Fenerbahçe President Ali Koç takes a jab at Galatasaray over 'golden platter' remark

Stating that he does not make decisions based on social media, Ali Koç said, "I have nothing to do with social media. I see what is reported. Some executives live and breathe social media. No one can easily make me do something I don't believe in. One of the perceptions being created is that the club is managed via social media. Some coaches, whose names I will not mention, are creating new job opportunities for themselves through social media and directing the stands. The way social media is used in football in Turkey is not healthy. I don't think I make decisions based on social media or the thoughts of the fans.

I am on the eve of an election, I am going through my weakest period, and I haven't made a single populist decision. One candidate says, 'I will remove the E block.' Are you going to give people back 7.5 million euros just to remove it? Can a 400-person area ruin the enthusiasm of a 50,000-seat stadium? That stand was also there during the Feyenoord match. The enthusiasm in the Feyenoord match was the enthusiasm at factory settings. This is what we need most this year," he said.

Stating that it was a mistake to interfere with the squad when he first arrived, Koç made a self-criticism, saying, "When we first arrived, we could only buy as much as we sold. We couldn't make transfers as we pleased. We had sold our striker for 3 million euros. Then the same team held a training camp for 1.5-2 months. When the money came in from the transfers of Josef de Souza and Giuliano, which started at 4 million and reached 25 million euros, we thought we had found money and tinkered with the team too much. The transfers we made weren't good either. There was no expectation regarding football that year anyway. We should have left it alone. We touched that team too much. That was a mistake."

Explaining that there has been a significant increase in sponsorship revenues, Ali Koç noted the following:

"That is one of our important achievements. We increased our revenue from 175 million to 350 million euros. For us to breathe easily, we need to be in the 400-450 million euro band. For branches other than football, while there used to be a 14-16 million deficit in basketball, it has now dropped to 5-6 million. We have a significant deficit in women's volleyball and basketball.

For the first time in 7 years, we are making a major investment in men's volleyball. These deficits need to be covered. As the management, we can only close this gap to a certain extent. It will take time for this to reach a self-funding point. You might see someone else become president and downsize all of this. Beşiktaş did this for a period. They set a budget equal to their income. Then the sporting success in these areas is obvious. We have never shied away from this."

"WE INCREASED REVENUE FROM 175 MILLION EUROS TO 350"

Stating that they have increased the squad value of their football teams, Koç continued his words as follows:

"While increasing the squad value from 70 million euros to 315 million euros, we reduced our bank debt of 347 million euros to 69. We reduced our liabilities, which were over 300, to over 200. We increased revenue from 175 million euros to 350. In the meantime, the Turkish Lira lost nearly 1000 percent of its value. The exchange rates are obvious. It is clear where interest rates have come from. There is no need to mention inflation. One of the issues that weighs most heavily on us is taxes, which rose from 15 to 40 percent.

And it was done in the middle of COVID-19; I still don't understand how it was done. We experienced COVID-19, our broadcasting revenues, which were 40-44 million euros, dropped to 10-12. For the last 2 years, half of our income goes to banks, and this ship is somehow sailing, building the most important squad in history. We are talking about a Fenerbahçe that has finished the repair process and has reached the breakthrough process. All of this is positioned by the candidates as 'We could have done it too, what's the big deal.' Things are being said like Fenerbahçe has no money or debt problems.

"THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE"

This is not the main point. Spor Toto revenues used to pay 1 month's salary. We are receiving the same amount today as we were in 2018 in TL. They stopped the withholding tax. We were paying the tax, and it was coming back to us like a lifeline; they stopped that too. COVID-19, stopping the withholding tax, rising from 15 to 40 percent—all of this happened in the same period. Despite all this, we brought the business to this point. You ask why congress members should vote for you; people see this. Lists will be submitted again on the 17th. Look at the names of the board of directors we will expand in the Inc. if we are elected. Look at the board members in the association who will be the soldiers of Fenerbahçe today, and compare them. There is a huge difference. I believe we have a management that is stronger, more capable, and gets things done."

"WE MUST GIVE STRENGTH TO THOSE WHO MANAGE US"

Stating that the yellow-navy community needs to unite and that their moral support will continue if they lose the election, Ali Koç said:

"Uniting is not just financial unity. It won't be like I will continue to spend money like crazy or do sponsorships, but all of this continues this season. What I mean by uniting is that we must give strength to those who manage us. This is not just financial strength. They were never by our side. After bad match results, there are images of people partying at fish restaurants. Have you ever heard the same people speak out once when Fenerbahçe was cornered, when the federation president of the time said 'Fenerbahçe has fixed matches,' or during referee disasters?

You will say 'Fenerbahçe is mine,' and you won't be there for any of these. There is no such world. If we are elected, our number one duty, apart from winning the championship in football, is to bring the community back together. As long as this community is one and whole, no one can destroy it. They couldn't destroy us from the outside, now they are destroying us from the inside. This is what we call organized evil. There is grace in both winning and losing. I said, 'Sometimes you lose when you win, and sometimes you win when you lose.' They would have actually won if they had lost. This system wouldn't have lasted another year at Fenerbahçe."

"WE ALSO EXPLAINED WHY WE WENT IN SEPTEMBER"

The president of the yellow-navy club continued his words as follows:

"If we return to today, there must be a grace in losing. Digesting defeat is very important. Being able to digest defeat and look ahead is a very healthy situation. If we say Fenerbahçe unconditionally, we have to support it no matter the conditions. This can be financial, moral, or lobbying support... I haven't seen any of this. Let alone seeing it, they made us experience the exact opposite. How much longer will you allow this graceless situation? How much longer will it hang over Fenerbahçe like a cloud? You know who organized the petition campaign. Wouldn't this election have been valuable if it had reached the figure of 16 thousand? It's the wrong time for an election, but they created such an atmosphere that when 200 signatures were collected with 4-5 weeks left in the season, we said okay, we are going to the election. We also explained why we went in September.

"SOME TOUCHES WERE NEEDED"

We said we would announce the date when the fixture was announced, and we did. When talking to coaches, they ask, 'Are you going to expand the stadium, will it affect this season?' There are such tricks in collective signatures. Someone says, 'I am in America, I haven't come to Turkey, my signature is there.' There are fake signatures and declarations. Are the people who involve Fenerbahçe in forgery going to manage the future of Fenerbahçe? Their issue is not the future of Fenerbahçe. It is to get us out of this seat somehow. I don't mean Mr. Saadettin, I mean his value. He has specifically organized the social media side. We will have things to say in the coming days."

Touching on the transfers of Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Yusuf Akçiçek, Koç said, "Some touches were needed for us to fit these transfers into our spending limits. One of these was Yusuf, who had only played in 19 matches, going to Saudi Arabia for 22 million euros, which gave us a lot of breathing room. The second was Mr. Hakan Safi sponsoring the Kerem Aktürkoğlu transfer. He made a serious investment. We also thank Yusuf. We had rejected a 16+2 offer. We also thank those who contributed to him being transferred for these prices. Thanks to these two operations, we were able to fit these into the limits," he said.

MALTEPE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Ali Koç said the following regarding the Fenerbahçe Football Academy to be built in Maltepe:

"Turkish football cannot continue with this model. Arda, Yusuf, Elif, Ferdi... We need more examples like these. And for these to happen, we need such a facility. It was said, 'A player playing in the Fenerbahçe infrastructure cannot enter the A team.' Now it is said, 'You can go to Europe from the Fenerbahçe infrastructure.' This is why parents bring their children to you. You are scouting nationwide, but parents are also lining up. Because they have hopes for the future. We have earned 97 million euros from these 4 players. Feyenoord's highest-paid player earns 1.2 million euros. The player they sold for 35 million earns 950 thousand euros. The player they were offered 40 million for and didn't sell plays for 900 thousand euros. We need to have many more players coming from this model."

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING IN COMMERCIAL LIFE"

Emphasizing that player sales are a major source of income, Koç said:

"There is no such thing in commercial life. Let's look at Yusuf; there is no former club, no share to give to his club. 22 million euros of clean money. You cannot show such profitability in anything else. I bought Arda Güler for 250 thousand liras. Everyone was after him; Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, and Trabzonspor had also gone before us. Arda being a very good Fenerbahçe fan also helped. Maltepe is very important for these examples. We are talking about 350-400 million euros in revenue, but we cannot run the infrastructure with 2 fields. Everyone will move there. Women's football will move to Samandıra. Dereağzı will be turned into an athlete factory, and all non-football branches will be there. It requires a lot of money. We also have a stadium project. That is a project that pays for itself.

"OTHERS RECEIVED THEIR STADIUMS ON A GOLDEN PLATTER"

When Fenerbahçe was building the stadium for 85 million dollars under the leadership of President Aziz, economic conditions were very bad then too. He was able to do it with a brave move. Coming to today, there is a 15 thousand capacity increase and landscaping. This is also a big project of 80-100 million. We are giving it to a stadium that is not ours. Fenerbahçe is the one that invests the most in a stadium it does not own. Fenerbahçe is also the one that pays the most rent among the big clubs. We can say that Beşiktaş also built its own stadium. Others received their stadiums on a golden platter. In our stadium, there is the sweat, effort, life, money, and everything of Fenerbahçe fans. Our stadium project is a project that can fund itself. We couldn't have done that project if we hadn't left the Banks Association, because they don't give credit permission."

News Source: 12punto