Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
Özil follows him on Twitter.
Özil's Twitter account follows him on Twitter. Slight difference...Özil follows him on Twitter.
Any chance we can get our mittens on that lad? No clue who he is, but wouldn't mind a young and up and coming player! Cool name also. Anyone with an ü in their name gets my vote!the 17-year-old Arda Güler impressed fans with his wonderful performances.
Fener has a hard time getting their academy stars to sign contracts because they never give them enough minutes. Their two best prospects in a decade both left on a free: Merih Demiral is now a very good CB playing at Atalanta and Ömer Faruk Beyaz just signed with Stuttgart (Mislintat's there lol) last summer, don't know how he's fared so far. Maybe @Toby Andrl has an idea, but he was very good in youth categories.Any chance we can get our mittens on that lad? No clue who he is, but wouldn't mind a young and up and coming player! Cool name also. Anyone with an ü in their name gets my vote!
As someone from Turkey, I second this account in its entirety.I don't know if you remember but I told you he was going to Fenerbahce 3 years ago when I joined this forum. I just know him and Turkish too well. Let me tell you how that story has been going.
Now, none of the major clubs of Turkey have owners -- they have presidents like Barça and Real. Fenerbahçe's current president is the "stupid son" of Turkey's richest family -- kinda like how Andrea Agnelli is the stupid one amongst EXOR heirs. In Turkey, it's tradition to get stupid sons into football management because it helps with overall PR and keeps them away from the business where they can cause true harm. Fener is Turkey's biggest club in terms of social impact (most supporters, always makes headlines etc.) and Ali Koç is their beloved billionaire president.
Their previous president, Aziz Yıldırım, had a 20-year-tenure where the club finished outside top 2 only on 5 occasions, and three of those came in the first 5 years. Ali Koç, however, despite spending obscene amounts, didn't even crack top 5 in his first two years as a president -- a gross underachievement and disappointment considering his status.
But I digress. Last season, they seemed to be putting a title chase together. Come winter transfer window, it seemed like all they needed was a proper striker and the title would be theirs. Their best player was without a doubt Pelkas, playing behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1. However, Mesut Özil, being the snake he is, got in touch with his political friends (Erdogan and his crooks) and billionaire media mogul (Acun Ilıcalı, who just became Hull City's new owner 2 months ago) and orchestrated his winter move to Fenerbahçe, his "boyhood club."
The thing you must understand about Turkish culture is, football makes you money but also insane social capital, and in order to keep making money once you retire, you must be associated with one of the big three clubs in Istanbul. Mesut, being the outcast he rightfully became when he decided to support that human-garbage, bloodthirsty, corrupt dictator, envisioned a rich future for himself in Turkey. Of course he didn't want to give up any of that sweet Arsenal money so he waited until the last minute possible, and in order not to even waste 6 months, made himself a cancerous limb that you'd pay to **** off.
Anyway, Ali Koç gladly put on a show in media, signed him and gave him a massive contract. This, however not only meant that Fenerbahçe wasted very valuable funds on a player who can only play in their player's ideal position, but also meant that Fener had to settle for a worse striker. Their coach, despite not wanting to do so, was made to start Özil, so Pelkas was pushed out to the wing where he was less effective, and their best winger Valencia was played as a striker, where again he was less effective. Of course, Özil not giving a **** on the field and Turkish league being harder than it seems meant Fener's title chase would be ruined. Their coach was fired for wanting to bench Özil and they finished 3rd. Funnily enough, the Turkish players in their squad kind of formed a clique around Özil and he became the leader of the club despite all this. Even funnier, their best Turkish player is also a traditional number ten, so Özil also kind of displaced him.
Fast forward to this season, where they again started well and was putting together a title run. Their coach Vitor Pereira, infamous disciplinarian, benched him for not being good enough. He had his media buddies run stories about how Pereira wasn't able to "handle stars" etc. so despite being league leaders, in their most important game in years against second placed Trabzonspor, he started. Of course, he had a terrible game which they lost. Their coach went on to bench him again, but couldn't escape the media circus and his Turkish clique pulled off a coup through mutiny.
They couldn't sign a manager because of how toxic the club became, and went on to sign an interim coach after 21 days without a manager. He became the undisputed leader in this period, starting every game and keeping the captain's armband. Of course it goes without saying, but he was **** and they went down to as low as 7th on the table.
He finally was out of the squad due to injury and they climbed back up the table to 4th place. A new star was born in this period: the 17-year-old Arda Güler impressed fans with his wonderful performances. Trouble was that he played behind the striker, and Mesut just returned from his injury and even stole his minutes in their last game.
He's quickly becoming a fan favorite over there. He scored 7 goals (3 penalties) and made 3 assist in 30 games, despite doing ****-all defensively. He has a contract until 2024 and unless he's paid in full under the table (which is commonplace in Turkey), he's not going anywhere.
May his glorious reign continue!
Özil's Twitter account follows him on Twitter. Slight difference...
Some elite input and enjoyable to read. Thank you!I don't know if you remember but I told you he was going to Fenerbahce 3 years ago when I joined this forum. I just know him and Turkish too well. Let me tell you how that story has been going.
Now, none of the major clubs of Turkey have owners -- they have presidents like Barça and Real. Fenerbahçe's current president is the "stupid son" of Turkey's richest family -- kinda like how Andrea Agnelli is the stupid one amongst EXOR heirs. In Turkey, it's tradition to get stupid sons into football management because it helps with overall PR and keeps them away from the business where they can cause true harm. Fener is Turkey's biggest club in terms of social impact (most supporters, always makes headlines etc.) and Ali Koç is their beloved billionaire president.
Their previous president, Aziz Yıldırım, had a 20-year-tenure where the club finished outside top 2 only on 5 occasions, and three of those came in the first 5 years. Ali Koç, however, despite spending obscene amounts, didn't even crack top 5 in his first two years as a president -- a gross underachievement and disappointment considering his status.
But I digress. Last season, they seemed to be putting a title chase together. Come winter transfer window, it seemed like all they needed was a proper striker and the title would be theirs. Their best player was without a doubt Pelkas, playing behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1. However, Mesut Özil, being the snake he is, got in touch with his political friends (Erdogan and his crooks) and billionaire media mogul (Acun Ilıcalı, who just became Hull City's new owner 2 months ago) and orchestrated his winter move to Fenerbahçe, his "boyhood club."
The thing you must understand about Turkish culture is, football makes you money but also insane social capital, and in order to keep making money once you retire, you must be associated with one of the big three clubs in Istanbul. Mesut, being the outcast he rightfully became when he decided to support that human-garbage, bloodthirsty, corrupt dictator, envisioned a rich future for himself in Turkey. Of course he didn't want to give up any of that sweet Arsenal money so he waited until the last minute possible, and in order not to even waste 6 months, made himself a cancerous limb that you'd pay to **** off.
Anyway, Ali Koç gladly put on a show in media, signed him and gave him a massive contract. This, however not only meant that Fenerbahçe wasted very valuable funds on a player who can only play in their player's ideal position, but also meant that Fener had to settle for a worse striker. Their coach, despite not wanting to do so, was made to start Özil, so Pelkas was pushed out to the wing where he was less effective, and their best winger Valencia was played as a striker, where again he was less effective. Of course, Özil not giving a **** on the field and Turkish league being harder than it seems meant Fener's title chase would be ruined. Their coach was fired for wanting to bench Özil and they finished 3rd. Funnily enough, the Turkish players in their squad kind of formed a clique around Özil and he became the leader of the club despite all this. Even funnier, their best Turkish player is also a traditional number ten, so Özil also kind of displaced him.
Fast forward to this season, where they again started well and was putting together a title run. Their coach Vitor Pereira, infamous disciplinarian, benched him for not being good enough. He had his media buddies run stories about how Pereira wasn't able to "handle stars" etc. so despite being league leaders, in their most important game in years against second placed Trabzonspor, he started. Of course, he had a terrible game which they lost. Their coach went on to bench him again, but couldn't escape the media circus and his Turkish clique pulled off a coup through mutiny.
They couldn't sign a manager because of how toxic the club became, and went on to sign an interim coach after 21 days without a manager. He became the undisputed leader in this period, starting every game and keeping the captain's armband. Of course it goes without saying, but he was **** and they went down to as low as 7th on the table.
He finally was out of the squad due to injury and they climbed back up the table to 4th place. A new star was born in this period: the 17-year-old Arda Güler impressed fans with his wonderful performances. Trouble was that he played behind the striker, and Mesut just returned from his injury and even stole his minutes in their last game.
He's quickly becoming a fan favorite over there. He scored 7 goals (3 penalties) and made 3 assist in 30 games, despite doing ****-all defensively. He has a contract until 2024 and unless he's paid in full under the table (which is commonplace in Turkey), he's not going anywhere.
May his glorious reign continue!
It happens every now and then but it's almost always sacrilegious. It's also rarely a direct move, usually the players make a few moves in between.Is it common to see players move from Fenerbache to Galatasaray and vice versa, or is that more or less anathema? I assume the rivalry is more intense between those two than with Besiktas?
Now that is fan dedication usually only reserved for pornstars...
The disrespect for Özil here…