Denizli sharing the honors
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 01, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Fingers are pointed to coach Mustafa Denizli as the hero of Beşiktaş's first Turkcell Super League title in six years, but the boss plays down his role, and says that there are many people who stay out of the limelight while contributing to the title. Despite all the modesty, this title will go down in history as Denizli's hat trick point
Despite being the main man behind Beşiktaş’s 11th league championship, coach Mustafa Denizli gave credit to "every single unit" of his team. The Istanbul side beat Denizlispor 2-1 Saturday to win the Turkcell Super League title, its first in six years.
Replacing Ertuğrul Sağlam in the seventh week of the season, Denizli managed to lead his team survive the storm and steer the ship into the championship. Speaking after the game, however, he denied that it was a one-man effort.
"Beşiktaş deserved the win with every single member, every single unit," said the Turkish coach at the press conference after the game. "From the chairman to the board, or anyone who serves the club should have their part in that victory. There are dozens of people you don’t know who contributed to this title." When Denizli took over the club, Beşiktaş was in second behind Trabzonspor. However, his experience did not translate into wins immediately, as the situation was way worse at the end of the first half of the season. The Black Eagles were in sixth after 16 weeks.
"It was not easy, we ousted five opponents in 18 weeks to be here now," said Denizli. "We had our ups and downs, but we never lost our hope."
Denizli became the first Turkish coach to lead Beşiktaş to the league title, but earned a bigger honor for becoming the first coach to win titles at the helm of the big three of Turkish football: Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray.
When asked how he felt about setting an unprecedented feat, he remained modest. "If it wasn’t me, somebody else would have achieved it," he said. "What is more important than that is being accepted by those different and precious communities."
Journeyman goalkeeper
Another journeyman, goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber said he always enjoyed a warm welcome from Beşiktaş fans.
"Beşiktaş showed me nothing but love, I am very happy here," said Rüştü, who was signed from Beşiktaş’s archrival Fenerbahçe two years ago. When asked how many times he won titles, Rüştü was unsure.
"It should be six or seven," he said. "I won titles at every club I played. Antalyaspor (in the second tier), Fenerbahçe and Barcelona (in Spanish La Liga)."
Rüştü is only the fourth player in the Beşiktaş squad to have won titles before. Rüştü, along with Yusuf Şimşek and Mert Nobre have won titles with Fenerbahçe, and only İbrahim Üzülmez has enjoyed championship with Beşiktaş before. Being left out of the squad and stripped of his captaincy, due to a fight with teammate İbrahim Toraman at the start of the season, Üzülmez was later forgiven. On Saturday, he finally earned back his captaincy. Denizli brought the veteran left back into the game in stoppage time and gave him the armband.
Meanwhile, Sivasspor finished as runner up despite a loss to Galatasaray. Trabzonspor failed to win against Fenerbahçe and missed out on taking the second spot and a place in next year’s Champions League.
At the bottom of the table, Konyaspor became the last team to be relegated despite beating Ankaraspor. Gençlerbirliği, Denizlispor and Konya finished the league on 38 points and the team to be relegated was decided on a three-way standing after teams’ games against each other. Gençler and Denizli survived relegation, thanks to a better performance in those games.
Replacing Ertuğrul Sağlam in the seventh week of the season, Denizli managed to lead his team survive the storm and steer the ship into the championship. Speaking after the game, however, he denied that it was a one-man effort.
"Beşiktaş deserved the win with every single member, every single unit," said the Turkish coach at the press conference after the game. "From the chairman to the board, or anyone who serves the club should have their part in that victory. There are dozens of people you don’t know who contributed to this title." When Denizli took over the club, Beşiktaş was in second behind Trabzonspor. However, his experience did not translate into wins immediately, as the situation was way worse at the end of the first half of the season. The Black Eagles were in sixth after 16 weeks.
"It was not easy, we ousted five opponents in 18 weeks to be here now," said Denizli. "We had our ups and downs, but we never lost our hope."
Denizli became the first Turkish coach to lead Beşiktaş to the league title, but earned a bigger honor for becoming the first coach to win titles at the helm of the big three of Turkish football: Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray.
When asked how he felt about setting an unprecedented feat, he remained modest. "If it wasn’t me, somebody else would have achieved it," he said. "What is more important than that is being accepted by those different and precious communities."
Journeyman goalkeeper
Another journeyman, goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber said he always enjoyed a warm welcome from Beşiktaş fans.
"Beşiktaş showed me nothing but love, I am very happy here," said Rüştü, who was signed from Beşiktaş’s archrival Fenerbahçe two years ago. When asked how many times he won titles, Rüştü was unsure.
"It should be six or seven," he said. "I won titles at every club I played. Antalyaspor (in the second tier), Fenerbahçe and Barcelona (in Spanish La Liga)."
Rüştü is only the fourth player in the Beşiktaş squad to have won titles before. Rüştü, along with Yusuf Şimşek and Mert Nobre have won titles with Fenerbahçe, and only İbrahim Üzülmez has enjoyed championship with Beşiktaş before. Being left out of the squad and stripped of his captaincy, due to a fight with teammate İbrahim Toraman at the start of the season, Üzülmez was later forgiven. On Saturday, he finally earned back his captaincy. Denizli brought the veteran left back into the game in stoppage time and gave him the armband.
Meanwhile, Sivasspor finished as runner up despite a loss to Galatasaray. Trabzonspor failed to win against Fenerbahçe and missed out on taking the second spot and a place in next year’s Champions League.
At the bottom of the table, Konyaspor became the last team to be relegated despite beating Ankaraspor. Gençlerbirliği, Denizlispor and Konya finished the league on 38 points and the team to be relegated was decided on a three-way standing after teams’ games against each other. Gençler and Denizli survived relegation, thanks to a better performance in those games.