When Galatasaray lost a series of games and came close to relegation, the fans of the teams Galatasaray had crushed for years began to dream in unison and openly voice their hopes: “I’m going to the relegation!”
Easier said than done, you’ll win 22 championships and wear a four-star trophy, win 75 trophies and outshine your closest rival, Fenerbahçe, with 56 trophies (source: https://www.galatasaray.org/s/genel-kupa-tablosu/54 ), bring Turkey its only European trophy, the UEFA and the Super Cup, and become the country’s most recognizable brand… In an environment where envy has become a national characteristic, of course you’ll be envied and subjected to all sorts of tactics to bring you down. Even though the Federation’s president, Nihat Özdemir, who openly pro-Fenerbahçe, and his team’s appointed referees made dozens of decisions against Galatasaray, especially in the first half of the league, and acted unfairly, Galatasaray might still not have been in this position.
Internal Reasons for the Mistakes
We can say that this decline was caused by some mistakes made by newly elected President Burak Elmas and his team, who were trying to make a difference. Briefly, these are:
1) Instead of carrying out a gradual rejuvenation operation, which I believe would have been the right move, they rejuvenated the entire team and failed to sign a leading player like Hagi who could have led these young players on the field.
2) They made obvious mistakes in their transfer policy. In my opinion, players like Onyekuru, Yunus, Adem Büyük, and Gedson Fernandes, who were capable of making significant contributions to the team, should not have been lost or abandoned. The transfers made in their place certainly did not replace them.
3) Of course, Fatih Terim bears the lion’s share of these transfer mistakes. Parting ways with him was also the right decision, but in my opinion, this should have been done at the end of the year, not mid-season. 4) Every time Galatasaray was wronged, someone spoke out, and in the following weeks, they were unfairly deprived of their rights repeatedly. However, if these obvious mistakes were shared with the public in an institutional and impartial manner after each game, leaving the audience to comment, instead of the pronouncements of those critical of the team, such as manager Fatih Terim or president Burak Elmas, much more significant public support would have been generated. Instead, they couldn’t resist, and when harsh and sometimes threatening language was used, the federation was given as an excuse, and continuous punishments were issued. All these developments significantly damaged the team’s morale and motivation.
Galatasaray’s Future
Following all these events, Club 1 Burak Elmas and his team, who used Fatih Terim as an election trump card and declared, “We will always stand by him,” could no longer resist, and they terminated Terim’s contract. They subsequently transferred Guardiola’s then-assistant Torrent, who had led Barcelona through the most successful period in its history, from New York to Istanbul. Whether they spoke with Torrent before or after Fatih Terim’s appointment is irrelevant to me. What concerns me is what will happen to Galatasaray from now on…
I’d like to share my prediction with you. From now on, Torrent will likely experience poor results in the first 5-6 games. However, with the reinforcements made in the mid-season transfer window, the team will gradually start to show good results and establish a run in the last 10 games of the league.
Galatasaray will not be relegated this year; they will finish the league in the Top 10. There’s even a chance of finishing in the top 5. The debate about whether or not they will be relegated seems absurd to me; I believe this meaningless debate is deliberately designed to undermine the morale and motivation of a crowd whose core belief is championships. However, Galatasaray, with its ingrained winning culture, will recover this year.
Sustainable growth is the only condition.
In my opinion, the important thing here is for sports teams to achieve sustainable success as clubs. The most fundamental way to achieve this is to maintain financial discipline and achieve sustainable growth. Clubs with financial difficulties are ultimately doomed to collapse. This danger applies to Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, and Beşiktaş, the three biggest clubs in Istanbul and Turkey, who have served Turkish sports for over 100 years. These three distinguished clubs could face relegation, perhaps not this year, but within the next 10 years, when they reach financial rock bottom. They haven’t hit rock bottom yet, but in my opinion, they’re close to it. No matter how much they boast about their 10-20 million fans, they must maintain a current account surplus with financial discipline, managing the debt accumulated by past mismanagement to the best of their ability, reducing it annually, and eventually recovering within a certain period. Teams that fail to do this are doomed to relegation.
I hope Galatasaray, the team I cherish, emerges from this vortex as soon as possible and achieves sustainable success with a stronger foundation. The resurgence of Galatasaray, the driving force of Turkish sports, is essential for Turkish sports, even if its rivals may not appreciate it.
Tag: education
