impressed with the action on offer. Especially as the Husband has just finished watching the Man Utd Tottenham match which saw 4 goals, flowing football, skill and passion.... elements generally missing from the fare on digiturkwebtv. Oh well its only the start of the second half so things could, please get better. Good to see thaht now the break is over the weather went bad...typical.

Why are they not using one of the yellow or orange balls tough, its really difficult to see on the screen, or maybe they are and its the lights are a bit dim like the majority of the play on view.....or maybe thats a blessing in disguise!!!It is a yellow ball, just saw it as Song clattered a player for what is it had been Alex a penalty.

Here is something I don't understand, the Kadikoy mob get punished and have to play in Izmir. How nice at this time of year, no snow, good pitch and you call that a punishment.......more like an advantage at this time of year......

What a crap match...can we play in Izmir too and not on frozen snow covered pitches..

Turkeys finest strike again

I will never cease to be amazed by the absolute moron behavior of some people in Turkey. I refer of course to the leaked pictures showing various of the boys in blue posing with a Turkish Flag and the suspect in the Hrant Dink murder.



Irrespective of what you think about the picture the more disturbing part of this story is the quote from the Chief of Police that "an investigation was under way into officers seen in the footage, as well as into who leaked it to the media." This is so typical, remember the rail crashes a couple of years ago when the Transport Minister blamed the accidents on divine forces rather than offering to take responsibility, resign and fire those responsible. In this case all the cops in the pictures should be thrown off the force, and the person who leaked this should be given a medal. What will happen is the cops will stay and the leaker be punished, probably for insulting Turkishness if the various paragons of Turkishness have their way.

Clean out the stable or resign, Mr Erdogan.