My conflicting thoughts and feelings about Ali Koç and Sadettin Saran

25/09/2025

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Last weekend, Fenerbahçe’s long-awaited election concluded, and Ali Koç, who had won every election for the past seven years by a landslide, narrowly lost this time to Sadettin Saran. As a Galatasaray fan, I have mixed feelings about this change of president at Fenerbahçe. On the one hand, perhaps a Fenerbahçe run by merit will replace Ali Koç’s chaotic and unsystematic management style, which served us well. On the other hand, Turkey will breathe a sigh of relief with the departure of Ali Koç, who has caused great harm to Turkish sports, friendship, and brotherhood by constantly manipulating to cover up his own failures. There are also many things I’m unsure about regarding Sadettin Saran. In this article, I will share my thoughts and feelings, along with some advice for the new president.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Ali Koç has been a force for good in Turkish sports. Initially, his genuinely positive attitude gave us hope, and as a Galatasaray fan, I was personally delighted to believe that even if we lost the championship, he would provide significant service to Turkish sports with his Atatürkist, secular, principled approach, prioritizing friendship and brotherhood. Because an overly ambitious and Galatasaray-obsessed character like Aziz Yıldırım has done enough damage to Turkish football, further escalating the already tense Turkish situation by pitting people against each other. From what I’ve heard and what I’ve been told, I also know that during periods of intense competition, Aziz Yıldırım and some board members working with him engaged in match-fixing (there are documents and witnesses to such acts as incentive bonuses and the neutralization of key opponent players in what was expected to be a difficult match). Unfortunately, the match-fixing was also documented by UEFA. A character like Aziz Yıldırım essentially caused great harm to Fenerbahçe and Turkish sports. He constantly played on people’s emotions, using the support of Fenerbahçe fans, who number over 20 million, to protect himself by constantly saying things like, “Even if I’m on the gallows, my last word is Fenerbahçe.”

Using Police Crime as a Shield

We all know that FETÖ is a scourge on Turkey, and God protected us from its ruthlessness. However, when Aziz Yıldırım was caught by FETÖ members while engaging in match-fixing, he exploited this situation, claiming that the arrest was made because he and Fenerbahçe were fighting FETÖ and diverting the situation to other areas. This situation is similar to the following: You commit a crime, police officers from a specific unit arrest you, and the police officers who caught you are also found to be involved in the crime, and they are all imprisoned. Now I ask: Does the fact that the police officers who caught you committed a crime negate the nature of your crime?

After a character like Aziz Yıldırım, Ali Koç’s arrival and his positive attitude in the early stages gave me great hope. I kept telling myself, “Eventually, this tension will end, and everyone will focus on their work and develop Turkish sports together.” In fact, I even wrote a blog post titled “Friendly Advice for Ali Koç” to genuinely support Ali Koç: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/ali-koca-dost-tavsiyeleri/

Increasing Aggression Over the Years

However, as the years passed, Ali Koç became increasingly aggressive and obnoxious as he failed to win a championship in football, the most popular sport in the country. Then, fueled by the encouragement of those around him, he went even further, taking paths he shouldn’t have strayed from and doing things he absolutely shouldn’t have done. The damage Ali Koç inflicted on Turkish sports during his seven years in charge was greater than the wounds Aziz Yıldırım inflicted, and the frequency and intensity of the tensions he incited eclipsed those of Aziz Yıldırım’s era. So, I’m sad to say that whatever we criticized during Fenerbahçe’s presidency, we saw even more of it during Ali Koç’s tenure. It was almost like he was being ignored.

My Critical Articles

I also wrote many articles criticizing the environment created during this period. For those curious, I’m sharing these articles below:

The future of Turkish football is rapidly darkening: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/turk-futbolunun-gelecegi-artan-bir-hizla-karariyor/

The mentality of tricking fans into attending a derby without spectators: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/seyircisiz-derbiye-hileyle-fanatikleri-sokma-zihniyeti/

Turkish football’s night of shame: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/turk-futbolunun-utanc-gecesi/

The short-termisms of Ali Koç and his ilk: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/ali-koc-ve-onun-gibilerin-kisa-devreleri/

Lessons to be learned from Galatasaray’s 24th championship: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/galatasarayin-24-sampiyonlugundan-cikarilacak-dersler/

The footsteps of chaos in the second week of the Süper Lig: https://serhansuzer.com/tr/super-ligin-2-haftasinda-kaosun-ayak-sesleri/

My friendly advice for Sadettin Saran

Now, I will share my friendly advice with Sadettin Saran in the new season, quoting excerpts from these articles. Here’s what Sadettin Saran needs to do to create a structure worthy of Fenerbahçe fans:

1) Play every match: During Ali Koç’s tenure, Fenerbahçe didn’t make it to the Super Cup final against Galatasaray. The management of a club like Fenerbahçe, which has been competitive for over 100 years, must continue to compete regardless of the circumstances.

2) Support the youth: By bringing the U19 players into a match where the senior team wasn’t even playing, playing them for just one minute, and then pulling them off the field, they traumatized them for life. Furthermore, instead of teaching these young players to be “intelligent, agile, and moral,” as Atatürk said, they did the exact opposite. Don’t set the wrong example by showing them these “Ali Cengiz” plays. On the contrary, you need to instill in the children playing in your youth academy values like good morals, Kemalism, the ability to compete under all circumstances, giving your all in every match, and respecting the opponent, the referee, and all stakeholders.

3) Don’t spread disinformation and manipulation, always speak the truth: This was one of the most common actions taken during Ali Koç’s tenure. They constantly used their own media influence to create confusion and psychologically pressure their biggest rival, Galatasaray. There’s no need for these manipulative actions. Games are won on the pitch. You build a good team, you have a good manager, and the team fights like lions in every match and does everything in its power to win. There’s no need for managers to talk so much and stir things up just to satisfy their egos. Especially avoid making statements that could cause discord among the fans.

4) Don’t constantly criticize the referees: While all the referees worked in Fenerbahçe’s favor last year, Ali Koç and his management did everything they could to create the opposite atmosphere. We witnessed such statements that I couldn’t help but wonder, “Did we just watch a different match?” Last year, the federation president, thankfully, did exactly what you asked. Perhaps a first in Turkish Football League history, you had a foreign referee referee the Galatasaray match, pressured by Ali Koç. This was a disgrace for Turkish refereeing.

Whether the referees make decisions in your favor or against you, it doesn’t matter. Stop criticizing the referees under any circumstances. Fenerbahçe has been the team with the most errors and penalties awarded in the Turkish league every year for the last 10 years, yet you haven’t won the championship (all these statistics are available). Because you haven’t built a strong team. Focus on the pitch, not off it.

If you want to serve Turkish football, hire three of the best foreign referees in the world (these referees can be former referees or still actively working referees) and ask them to commentate every match, including your own, every week. This transparency will bring everyone together.

5) Don’t let past events become constant excuses: Stop making excuses and complaining. Focus on competing professionally. Some days you can play poorly and win, and other days you can play well and lose. After all, football is a game designed to bring joy to people, and you shouldn’t make this beautiful game a prison for them. Let’s create an environment where we can all enjoy the game, even if we lose.

6) Don’t provoke your own fans: Don’t provoke your own fans, especially your fanatics. Last season, your fans who attacked a 14-year-old girl simply because she was a Galatasaray fan acted on Ali Koç’s words. Remember this. Much more serious situations could arise in the future. Here’s the news of the assault of a 14-year-old Galatasaray fan by FB fans: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ad4MwrWwc/?igsh=MWMwcXJzOGVyaDR0Ng==

On the contrary, calm the situation and proactively prevent further incidents.

7) Don’t insult Galatasaray: Don’t insult Galatasaray like Ali Koç did. To maintain mutual respect, silence those who do. Engaging in such an ugly rivalry with Turkey’s most successful and most fan-favorite sports club will always cost you. Ali Koç’s claim that this club is “the survival problem of Turkish sports” is a serious eclipse of reason. Furthermore, constantly trying to associate GS with an organization that attempted a coup in Turkey demonstrates the predicament you find yourself in. These troll-like pronouncements eventually led to the target being Ali Koç, leading to the linking of Koç Holding and its executives to FETÖ (pineapple, Turkish Olympics, etc.). As former GS president Mustafa Cengiz famously said, we should also consider who became champions and who didn’t after FETÖ’s end: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5G6mE7LjU0/?igsh=aWk1NmJ2NjNic2o0

Instead of constantly inflaming the atmosphere with your false statements, forging a friendship and striving to shape Turkish sports together would have elevated you and positioned you as a thought leader.

8) Don’t protect players who misbehave: Just as Aziz Yıldırım defended players like Emre Belözoğlu and Volkan Demirel, who were constantly acting dirty, Ali Koç set a bad example for the entire team by supporting players with low morals and low IQs like Mert Hakan and goalkeeper İrfan Can. Players who constantly create tension and provoke fights should be warned and made to behave properly. Otherwise, the entire team will be disrupted, and this flawed character will continue to fuel the anti-Football League sentiment.

9) Don’t interfere with the Federation: The Turkish Football Federation has many faults, admittedly. However, the Federation often makes wrong decisions that protect and look out for you. I can give many examples of this. Accept the Federation’s decisions, whether favorable or unfavorable, refrain from intervening, organize meetings that don’t distract the public so they make the right decisions, and constantly discuss any mistakes made (for or against) with the Turkish Football Federation. Avoid showing off. Strive to win matches on the pitch, not off it.

10) Be consistent: Ali Koç, in particular, can say something he calls “white” one day, and “black” the next. Such inconsistencies are unbecoming of someone in his position and diminish his weight. An example of Ali Koç’s inconsistencies: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5WW0V5Mu42/?igsh=bWsxMnV5OGFkdW5m

I hope Sadettin Saran is also consistent in all his statements.

11) Don’t view sports as a battlefield: Sports are sports, not wars. If managed correctly in a country, sports contribute significantly to its development. It’s unbecoming of you to stir up trouble when you don’t get what you want, like someone used to getting everything the easy way. This situation seriously harms yourself, your family, Fenerbahçe, and ultimately, Turkish football. Accept this and instead of constantly provoking war, make mature and calming statements like Galatasaray President Dursun Özbek. The country is already tense; there’s no need to further escalate the tension and damage people’s mental health. As you can see at https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5R4DtsoYg2/?igsh=MTZwbTA4bzFvcHY2Zg%3D%3D , it’s unacceptable that Ali Koç is inciting chaos instead of addressing his own failures.

12) Do not personally threaten referees, Galatasaray officials, and relevant stakeholders: Stop constantly threatening referees and Galatasaray officials. These threats don’t stop at just referees and Galatasaray; Ali Koç threatens all relevant stakeholders. Here’s an example: His threat to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor İmamoğlu: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5MPTWfLXcY/?igsh=ZnBsbmY4OG1lamRs

I hope Sadettin Saran never uses this method of threatening and pressuring everyone.

13) Dismantle the social media troll group established for organized manipulation and pressure: I hope Sadettin Saran acts like a wise leader and dismantles the Fenerbahçe troll groups that constantly create chaos, pressure people, and manipulate people collectively. Trolling is a crime, and in countries where the rule of law prevails, trolling is punishable by imprisonment.

14) Prevent fans from pressuring their own players: Fenerbahçe fans, like many football fans in Turkey, are incredibly passionate. Fan support is fundamentally a force that ignites and motivates a team. However, when overdone, this fervor can burn a team. Constantly harassing players and their families on social media, sending messages before and after matches, and protesting when things go wrong on the pitch are some examples of this negative support. However, Fenerbahçe fans need to be patient and inclined to genuinely win matches. To do this, they need to always support their team, adhering to the classic motto, “Whether we win or lose, your fans are always with you,” and avoid protests. The negative energy of the fans, in contrast, cost the team points in crucial matches. In many matches, the Fenerbahçe players, who were struggling, had to be rescued by the referees, and last season, they won the match on penalties (many of which weren’t even remotely related to penalties) in the final minutes. Let’s remember once again that Fenerbahçe was the team that conceded the most penalties this season and won most of its matches with them in the final minutes. Sadettin Saran, as Fenerbahçe’s president, has a lot to do here. He will need to constantly balance the pressure and ease the burden on the players with his statements and actions.

15) Choose the right coach: Fenerbahçe receives good players every year. Sadettin Saran and his team will absolutely need to find the right manager to manage this talented group of players. And this isn’t any of the managers mentioned. I think Saran should primarily focus on finding the right manager to quickly turn Fenerbahçe around on an international scale.

16) Build a good scouting team: Galatasaray’s biggest advantage over Fenerbahçe is its strong scouting team. This team has ensured the signing of key players every year. After their worst season, Galatasaray quickly recovered with the right scouting moves and won the championship the following year. Build a good group of football players with a good scouting team and try to win the matches on the field.

17) Invest in the youth academy: Another area where the Big Three are significantly weak is their youth academy. Unfortunately, for years, they haven’t been able to develop young players with first-team potential. Investing in the youth academy is also necessary to develop young players capable of consistently playing in the first team. The Big Three, who spend exorbitant amounts of money on player transfers, can come to their senses and create miracles in the youth academy with even 10% of their transfer budget.

18) Avoid a combative attitude with your board members: Managers who constantly fight with everyone transmit that negative energy to the team. Just as players with poor character fuel antipathy, combative and manipulative managers similarly negatively impact the team. Fenerbahçe fans then resort to rhetoric like “Everyone is against Fenerbahçe” or “They’re collectively messing with us.” Beyond just verbalizing it, we’ve clearly observed through the actions they take that Fenerbahçe managers can resort to aggression when they’re desperate. After the Galatasaray match, Fenerbahçe President Ali Koç, like a mafia leader, entered the pitch with 30-40 security guards. The subsequent assault by Fenerbahçe executives, players, and administrative staff, along with the security guards, assaulted the Galatasaray general secretary and stadium manager, and attempted to unfurl the Fenerbahçe flag in the middle of the pitch, demonstrates how deeply they have lost control. These actions are criminal offenses, punishable by imprisonment. In a country with a well-established legal system, you can’t behave this way and assault people. Unfortunately, this happens in a country like Turkey, where people always get away with it.

We expect the exact opposite from Sadettin Saran. Don’t create such a confrontational, noisy, and negative environment, don’t try to intimidate everyone. On the contrary, instill positivity, whether you win or lose, and even more so, applaud the opposing team even if you lose. And then see how it all comes back to you. And then you find yourself winning the championship in a season you least expected. After all, that’s life. You reap what you sow. Moderation is crucial.

19) Demonstrate consistent performances in European competitions: Fenerbahçe, like Galatasaray, has truly reflected Turkey’s character in terms of inconsistency in European competitions. One moment, they’ve won a match expected to be difficult with a superb performance, and the next, they’ve lost a game that could have been considered a “Fenerbahçe wins by any means necessary.” These inconsistencies need to be addressed, and European football needs to be brought to a certain standard. As a result of these inconsistencies, they were also eliminated from the Champions League. They then lost decisively to Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Europa League, their second competition. Fenerbahçe should aim for success in Europe beyond the Turkish Super League title. This is what suits Fenerbahçe.

20) Prioritize financial sustainability and fiscal discipline: The president of every sports club with association status in Turkey flaunts his bravado, exploits the club for his own gain, then piles on debt and resigns from the presidency. This behavioral bias, stemming from the distortions in the system, must be completely eliminated, and every sports club must be managed with the financial discipline that will ensure financial sustainability.

Saran’s task is not easy after Aziz Yıldırım and Ali Koç, who have incurred significant debt, but it is not impossible either. If he manages his fan base of over 20 million correctly, he will solve his financial problems. However, the most important issue here is to leave a lasting system. What I am saying applies to all sports clubs in Turkey: Without waiting for the state to intervene, they must establish financial criteria for sports clubs, and ensure that every presidential candidate strictly adheres to these rules and operates without compromising financial discipline.

In other words, if necessary, they should not transfer a player that all fans want just because his high transfer fee undermines financial discipline and financial sustainability. They should seek, find, and transfer an alternative. Every football player in the world has an alternative. Let them not forget this.

Finally: I’ve stated that we, as Galatasaray fans, were saddened by Ali Koç’s departure due to his inability to manage Fenerbahçe correctly. However, we’re also glad he’s gone because Turkish football will be freed from the excessive negativity he spread.

I have questions about Saran

I’m also confused about Sadettin Saran. On the one hand, I support his appointment, hoping that he won’t make the same mistakes as Aziz Yıldırım and Ali Koç, as he is a Kemalist, sportsman, and motivates people with his positive attitude. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s right for a betting site owner to choose a club like Fenerbahçe and win. I don’t know how they’ll manage or clean up this distortion, but this is Türkiye. Anything is possible here. The strong win.

Finally, when I listen to Sadettin Saran’s interviews, watch what’s being said about him, and read the atmosphere, I get the feeling that Sadettin Saran might have a different agenda. There are three reasons, in my opinion, for his candidacy and election as Fenerbahçe president:

1) He genuinely loves Fenerbahçe and, as someone involved in sports, believes his time has come. And of course, he’s always loved to show off, being active on social media and making videos. That’s why he’s always been involved in social work, such as media, sports, and running a betting site.

2) He wants to use the same method Aziz Yıldırım used when he was caught red-handed in match-fixing to clear up the betting scandal he was involved in and have his international travel ban lifted. In other words, he may be trying to use the political power of over 20 million Fenerbahçe fans to pressure him into resolving all these problems.

3) After serving as Fenerbahçe’s president for a maximum of 2-3 years and achieving at least one championship (he’s become obsessed with the fourth star; he wants to at least get Fenerbahçe a fourth star), he may want to move towards the end of an era, simultaneously resigning from his position as Fenerbahçe’s president and running for president, in order to reach the highest level of politics. If he has such an agenda, I wish Steven Sadettin Saran success in politics.

For now, I’ll set these possibilities aside and wish Saran success in his new role as president. I hope he leads Fenerbahçe to the successes it deserves (especially in Europe) and contributes positively to unity and solidarity within the country.

Bonus: Social media posts about Sadettin Saran, Ali Koç, Aziz Yıldırım, and Jose Mourinho:

Sadettin Saran

Saran’s election speech:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO1R4k7jMXD/?igsh=b2doc2twbDl5bnQ3

The deep state has already made Fenerbahçe champions:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO-b8qojdZv/?igsh=MWVrZ2wzYzV1NnR6NQ%3D%3D

Hamdi Ulukaya’s views on Sadettin Saran:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO313SfjUwL/?igsh=MWdwNXJwbXl6OGJvcQ%3D%3D

Sadettin Saran: “Fenerbahçe is a match-fixer.” He did.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO313SfjUwL/?igsh=MWdwNXJwbXl6OGJvcQ%3D%3D

Challenges Ahead:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPHgUFGDGWz/?igsh=Y3lsdnE3ZjIwN2Fu