Veteran Sports Writer Atilla Türker: Our clubs are in a debt quagmire

Turkish football has been unable to emerge from the chaos it has been in for years. Although there have been small-scale successes at the club level recently, problems persist in terms of sporting success and economics.

Atilla Türker evaluated the failures in Turkish football and their causes for 12punto. Türker stated that the majority of clubs are poorly managed and that contracts are signed behind closed doors between malicious administrators and players' agents.

X-raying Turkish football, Türker said the following:

Why do Turkish teams experience a management crisis locally? Why do fans call for the management to resign at the slightest failure?

Unfortunately, there is no healthy structure in Turkish sports. From federations to clubs, from associations to sports media, a general state of disorder prevails...

A very significant portion of our clubs are unfortunately poorly managed. Due to a mentality of saving the day, the necessary importance is not given to infrastructure and youth.

The vast majority of our clubs with professional teams are in a debt quagmire. The existence of malicious administrators, as much as poor management, should not be forgotten. It is another fact that club coffers are being emptied due to a lack of oversight.

Many self-proclaimed experts take over club management and cause poor practices.

Especially in recent years, there have been significant changes in the fan profile. Due to factors such as irresponsible statements by club administrators, provocative news from a certain section of the media, and social media getting out of hand, the temperament of football fans has also been spoiled. The landscape of fandom has changed, and a hooligan structure has emerged.

Our people, who are already very tense due to economic and political reasons, have started to seek a remedy in matches.

This hooligan structure has brought reactions with it. At the slightest failure, reactions toward referees, club administrators, and players have intensified. The sports media, of course, also gets its share of this reaction.

COACHES ARE CHOSEN AS SCAPEGOATS

Foreign coaches cannot stay in our country for very long, and Turkish coaches raised in our country cannot go abroad or choose not to. What is the root cause of this situation?

When unsuccessful results are obtained, the biggest and primary bill is footed by the coaches. There is an incredible rate of coach turnover in our country. Especially when we compare it with Europe, the picture we have is unfortunately very bad. We are not patient; we choose the easy way. What is the easy way? The club management, which comes to power through elections, sees the coach as the weakest link. Since they will continue with the players, coaches are chosen as scapegoats. 

What are the root causes of the financial problems in clubs, and why are the solutions produced for them insufficient?

Our clubs are generally very poorly managed. If it were limited to just being poorly managed, that would be fine, but malicious people are also running rampant in the community. In an environment where millions of dollars are flying around, unfortunately, very bad situations can arise. Transfers in clubs are usually handled by at most 2-3 people; if even one of these people is malicious or does not know the job, that club's coffers can become empty in a short time. 3 to 5 million liras can be paid for many players who aren't even worth 1 million liras. The difference can end up in someone's pocket. How does this happen? A contract is signed behind closed doors between the malicious administrator and the player's agent. This community knows well many names who have dragged their clubs into a quagmire by joining forces with agents. 

Unfortunately, the oversight mechanism in clubs does not work well. Money is spent recklessly on transfers. After all, it doesn't come out of the administrator's pocket! Money is flying around due to wrong transfers. Many administrators, who are meticulous when managing their own companies, can be irresponsible and careless in club management. Except for exceptional cases, no one is generally held accountable.

News Source: 12punto