Fenerbahçe Club President Ali Koç speaks out following resignation and congress calls: 'I do not find resignation appropriate'

While some congress members have begun a signature campaign to hold an extraordinary congress, the community has been locked on President Ali Koç's statements.

Here are Ali Koç's statements:

"I MADE TWO PROMISES"

"I stand by what I said in my speech at the Divan Board. The Beşiktaş defeat is unacceptable, the derby performance is unacceptable. But along with that, as I said at the Divan, I made promises on two issues. When we took office, the club on the cover of the report published by UEFA was Fenerbahçe. They were talking about us as the club closest to bankruptcy. There was FFP. At that time, we could only buy as much as we sold. Our room for maneuver was limited. As of the point we have reached today, we are in a completely different place both as a corporate structure and in terms of operations. I made two promises: financial independence and sporting success."

"ONE OF OUR TWO PROMISES WILL BE FULFILLED WITHIN A FEW DAYS..."

"No one asks what financial independence means. Regarding sporting success, we continued the understanding and vision of 'the world's most successful sports club' that Aziz Yıldırım started. I would like to thank President Aziz as a fan for this as well. I think we have added significantly to that. But the main hunger was for success in football. And I thank God that we are now in a position to fulfill one of our two promises within a few days."

"THE DESIRE FOR SUCCESS IS NORMAL, BUT..."

"When there is no championship in football, the community is naturally and rightfully not satisfied. We must regretfully but understandingly accept that the chronic problems in football lead to major reactions, criticisms, and at times, even hatred. The fans have a lot of anger and high expectations. Other communities have gone 13, 15, 38 years without a championship. We are experiencing something similar. I understand these reactions. The desire for success is normal. However, I want to talk about our fans as of the point we have reached. We are all fans. I also come from a background of fandom. God granted me the presidency. I would have preferred to wear the jersey and sweat for it. But the concept of being a fan is something else entirely. These feelings are related to human nature. Unilateral, unconditional, self-sacrificing. This intense state of emotion inevitably brings irrationality. Today, we are going through such a situation."

"THIS GENERATION IS FLEXIBLE REGARDING LOYALTY"

"My fandom and the fandom of our generation are a bit different from today. We are people who come from a culture of 'until the grave, not until Sunday.' In one of the matches where President Aziz was booed, I went and stood by him. I never made a call to the fans during my candidacy. Now my wife will be angry, but there is no unconditional love other than for Leyla and Kerim. But this generation is very different. Young people are very impatient. Generation Z. They are flexible regarding loyalty. They change positions quickly. They don't want to work in the office for hours. This is also reflected in football. If I were in the stands, if my community were going through such a process, I would try to give the management all the support I could. We also have to understand today's fan."

"OUR FAN ADVANTAGE HAS TURNED INTO A DISADVANTAGE"

"The reaction I cannot appreciate or approve of is the one towards the players. Those who carry the striped jersey on the field, even if they don't play the football you want, stand behind them until they turn the match around. If they can't turn it around, if you aren't satisfied, then say whatever you want. When they boo us during the match, the kids are affected too. This was not something that happened in the Fenerbahçe stands. At the point we have reached today, our greatest competitive advantage has been somewhat lost and has even turned into a disadvantage, a situation that plays into the hands of our rivals."

"THEY BOOED OUR PLAYER WHO WAS GOING TO TAKE THE PENALTY"

"Unless we solve this problem together, we are undermining ourselves. We are putting more effort into wearing ourselves out. This has started to become a culture. You boo, the team takes the lead, you applaud. Last year, they booed our player who was going to take a penalty. When he scored, everyone applauded. We need to look in the mirror a little bit and focus collectively on how we can fix this situation. I am saddened by the fans' reaction. The fan is the landlord, the administrations are the tenants. Just last June, we held a clean congress with tough, harsh, and at times inappropriate accusations. And the result, we came to this year."

"I HAVE NO ANGER TOWARDS THE FANS"

"What were they saying to those who protected Aziz Yıldırım before we took office? 'Azizbahçeli'. After I was elected, I didn't let anyone speak ill of my president. Now what are they saying to those who support the management? 'Paid dogs'. Criticizing is a democratic right. Well, in the same way, supporting those who manage the club is also a right. Those who stand behind the club on social media and those who do not react in the stands are treated differently. You are insulted in every way. There are also huge reactions in the stands. Therefore, we must get out of this spiral. Whether we are here or not, Fenerbahçe must get out of this spiral. If we don't address this issue collectively, it will happen again in another failure tomorrow. I have no anger towards the fans."

"IN MY OPINION TWO, ACCORDING TO OUR FRIENDS THREE OF OUR CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE STOLEN"

"In my opinion two, according to some of our friends three of our championships were stolen. In the Ersun Yanal era, we lost 18 out of 21 points in 7 matches. Go look at those matches. If we come to this year, we brought a man who is still shown as one of the top 5 coaches in history. Did those who are tearing him down and criticizing him today oppose us when we brought our coach that day? They applauded. They appreciated it. Therefore, let's move on from there. Let's look at our squad. We have built the most valuable squad in history to date. We even went a bit beyond our means, not cutting our coat according to our cloth. We built the highest-budget squad in history. We brought people who were said would never come. Our coach thanked us."

"DID ALL THIS HAPPEN BY ITSELF?"

"While doing all this, a great effort was made so that our club would not fall into economic distress. In the six years, and this year. Sacrifices were made. The situation the club has reached today is clear. Did it happen by itself? Did it happen by being caught in the current and the wind? We reached this point with the great sacrifice and effort of people who had no expectations. If there had been a championship, we wouldn't be talking about any of this, and I wouldn't have to say these things."

"I DO NOT FIND RESIGNING APPROPRIATE"

"We did honest work. There is only one team in Turkey that fights against betting, and that is Fenerbahçe. When there is betting, there is match-fixing. I'm not even going into sociological issues. Betting, black market, sponsorships for certain organizations... We didn't do anything to tarnish our reputation. Why were we never involved in these things? Therefore, let alone dealing with these, we even look at a person's social media when hiring a tea server. We have fought heavy battles to protect the honor of this club, despite all the troublesome, tight-maneuver financial problems. At times, we fought alone. If we look at this year specifically, after the 60 to 40 election result last year, I do not find it appropriate to resign."

"WE WILL SAY THIS WAS ALSO IN OUR DESTINY"

"There is a signature campaign, it is a democratic right. If signatures are collected, an election will be held. If our community wants to send us away in a humiliating way or in some way after all these events, we will say this was also in our destiny, what can we do? If our community wants to send us away in this manner, we bow our heads. We see it as a method that does not befit Fenerbahçe. I hope we can explain that our continuity is not a matter of stubbornness or ego, but a matter of responsibility and belief for the benefit of Fenerbahçe."

"THE MOMENT THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST COMES..."

"Making children happy is my priority as the President of Fenerbahçe. Unfortunately, we could not provide this on the football side. But I don't think there is a dramatic difference as people express. This is something that can be compensated for quickly. The moment the championship first comes, Fenerbahçe will do it consecutively. I would have preferred to fight a little more with the spirit of July 3rd regarding the element we define as the structure. But somehow, this power causes the community to turn inward rather than outward."

"IT IS MORE APPROPRIATE FOR MOURINHO TO CONTINUE"

"The biggest problem at Fenerbahçe is stability. Although we have achieved stability at the presidential level, we could not catch it in terms of sports. I think stability is important regarding the coach. This is a country that is hard to understand. Mourinho is also human, he can make mistakes. When I first talked to Mourinho, we set out saying we don't need to talk about the championship in the second year, hopefully it will happen in the first year too. That's why we made a two-year agreement. The terms of the agreement are clear. Other coach names are being mentioned. I am explaining as president, but I cannot convince enough. Within the framework of Fenerbahçe's interests, I think it is appropriate for the coach to continue."

"I WARNED MOURINHO A FEW TIMES"

"I warned Mourinho on a few issues, he did not share the same opinion as me. Then, when my warnings came true, he apologized, and I said it won't happen again. He is open to all kinds of feedback. Jesus was not like that. Both are great coaches. The three-back issue cost us dearly during the Jesus era. I transferred him by saying I specifically didn't want it. The issue that saddened me there was that we talked for hours. It saddened me that it happened after that."

"MOURINHO WILL MAKE FENERBAHÇE CHAMPION"

"During the period when FETÖ dominated Turkey, we went through a completely different conjuncture for 10 years. Not just in football, but in everything. Therefore, that period is not a period we can call very successful. Which coach would have been champion for three years in a row? Daum. Do you remember how it was prevented? The era of 'the cup is yours, the championship is mine.' Haluk Ulusoy's federation presidency. Fenerbahçe has always dealt with these. Mourinho is Mourinho. We cannot discuss this. I believe that Mourinho will make Fenerbahçe champion."

"A SLIGHTLY NARROWER SQUAD NEXT SEASON..."

"In our planning for this year, we talked about the fact that we need to buy players at the level of Skriniar, what they call 4 balls, and that we need to speed up the team. The coach gave his report. He didn't mention any player names. He describes a profile. Last season was the first time we entered the season this prepared. We could buy players on loan. Our room for maneuver expanded. Our ammunition expanded. The only thing missing is the championship. A slightly narrower squad next season. We consulted among ourselves that we need to buy players directly for the 11. In my opinion, we have built the strongest team, we will build a stronger one. There are a few offers for us too, attractive ones. We can say our transfer performance is good."

"OUR OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE BETTER THAN LAST YEAR"

"There is a chronic process of anger explosion in the community. Along with this, we reduced the gap from 11 points to 3 points. Especially after foreign VAR came. We had caught the psychological advantage. We destroyed it with our own hands. I knew the anger explosion and sadness from my own son. I don't blame the players. With its president, its coach, its equipment manager. We have come to the weeks where we expected point losses, but the rival is very comfortable now. As for next season, I said that we will focus on players who will play directly in the 11, at the level of Skriniar, who will speed up the team, and at the same time develop the leadership spirit of Edin Dzeko and Tadic, as I just said. Our opportunities to do this will be much better than last year."

"I NEVER ACT TO SAVE THE DAY"

"The reason we acted so bravely last year is the board of directors we formed. I would like to thank them too. No one is obligated. We all have the livelihood of our children. People added strength to Fenerbahçe within their means, this management. Some friends say they produce projects to save the day. I never do anything to save the day. If I had, I would be in a much different position today."

News Source: 12punto