Turkish coaches make their mark in Turkish league

While the search for Fatih Terim’s replacement as coach of the Turkish national football team centers on hiring a foreigner, the weekend’s Turkcell Super League results have given local coaches a reason to demand the job.

Coach Mustafa Denizli and Beşiktaş have climbed to the second spot with a win over Sivasspor after getting help from Ertuğrul Sağlam’s Bursaspor and Yılmaz Vural’s Kasımpaşaspor in beating Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, respectively.

Denizli, a former national team and Galatasaray coach, preferred to keep his silence when Beşiktaş won only once in the first six weeks of the league, but he is ready to talk now.

“Nobody talked positively about us two months ago, and it was natural,” he said after his team’s 1-0 victory in Sivas on Sunday night. The win was the eighth league triumph in a row for the Istanbul team and came after two promising victories, 3-0 against Fenerbahçe last week and 1-0 at Manchester United on Wednesday in the Champions League.

“We had our problems, but I was always sure that the team would overcome them,” the experienced coach said. “I know Beşiktaş and its community very well and the team proved last year what it is capable of. It was good to win in a week two of our rivals lost, and we will keep this good form until the end of the first half of the season.”

While Denizli was happy to see his rivals lose, Kasımpaşaspor coach Vural was happy to have downed the league leader.

Kasımpaşa visited Fenerbahçe for a game played behind closed doors due to a penalty against the home team, and the underdog shocked its opponent with a 3-1 win.

“I am very happy. We are out of the danger zone, and we will not have to wait for other results to stay clear of relegation,” said Vural, who is enjoying a five-week unbeaten run.

Vural has been a Super League coach for 23 years and has made a name for himself by not being intimidated by relegation woes.

He is the first name that comes to mind whenever a club in the danger zone decides to replace its coach in mid-season, yet he is usually replaced at the end of the season regardless of whether he succeeds.

According to Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, records, Kasımpaşa is Vural’s 21st club as coach. He took the job four weeks after the start, and Kasımpaşa had no points when Vural arrived.

The team lost the first two games with Vural at the helm, but the level of play indicated promise for the following weeks.

Since then, the Istanbul team has collected 15 points, including a win by default against Ankaraspor, which was demoted by the TFF.

Kasımpaşaspor beat Trabzonspor 3-1 two weeks ago, resulting in the departure of the Black Sea side’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos.

“We beat Ankaragücü, and Hikmet Karaman was fired, then we beat Trabzonspor and Broos was fired, maybe Christoph Daum is next,” he said jokingly before the Fenerbahçe game – although the German will keep his post, at least for now.

Vural, who earlier said he was ready to take the national team post, is also very vocal whenever Turkish coaches are the subjects of debate. “Is it easy to compete against such a team under these circumstances?” he asked after the Fenerbahçe game, highlighting the huge differences between the financial powers of the two clubs. “I am really sorry to see that Turkish coaches are considered incompetent.”

Another Turkish coach who was happy over the weekend was Bursaspor’s Sağlam. Bursa won 1-0 at home against Galatasaray on Friday night to climb up to third in the standings.

Sağlam, who is one of the few names mentioned for the national team job, was delighted with the result.

“We are thankful to our fans who filled the stadium and supported the team for 90 minutes,” he said after the game. “We wanted to win on the first day of the bayram holiday, and we did it. We must continue to play this way if we want to be in the top flight.”

Tolunay Kafkas is another Turkish coach of the new generation whose Kayserispor beat Manisaspor on Sunday to stay in fifth place.

No one can deny the contributions foreign coaches such as Jupp Derwall or Sepp Piontek have made to Turkish football. Emotions, however, are still the driving force for most Turkish footballers, and the TFF should consider local names before choosing a coach for the national team.