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.

Good start

Well the stadium was empty but the result was not. A good if somewhat uninspiring victory over Ankaraspor 2-0 was a reasonable start to the second half of the season. With the result from Erciyes last night that cuts the points difference to 5 now at the top. I guess the nerves will be jangling in Kadikoy now as a repeat of last season looks like it might be happening.

As I said it was rather uninspiring but we will take the win. The first goal was by Hakan and was deserved, the second a gift from Ankara keeper. Goalies should not try to play in their own area in my opinion but I am glad he did in this case so Sabri could roll the ball in quite easily.

The best part of the game for me was the Romarioesque attempt by Umit to backheel the ball in from a cross by Ilic. Unfortunately Umit is not Romario so the outcome was never really in doubt.....that is he missed.

Otherwise Galatasaray looked solid if a touch unimaginative.

Does anyone care

The Husband has been busy over at Amerikan Turk, I am sure it their love of rubber.....on wheels!!!!

Anyway here is the Husband's comments to a variety of posts. Does anyone care to comment?

Murat, its very very tempting but work will not allow. In the process of bidding three contract worth $1.5bn and I am the package manager for them all...for my sins. I am not still commuting but am riding every weekend, snow or not on the mountain bike or road depending how I feel!!

Peacemaker and bolsa hey: I never said I agreed with liquidation just that people should be punished. Mass killing is not to be condoned by anyone. However you make an interesting point that those who commit treason should be punished directly. However when its a particular ethnicity what are you to do with their families etc. behind your lines. I agree that killing them is not the answer and in todays PC climate morally reprehensible, so lets say internment to ensure that the relatives of the people who commit treason do not now undermine your efforts to repel the invading army. But what do you do when its over, let a group of people back into your society who can create tension?, pretend nothing happened, please tell me what? Assimilation? Look at the Balkans for how successful that is. I don't know, do you?

And yes I agree the Brits have a less than perfect record, remember we invented the concentration camp during the Boer War long before the Germans in WWII. However I cannot agree with you regarding the Americans. Even a cursory reading will reveal that the original reaction to the uprising led by Washington was perceived as "free born Englishmen (who happened to be living in the American Colonies) standing up for the rights against a tyrant (King George III) who happened to be their own King. Most of the books written (by Americans) about the War of Independence make that point so it would have been rather difficult for the Brits to wipe out the......Brits and be accused of genocide. As a good example try 1776 by David McCullough or The First American, biography of Franklin if you doubt my word.

It is very easy to look back with perfect 20/20 hinsight and criticize with our highly evolved morals. But I feel that to understand events you have to consider the morals or ethics of the time. The events we are talking about happened in let's say the 1920's. Go back about 100 years and what can we find in the history of warfare. The battle of Talavera and the Peninsula campaign thats what. What happened there is that after a siege the British Army stormed the town and once inside the town was subjected to 3 days of sacking and looting where a large number of civilians were killed. Why you ask, well the rules of warfare at that time permitted three days of sacking if the local population had helped the army defending the town which is what happened at Talavera. In this instance it was the British Army but read any book about that period and you will see the same story repeated by any army you care to mention. By today's standards we would haul those troops up as they were in breach of the Geneva Convention but that did not exits, or as in Iraq troops would be accused of murder but by the standards of that period it was accepted. Was it genocide? Was it right, please feel free to judge people and events over whom you have no influence because i can't. Or seeing as you raise the Hutus and Tutsis what about the Zulu mefecane that slaughtered thousands in Southern Africa in the 1800's. Basically if Shaka Zulu turned up outside your town you either had to surrender or die. Genocide? Please enlighten me with your modern sensibilities if you feel qualified to judge a people, culture and set of morals you or I cannot possibly understand.

Oh and who ever said I was civilized? Can you not make comments without a personal attack?

Do you feel let down

because I do. By the Government of my country especially. Not because I think they should have been represented at Dinks funeral although I believe their presence would have sen a more powerful message than all the cheap and meaningless words they spouted but because of the lack of accountability and responsibility. After all the words spoken this was followed up by no actions. IN almost any other country the people responsible for security of a major city which includes people who are clearly at risk, such people such as Dink and most other conscientious journalists and thinkers who chose not o blindly follow the party line, would already have been relieved of their positions and sent to Bumfuck, Ohio or similar. However all I see are grinning faces of incompetent lick arse lackies who are in their positions probably because of who they bribed rather than competence. Do they have no shame and no sense of pride. Resign, just get your large mustaches out of my tv screen and let someone who wants to take the job seriously do it and make the country a better place.

I also find it incomprehensible (A Contrarian View on Hrant Dink's Murder - Turkish Torque) that anyone can defend Article 301 or anyone tat says we have duty to prosecute because it exist. So inform on your neighbors when they dont pay tax, when they break the speed limit, when they beat their wife why is there so much attention in a subjectve concept such as Article 301 and who appointed these people as the watchdog of Turkishness. Personally I believe that the actions of the so called Nationalist Lawyers are damaging and insulting to Turkishness, or at least my view of it, so should I launch a prosecution?

Murat goes to the dogs...

Taking heed of the criticism in the last edition of Amerikan Turks Hitch Hikers Guide to Turkish Blogs, I decided that I should post about dogs. That is the furry, 4 legged versions as my previous post was about the other type.....

The weather in New Jersey has turned wintry at last. It snowed Friday for the first time this winter so officially winter is now here although it has been cold for a couple of weeks now. Well when I say snowed there was about 2 inches of the stuff Friday morning and more came down Friday evening.

Of course when this happens the Town send out its grit and salt trucks and they spread a thick layer of crushed rock salt and sand on the roads. Now if any of you have dogs you will know that dogs paws and rock salt do not mix too well. So Saturday morning was the first time I had to deal with that this year and I spent most of the walk sorting out Kimi and Lucky's paws so they would stop limping like bad actors!!

Sunday morning dawned cold and blue sky so off to the local forest/park. The nearest place for us is a park that is based around an old rail road trail. This means that there is a nice flat path for the lazy and then there are lots of side trails that are clearly waymarked to take you up in to the surrounding hills. The Husband uses this area for mountain biking so you get the idea.

Anyway we followed a couple of the side trails and the dogs got some fresh air, without seeing any bears!

What the f........

So Galatasaray finally managed to win a game, 2-1 against Denizlispor with Umit and Hasan Kabze scoring.

However this is completely overshadowed by the events in Istanbul. Why oh why do we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot!!!!! I read the comments by Erdogan and other members of the government but the tears they cry seem like crocodile tears. I see almost every journalist in Turkey suddenly became Dink's friend. Having said that alot of what they say is absolutely true about the effect this senseless act will have on Turkeys relationship with the EU and USA. I see the Armenian Speaker of Parliament is saying Turkey should not even dream of entering the EU, well whet the fuck does it have with that piece of shit.

I have to be honest and say that I have no sympathy for the Armenians based on what I have read about that period in history, yes a lot of them died but so did alot of other Ottoman subjects, especially muslims in Thrace where the Greeks and Bulgarians carried out wholesale slaughter. In Anatolia from what I have read in (non-Turkish) authored books the Armenian troops defected to the invading Russian from the Ottoman units. This is simple its treason so why are they so fucking upset about what happened to them. I wonder whether these losers would be so accommodating or moaning so much of the Russians had won. But they did not, you gambled, you lost FUCKING LIVE WITH IT YOU SHIT HEADS.

If Armenians want compensation for being traitors and losing their gamble then fine, take the Ottoman Sultan to court but why oh why should the current Turkish Government apologize for something that happened before the Republic of Turkey even came into existence.

Did a lot of Armenians die, yes, did a lot of Ottoman Muslims die yes, can I as a descendant of a family from Antep that was almost wiped out by Armenian thugs and French troops request compensation from the Armenian Government or the Frogs, I doubt it so why the fuck should I care about shit from across the border.

A winning run......not!

Great performance by the lads in yellow and red tonight, losing 1-0 to Hertha Berlin. Guess who scored.......Yildiray!!!!!

Here are the last five results before tonight:

Galatasaray 3-1 Bursaspor
Galatasaray 1-0 Kayserispor (Fortis Türkiye Kupası)
K. Erciyesspor 4-1 Galatasaray (Fortis Türkiye Kupası)
Galatasaray 1-2 Feyenoord (Efes Pilsen Cup 6)
Galatasaray 1-1 Beşiktaş (penaltılarla 6-7) (Efes Pilsen 6)


What a tremendous, inspiring, warm fuzzy feeling making sequence of results that is........or maybe not. Its ridiculous and somewhat pathetic and should in normal circumstances result in Gerets being put in a sack and sunk of Seraglio Point. The fact there appears to be no wailing and gnashing of teeth also worries me as it means that the club, the management and the team may appears to have accepted this mediocrity and that we simply cannot catch the all conquering juggernaut of footballing excellence that is Kadikoy.

Of course I may be wrong and this seeming indifference is merely a cover for a cunning plan.......I know the club will not pay the players causing them to strike and win the Lig... that has to be the answer.

I may also have been taking mind altering drugs to make me feel better about the situation.

And all this just before the end of the winter break when the snow will start and games be cancelled, TFF and organisation.....please!!!!

Comings and goings

It all seems horribly quiet on the transfer scene at the moment. Hardly anyone sems to be moving in the Turkish League although it looks like Alex has decided that money beats loyalty every time and has entered a bidding war with Besiktas. What a classy player!!!

As for Galatsaray, it looks like Ilic will be leaving for Monaco. This I think would be a blow especially after losing Saidou last summer and letting Volkan leave. Ayhan is not getting any younger so who will play in midfield? As for Altintop joining, why would he leave the German leagues to play in the SuperLig, I mean really. It would be great of he did but he probably does not want to lower his standards so much!

What CimBom really need is a defender to help Tomas and Song, a midfiled enforcer and a striker becasue none of the ones currently at the club are consistent enough. We should get rid of Hasan Sas who is living on past glories,get rid of Okan for the same reasons and Emre Asik as well. All these old players eating salary for what?????

Gerets should trust the youth team players, look at Arda who I hope we do not sell yet, and some of the others who are playing well and can make it at the senior level. It would be good to win the Lig again but of we can at least finish second with a good new crop of younger players then the future is bright and we wont have to rely on a sugar daddy with long pockets buying new players all the time!

This says everything

You know when you have won an argument when people start swearing and being insulting. I support Galatasaray and as Murat says diss and generally have a go at Fenerbahce, its players, management and supporters. This rivalry and I would say that most of my comments are normal and natural for a supporter of the most successful team in Turkey to make about the next most successful team. I also criticize my own team and the players when its deserved, which is most of the time at the moment!!!!!

So I was a bit put out but not very surprized when I got this comment about a recent post. Apologies for the language but it is not mine!

"Hey Gulay bitch, have you ever tasted Sukru Saracoglu atmosphere? 52500 full erected cocks waitin for u! GS tastes it every year and never get fulls, wants more and more and more.. Your wide cunt will like also it! Try sometime ;)"

All this because I put a picture of a crying Rustu on my post. Of course this was posted by Anonymous.

How brave you are posting garbage like this, I guess you have a severe personality disorder and maybe were rejected by a girl because of your inadequacies, that is supporting a losing team, and probably have a very small penis. If you were a man at all you would put your name to your comments.

And by the way Galatasaray won the league last year even we lost at that cesspool in Kadikoy because its all about consistency not just beating one team. Also we have to play there every year because thats the rule of the league. By the way did you forget the Turkish Cup final result 5-1 I think it was, but obviously with such a small brain you cant remember things like this.

If there are any intelligent Fenerbahce fans out there that can engage in debate bring it on but otherwise I have to assume all are like this!

Anyway enough about that.

Great game today in the EPL, Newcastle -Tottenham. I thought it was a very, very exciting and great game. Why do we never get games like this in the SuperLig? Why is the standard so average?

Anyway thats all for now

Blast from the past

Just when you thought you had got rid of someone, what happens they pop up again to make your life a misery! So it was in the last two games.

First against Feyernoord there was van Hooijdonk and then tonight against Besiktas it was Nobhead scoring in the last minute!!! Typical two ex Kadikoy guys influencing the results for tow new clubs........

So not a very successful campaign for CimBom at the Efes Cup, maybe they were using the sponsors products too much!!! I don't think so as whilst they might not be the best in the world, they are professional players and they are not English.

I think thats enough said about the Efes Cup for now, next up is Hertha Berlin and lets hope for a more convincing display....and some transfers please!

Be of good cheer

Found this picture the other day by going to Google images and searching for Galatasaray.


Oh dear, what can the matter be?????

Certainly cheered me up, lets hope there is a repeat this season.

Anyway I was wrong with my previous post. The next SuperLig match is on January 28th at home to Ankaragucu which strikes me as a nice warm up 3 pointer for the rest of the season.

In between there is the small matter of the Efes Pilsen Cup in Antalya. CimBom will be taking on Feyernoord on January 9th and then the winner of Besiktas-Werder Bremen on January 11th. After that there is a warm up match against Hertha Berlin where I am sure we will give Yildiray and his mates a good seeing to.

So far not too much information on the transfer situation but I am sure Galatasaray's management will be scouring the bottom of various barrels to pick up a bargain or two.

Nice to see Henrik Larsson back and in good form at 35 scoring on his debut for Man Utd!!

Anyway bye for now......

Addiction depletion......

You know how it is with addictions, the loss of your regular fix does not seem to bad at first but after a few days the real withdrawl symptoms start. Headaches, sweating, cramps etc. etc.

Well in this case with the ongoing winter break in the Super Lig I am beginning to suffer those symptoms as the league only starts again on 14th January.

Well thats normal you say. Actually no.

The symptoms are because of the thought of what will be coming back on January 14th rather than the fact I am missing it. Having spent Christmas and New Year watching as many EPL games as I could the thought of going back to the average standard dross on offer in Turkey does not enthuse me. I mean really who are we kidding, the standard is poor, the refereeing is poor, the stadiums are poor, the players are poor quality, media coverage is poor and the TFF is a joke.

Apart from that, no worries mate!!!!!

I cannot wait.......

New Year....again,

So thats another year done and dusted. A year older but not necessarily wiser!!!!!!

Here in New Jersey it was a mild of damp New Years eve. The Husband and I decided not to go out as the roads are crawling with cops and even if you don't have a drink there are too many other headcases out there who may have and think they can drive! So we stayed at home and watched a couple of movies, the new Pirates of the Caribbean and a classic, the Magnificent Seven. Its the first time I had seen the Magnificent Seven as I am not that keen on westerns but the Husband persuaded me and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. Yul Bryner was certainly a charismatic man!!!!

Then around midnight we watched the neighbors letting of fireworks and trying to burn themselves. There are some very stupid people around I have to say!! Of course the dogs got a bit frightened from the fireworks so we then spent an hour calming them down.

I once spent New Year in London at Trafalgar Square but I have to say that these days the thought of going to Times Square or similar leaves me cold! I mean, you cant a get a drink, you cant get a toilet, you get your bag snatched and all to do what? Count down from 10!!!! Big deal.

Great post from Murat over at AmerikanTurk about the numbers of people who ended up in hospital as a result of injuries incurred in murdering animals in Turkey for the Kurban Bayram. Idiots! I wonder what will happen to such displays of tasetlessness if Turkey reaches the EU?

Anyway thats a whole post with no mention of football as according to Sinan over at Turkish Soccer Have a Take I have no right to talk about that game, why because I am a woman?

Anyway back to the Liverpool-Bolton match!

Seasons Greetings

To everybody out there who reads this blog I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

(Delete as appropriate for religious preference)

And remember the Empire will strike back.

Winter blues

So its 12 Celsius, sunny and a bit windy and its the 24th December here in New Jooisy. what the hell is this, where is the snow, where is the ass-freezing, brass monkey affecting, cold weather!!!!! The Husband is not complaining he's out on his bike making room for the turkey and potatoes but me I just think there is something wrong about having nice weather at this time of year, unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere of course where Christmas is spent with a barbecue and a cold beer!!!!

No real football to talk about as the Turkish season is of course in hibernation until the real bad weather starts in mid January in Turkey. I do not count the Fortis Cup as that seems to be a tournament for the reserve teams at the moment. Of course if Galatasaray win it will be a different matter, like a couple of seasons ago when we won with the 5-1 thrashing of the hooligans.

So I am being forced to watch all the EPL games and even some rugby. IN the US footie is transmitted by Fox Soccer Channel which covers the EPL, French, German and yawn Italian leagues where you play spot the crowd. Then there is Setanta who also provides the missing EPL games as well as rugby, ozzie rules and various other odd games. So we spent all Saturday watching the EPL but today nothing!!!!!! What to do???? Luckily there is a James Bondathon on Spike TV today so thats sorted along with Sponge Bob!!!!

Actually I am glad the weather is good as taking the dogs for a walk can be a problem when it snows. We recently had a fence put around the yard though so when the weather is bad we can just let them in the yard.

Anyway time to go, You Only Live Twice

And now what???

So its Saturday night and Galatasaray beat Kayserispor in the Turkish Cup and now what!!!

No Super Lig until January guess I will have to watch all the English PL games. Not that I don't already but there will be no sanity break, in the unending display of bling, shaved heads and money for a few weeks.

Actually right now I am watching the NBA, New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons. Unfortunately I rarely get to see Orlando or Utah! I sometimes also get to see the Euroleague and have seen Efes Pilsen play.

Why I hear you ask? Well that's who Hidayet (Hedo) Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur play for and whilst I appreciate Jason Kidd et al I would rather watch the Turkish Players. I know I never mentioned basketball before but I have always had an interest in basketball and years ago, pre-Husband, dated a guy who played for Galatasaray in the Turkish League. Had to use an orange box to kiss him!!!

Here in NJ the weather is far from December, in fact its more like April! Won't last of course but we are making the most of it. Had a fence put up in the yard recently so that we can let the dogs out whenever we want without them running off. This will be important when its snowing horizontally!

Both the husband and I have been enjoying some Winter Ale from Weyerbacher. One good thing about living in the US is that it has more breweries than any other country, although the consumption per head is not that high. Weyerbacher is about a one hour drive from where we live and they make some excellent beers. Apologies to all those in Turkey who unless they can get to Taps in Istanbul do not exactly have a large choice of beers, not that theres anything wrong with Efes of course but sometimes variety is nice!!!

So enough for tonight, Sunday brings Chavski and then the Man Utd game so thats the day sorted!!!!!

Europe Calls

So the Kadikoy mob got through to the next round of the UEFA Cup albeit with 7 minutes to spare!!! Good job too so that the Turkish League gains some points for the next seasons. If it wasn't for that fact I would definitely have not been supporting them.

Given the recent poor performances of Turkish teams in Europe I am not exactly holding my breath for their long term involvement though. Lets face it any team that loses to Newcastle United cannot be that special as the Geordies are not exactly setting the EPL alight this season.

Next up is Besiktas and here's hoping that they also get through so the SECOND city crowd might, just might get a sniff of Euro footie next season when they finish below the first city teams (as usual)!!!

One other good thing is that with hopefully both the other Istanbul teams involved in the UEFA then they may get a bit stretched and leave the door open for another successful domestic season for Galatasaray. It also of course depends on how many players leave Kadikoy in January as it seems that a few are wanted by other clubs, especially Appiah, Alex, Tuncay etc.

Anyway thats all for now....

Poor but victorious

Not quite a vintage performance today more a shocker actually but 3 points is 3 points. Beating Bursaspor 3-1 was a result but should have been a bit easier than it actually was.

The first half was appalling, absolutely terrible...the defence was poor, the midfield non-existent and the attack barely functional. In addition the inept performance of the referee was not helping either team I mean there were three fairly clear penalty situations in the first half, one for Bursa and two for GS which he failed to notice, the one on Ergun being particularly blatant.

At least the second half was better from GS although it simply could not have been any worse than the first. Mondragon kept us in the match at times with a few excellent saves and the three goals were well taken even if Okan's was a bit fortunate. Sabri's goal was the best of the lot running the length of the pitch and chipping over the keeper, excellent.

So its into the winter break in second place, 7 points behind the Kadikoy mob. Sound familiar well it should as it was the same situation last season and we all know what happened then!!!

Of course there may be a lot of changes before the league restarts not least of which may be a new coach, I hope not but lets see what hasty badly informed decision the board makes. There may be some new players as we badly need an improved defence for the second half of the season and a holding midfielder, Saidou is badly missed.

Anyway now all I will be watching is the EPL where money bags Chavski are not having it all their own way this year, thankfully with teams standing up to them for once.

Bye for now.....

And the penalty is????

So Galatasaray won a meaningless game 3-2 against Liverpool tonight. Although they won, the usual problems surfaced especially with the defnece whihc has been the weak spot all this season. Lets hope the management recruit a couple of players in the January transfer window.

I also note from the Turkish media that Gerets is on his way out and that the short list includes Co Adriaanse, Ersun Yanal and unbelievably Graham Souness. So last season we won the championship and this season Gerets is not good enough despite not being able to recruit new players whihc is hardly his fault and then the board decide to play the European ames at the Olympic Stadium!!! Idiots.

Talking of idiots lets see whether the TFF have grown any testicles at all in dealing with the appalling behaviour of the Kadikoy mobs so called supporters during the derby match. It seems like all other teams get penalised if their supporters swear but for the Kadikoy lot no such penalties seem to apply. Whilst you can expect no better from the rubbish that passes as management over there and the crap that turns up at games with smoke bombs HOW the hell did such an object get smuggled in, one can only assume the polis are also on the payroll.

Forget whether GS should have had a penalty for the clear handball in the second half why was the match even going on after the smoke bomb incident. Selcuk Dereli should have had more concern for the safety of the players as obviously it cannot be guaranteed by the Kadikoy morons and the game should have been stopped. How embarrasing is it for the manager of the opponents to turn up with stitches in his head after being it by thrown objects.

Forget about fines and closed stadiums there is only one correct sanction for this, points deduction and blocks on transfer activity into the club like Roma recieved last season.

Dead men walking

Well here it isn't. What should have been a pulsating emotion filled evening in the cauldron that is Ali Sami Yen is going to be a meaningless affair played out in the echoing wastelands of the Olympic stadium. My goodness who would have thought when the groups were drawn that this would be the outcome. I thought we should at least have qualified for the UEFA cup and I guess we still can if we win about 6-0 and Bordeaux lose unless its done head to head when it is a truly meaningless game!!!!

From reports it seems that both teams will be effectively fielding reserve teams so I guess Hasan and Hakan will get games for once. Oh how the mighty have fallen!!!!!

With the lack of success in Europe it is getting harder and harder for Turkish teams to qualify and when they do they do nothing. It seems thath all teams want to do is win the Super LIg and have no other ambition. If it carries on like this we can expect to get headlines such as Stuffed Turkeys again when the National Team play becaues thie eventual lack of success will affect the National team.

Now I know that some countries have successful National Teams without strong National leagues or occasional strong teams, Norway, Denmark, Sweden immediately spring to mind. However when you look at where the plpayers earn their money most do it outside of their country in the EPL especially and elsewhere around Europe. In turkey however we have only one player in the EPL, Emre, a couple in the Bundesliga, one in Spain when he's not injured and that's pretty much it. Okay you say then we use home based players. Look at the rosters and Fenerbahce for example have not that many national level Turkish players (Tuncay excluded) as they rely on imports, Galatasaray have a few such as Arda coming through the ranks and the rest are playing for??????????

Is that depressing or what!

When is handball not handball

When its the 88th minute in Kadikoy apparently. My goodness I think the referee was probably the only person who thought Turaci's use of the elbow to deflect the ball away from Hasan Kabze was not a deliberate handball. I challenge any of the Kadikoy mobs rabble out there to justify otherwise, if you do then you obviously cannot be a true football supporter. Plus Alex, what a diving complaining cheat.

Anyway it was the typical game of two halves. Galatasary were definitely second best in the first half but were by far the better side in the second half and created virtually all the chances with Umit and Necati denied by Volkan. Despite the loss it was good to see Galatsasaray play some better football, which is a good sign for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately it means there is now 9 points gap at the top of the Lig but think back to last season it was somewhat the same so it does not mean the seaons is over but some of the other teams have got to step up and kick the budgies off their perch.

bye for now....

Medium day coming up

So tomorrow the match is in Kadikoy against the budgies. Seems like the media and all the kadikoy mob are hypeing this up to be THE MOST IMPORTANT MATCH OF THE SEASON. What a laugh. To be honest with you I am not worried about the result of the game at all.

This may be surprising and I will explain why.

Given the money that the Kadikoy mob have spent over the last couple of seasons just being able to compete with them is a minor miracle. Given the disparity in finances winning the championship last season was an incredible result which was probably a one off. The desperation to win anything is flowing out of the FB camp so obviously that all the other teams and supporters can feel it.

It is my belief that all the pressure is on them, not Galatasaray. If they don't win easily then that is an indictment on the team, manager and money spent. If Galatasaray can get some kind of result then I will be happy as it will keep the points to a sensible number. However give the run of results in the last few years Galatasaray will be lucky to get anything at all. Hence no stress for me.

I must say I am really glad that I do not support Trabzon, what happened to them. I mean they started off poorly and then get worse when they sacked the foreigner and brought Ziya Dogan. I am hoping they can improve as the wheels fell off the Vestel wagon, the second city teams are inconsistent as are Besiktas. Otherwise the Turkish league will become weaker and weaker as the Kadikoy mob simply buy their way to success!!

What will be will be........

Gokdeniz bets again????

So after all the bluff and bluster Trabzon produced a lacklustre performance against the Kadikoy mob, contracts that to their performance against Galatasaray. Wonder how much Gokdeniz had on this match??????

So that leaves them 6 points ahead with the derby match next week. Lets just hope that Galatasaray get their act in gear and at least get a point. The only positive is that Volkan is a terrible goalkeeper so lets see if we can exploit that....small crumbs of comfort.

Meanwhile over in England the Man Utd-Chavski match ended 1-1. Having watched the game Chavski would be the more grateful as they were the beneficiary of the one or two poor decisions made by Howard Webb who otherwise had an excellent game. I refer to the elbow from Ballack, who looks increasingly like a waste of money, on Ronaldo and then the quite clearly deliberate elbow by Drogba on Vidic which was a truly Sheareresque nastiness, I mean he checked where he was and made sure it connected. So besides those two missed red cards and tow bad misses by Utd as well as a clear push on Ferdinand and the usual histrionics from Chavski they were probably glad to get a point.

Definite improvement

After Wednesday's debacle it was important for Galatasaray to get back on track in the SuperLig to keep the pressure on the Kadikoy mob. And back on track they got against Sivasspor with a comfortable 3-1 victory to go within 1 point of the lead.

It was good to see the positive manner on which CimBom started today and although they were 2-0 up after just 10 minutes it should perhaps have been more as there was at least one penalty when Arda was brought down and maybe another when Song was taken out. Still 2-0 and the game was effectively over once Umit Karan scored the third after just 38 minutes. I must admit that I thought the team was playing well and that we could have had 4 or 5 on the first half.

Of course the second half was not so good and as usual the team gave me some hard and nervous times when I thought they might throw all that good work away. That was the case when Sivas scored. More very poor defending from the lads left Mondragon with absolutely no chance and it seemed like they would continue to do that. Tomas and Song are definitely not on song this season. looks like we need to buy a defender in January or get Orhan back and fit.

The most worrying part of the afternoon was the site of Arda being carried off. He has been one of our best players recently and with the match in Kadikoy next week this would be a bad time for him to be injured.

Lets hope Trabzon remember how to play tomorrow and do the business so that the gap is reasonable by next week. I have to admit though that I am not very optimistic about the result I have to say as our recent form against the mob has been unimpressive to say the least. Anyway one can but hope.

Excellent match in the EPL today with Bolton ruffling the aristocratic feathers of Arsenal and a former Kadikoy member scoring two goals, thats right Anelka managed his first goals for Bolton.
And tomorrow its Chelsea Man Utd.......

Thanksgiving Turkeys!!!!

What an embarrassing performance last night from Galatasaray against Bordeaux. It was only after Arda had got himself stupidly sent off that the team even looked like playing but by then it was too late.

I really think Tomas is not going to be at the club much longer if he keeps on playing like he did last night. Song was better but not by much and in general it was a very poor and embarrassing performance.

Given the lower quality of the Turkish league it was always going to be a struggle to qualify but it has not been helped by not playing home games at Ali Sami Yen and thereby giving up probably 3 points straight away. I don't care if the stadium is small the atmosphere intimidates the opposition and gives the team a lift, well normally it would but with this squad I am not so sure!!!

So looks like we will not even have the pleasure of UEFA Cup football unless we can stick about 5 past Liverpool and Bordeaux lose. Not much chance of that though.

I guess we can concentrate on the League from now on and make sure we win the Championship or at the least finish second.


Until the weekend and Happy Thanksgiving

Late birthday present

Excellent result today in Kadikoy with Besiktas drawing 0-0.

Now there is only 6 points between the top 5 teams I think which sets up the rest of the season quite nicely on the assumption that Galatasaray, Manisa, Kayseri, Besiktas and surprisingly Ankaragucu who are storming up the table having decided along with CimBom to not go for the draw title.

I guess the only people not happy are supporters and management of the Kadikoy mob who seemed to spend all their time complaining about the referee;s decisions. I tell you if Phil Dowd had been the official then there would have been a 7-a-side match going on out there. For those of you who did not watch the Blackburn-Tottenham game today Mr Dowd had a stinker and Tugay had one of those hero/villain days. First Tugay scored a screamer and then managed to get himself sent off for an imaginary trip on Ghally. So Tugay got a red card and Spurs a penalty which they scored from. Later Mido who was lucky to still be on the pitch handled the ball clearly in the penalty box and as he was on a yellow already everyone expected him to be off the pitch. But no, no card and no penalty....bizarre. So like I say be grateful for small merceis all the sari lacivert out there.

I was doubly glad as it was my birthday this weekend, good results and a good night out at Sultans Turkish Restaurant in Hackettstown, NJ. Most of the friends we were with we have met as a result of walking our dogs. Great things dogs for social contact!!! The exception is Mert who is our neighbour!!!!! Of course ot turns out he is a supporter of the Kadikoy mob, poor man but its incredible that we live next to each other in this corner of New Jersey!!!! Here is a picture of the Husband enjoying the attentions of the entertainment.......draw your own conclusions

Fun in the sun

Another day another win for the mighty CimBom and a rise to second place in the League.

I will be the first to admit that this was a fortunate win courtesy of lucky own goal, but a win is a win and at least we did not need referee or hand assistance. There were a few other chances but in reality neither Galatasary or Antalya played particularly well. Umit seemed to be keen to get the ball out of the ground with every chance he had and the rest of the team was struggling to pass the ball to each other. I wonder whether the problem was that Antalya were playing in the same white colours as Galatasaray played in last week!!! A notable exception from the mediocrity was Arda who once again had a good game.

I was also watching the Middlesborough - Liverpool game at the same time and with the lamentable quality on display from both games I have to say I dozed off a couple of times.

Elsewhere in the league Vestel Manisa got things back on track or at least stopped losing with a 2-2 draw, Oz Kanka is very happy and Sir Eski less so as Genc won and Ankargucu drew.


So lets hope the Eagles chew the budgies tomorrow to tighten things up at the top of the league.

What are they thinking

So the Turkish National team managed a draw against the World Champions, Italy for those of you with a short memory, 1-1 in Bergamo. Does this make Turkey the joint best team in the world??????

I guess not.

I did not manage to see the game as I could not find it on the Internet so all I know is the reports. Anyway it was good to see Emre starting his first game after the Blatter ban.

Not so good was the fact that Fatih Terim cannot find an alternative to Hakan or at least cannot bear to start someone else. What is his problem. I know Hakan scored four goals in the last real match but even so I wish he would stop and save what is left of his form for the true cause!!!

Nice to see Kadikoy players helping the cause of Turkish football again by gifting a goal to the Eyetalians, if Volkan is the second best keeper then I say carry on Rustu as long as possible....did I really say that.

I was also so happy that it was Masseratti who scored the own goal, I mean it could not happen to a nicer player really, is he aware that 70's style facial hair is out in the rest of the world!!!!

Looking forward to the weekend when Galatasaray look to continue their winning run to stay ahead of the chasing pack, or at least Ankaragucu (amazing), with a three point certainty against Antalyaspor if we can get through the hordes of Russian hook..........holidaymakers!

Finally

So finally something to be happy about, a Galatasaray win!! And a comprehensice one at that 4-0 over Sakarayaspor. And with Besiktas and Vestel Manisa losing and Denizli drawing this puts us up into 3rd spot 6 points of the lace. And with the programme over the next couple of weeks the season may not be all over just yet!

Admittedly the win was over the second from bottom team but a won is a win and it was good to see the team play a bit better than recently. The defence still looks a bit shaky, note to Gerets see if you can find a centre half in January, but managed to keep a clean sheet. One real plus is the form of Arda, he has been one of the few players to play consistently over the last few weeks and he was very good today. Midfield was solid f not spectacular and Hasan Kabze proved that he still remembers where the goal is. Nice to see Hakan get a few minutes and a goal. However I would have thought that Carrusca should have been given a few mnutes once the game was won so that we can have more of a look at him.

I am still not convinced that this is a genuine Galatasaray team that can challenge for the SuperLig crown this season, mind you I thought that last season as well and look what happened, but we have a good blend of experience and youth and if Gerets gets the mix right we will be there or there abouts. Lets hope we can get through to the Uefa Cup with some positive results in the remaining Chimps League games as well so we have something else to play for and give the younger players some more experience.

Anyway I guess the Kankas will also be happy this weekend following wins for all 3 of the Ankara teams!!!!!

Bye for now....

Finally

So finally something to be happy about, a Galatasaray win!! And a comprehensice one at that 4-0 over Sakarayaspor. And with Besiktas and Vestel Manisa losing and Denizli drawing this puts us up into 3rd spot 6 points of the lace. And with the programme over the next couple of weeks the season may not be all over just yet!

Admittedly the win was over the second from bottom team but a won is a win and it was good to see the team play a bit better than recently. The defence still looks a bit shaky, note to Gerets see if you can find a centre half in January, but managed to keep a clean sheet. One real plus is the form of Arda, he has been one of the few players to play consistently over the last few weeks and he was very good today. Midfield was solid f not spectacular and Hasan Kabze proved that he still remembers where the goal is. Nice to see Hakan get a few minutes and a goal. However I would have thought that Carrusca should have been given a few mnutes once the game was won so that we can have more of a look at him.

I am still not convinced that this is a genuine Galatasaray team that can challenge for the SuperLig crown this season, mind you I thought that last season as well and look what happened, but we have a good blend of experience and youth and if Gerets gets the mix right we will be there or there abouts. Lets hope we can get through to the Uefa Cup with some positive results in the remaining Chimps League games as well so we have something else to play for and give the younger players some more experience.

Anyway I guess the Kankas will also be happy this weekend following wins for all 3 of the Ankara teams!!!!!

Bye for now....

Other Istanbul teams blog

Looks like we have an addition to the rollcall of English Blogs about Turkish Soccer. Unfortunately its about Fenerbahce but well each to his own. I mentioned this blog a couple of post ago and so far it seems that Nathan the author is somehat touchy and does not like being wound up as he has not seen fit to add links to either the Kankas or my blog to his site, well what can you expect from a budgie fancier. Anyway in the spirit of encouragement I have added a link to me page so that if you wish to read about the Kadikoy Mob you can do, but why, I mean really!

Read the tea leves

Another disaster for Galatasaray today with losing to Rizespor. Its not just that they lost but the way they lost that upsets me. More poor defending and an inability to really step up the pace when it was needed. The players seemed to have no heart unlike last season when they fought for every point and in every game as if it were the last match they would ever play and of course eventually they were rewarded with the Championship.

I dont think that is going to happen this year though!

Players like Song and Tomas are not performing as well as last season and there is not much goal threat this year. Our main summer signings were Inamoto and an Argentinian who hardly gets to play! I know there is not much money at the club but were these the only players we could find to take the club forward. There are plenty of good young Turkish players coming from the youth team so maybe the club has to accept that this year is a rebuilding year and give those players their chance to show what they are made of.

Its ironic that in the weekend that Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates 20 years in charge at Man Utd that it seems inevitable that Gerets will be on his way in the near future due to the short sighted instant success culture that is Turkish football. He has done a lot to give young players a chance and whilst some of his decisions during games may be questioned he led a group of players to an unlikley triumph last year. However football is a results business so I expect that the board will sack him sooner rather than later even though the board handicapped him with their decision to play the Chimps League games away from Ali Sami Yen. I also imagine that there may be wholesale changes during the January transfer window, certainly a new defence is needed and a striker who regularly scores!

Looks like th wheels have fallen off the Vestel wagon in spectacular fashion after their 4-0 loss to Bursaspor this weekend. A pity as I would like to see any team other than the Kadikoy mob at the top of the Super Lig. So it looks like Aziz will get his championship this year as I really don't see any team with the quality to mount a sustained challenge out there. Just like in England with Chavski it seems like a team can buy its way to the top spot.

I notice that the eski will be tormenting the oz up in the snowy second city afer todays game!!!


Until next time

From worse to worser

Not sure if thats correct English but it adequately describes the state of Turkish teams in Europe at the moment with Besiktas following their usual dismal showing by losing to Dinamo Bucharest. It seems like The Eagles are simply useless in Europe as they never seem to win games at all, last year failing to beat even workmanlike teams like Bolton! As for the GS PSV match seems like most commentators agree that we were unlucky and that the sending off changed the game, typical!

PSV are usually one of the contenders for the Dutch League but I remember a few years ago they came to Istanbul in the Chimps League and we played them off the pitch at Ali Sami Yen. Maybe the idiots who decided we should play at the Olympic Stadium should think about that and learn from it.

As for the state of Turkish soccer this is seomthing that concerns me as you all know and I have posted on this before so I will save my fingers. But if this carries on the only chance the Ankara boys of seeing Euro football next season is by watching it on TV. Any more poor results and we may end up having to start in the first qualifying round in July with only one team. Suddenly the Intertoto Cup looks appealing.

Anyway this weekend Galatasaray will enjoy a fresh cuppa at Rizespor whilst the mid table teams play for bragging rights in the Chopin!!

Elsewhere Gaziantep carry the hopes of the other teams, even they are entering the Bermuda Triangle of referees and lets hope Vestel cne get back on track against Bursaspor