Beşiktaş President Yücel: It could have gone as far as a trustee

Beşiktaş President Hüseyin Yücel participated in the program "Futbolun 100’ü" with Ersin Düzen and made statements regarding the developments at Beşiktaş.

Here are those statements from Hüseyin Yücel:

"My dream was not to be president. Because if it were, I would have been a candidate in the last election. As you know, Hasan Arat and Serdal Adalı competed in the last election. These individuals met with me before the election. I told them that I was very busy and could not be by their side. However, I stated that I could help them in every sense. Later, after the statements Hasan Arat made in a program he attended, I asked myself this question; 'What kind of a Beşiktaş fan am I?' Afterwards, I got up, met with Hasan Arat, and took a place in the management two days before the election."

"I HAVE RESENTMENT"

"I never regret serving Beşiktaş, but I have disappointment and resentment. I never imagined it would be like this. I also have resentment toward Hasan Arat. The resignation process was very sudden. We were meeting every day. During this time, we had different meetings. But we did not foresee this scenario. I told Hasan Arat not to even think about resigning. The next day, a phone call came, and the president had left."

"HE PUBLISHED IT ON THE OFFICIAL SITE A MINUTE LATER"

"Our board of directors has a WhatsApp group. Hasan Arat called us all there and said, 'I have decided not to continue for personal reasons, for health reasons. Please forgive me,' said Hasan Arat, and it was published on the official site a minute later."

"THIS TALK OF AN UPRISING..."

I served as the second president. I would like to ask the president this question specifically. There was a board meeting on the day he used the word 'uprising'. At the meeting, he said, 'Hüseyin Yücel will head football, and his assistants will be Onur Göçmez and Mete Vardar.' There was tension between Samet Hoca and Friedel. There was a disconnect in football. We produced such a formula. Subsequently, the president's statement and Mr. Onur's statement went to a completely different point. I suspect the word 'uprising' was used for Samet Hoca. This talk of an uprising evolved into a situation like 'they staged a coup against us.' The president said at the Wednesday meeting, 'I am not thinking of being a candidate in May.' He said, 'I will continue as long as my health permits. If I resign in any way, I will inform you. Do not abandon Hüseyin Yücel.' While this request from the president is clear, the possibility of him using the word 'uprising' for me does not make sense. But it was not perceived that way by the public. This is completely wrong. If there were such a coup, would I go to an election?"

"IT COULD HAVE GONE AS FAR AS A TRUSTEE"

"After Hasan Arat's resignation, we normally should have resigned as well. However, in that case, the club would have been left to the Audit Committee. There were unpaid salaries, and there was no money in the treasury. Because of this situation, it could have gone as far as a trustee. We sat down with our friends and said, 'Let's not leave Beşiktaş without an owner.' In the second stage, I withdrew to my corner. I said this is not ethical. It was also being talked about in the public. We came there as an elected management, but I was not going to come there as an elected president. We would have been exposed to criticism. I gathered the management. I told them to support my decision. I said I wanted to go to an extraordinary election. I did not want to be addressed with terms like 'appointed president' or 'statutory president.' The talk of a coup also bothered me a lot."

"I AM CONDUCTING ELECTION PROPAGANDA"

"First of all, the office of Beşiktaş president, let me say for myself, is the highest office I can reach in Turkey. I went to an extraordinary election and said, 'Challenge accepted, I am here.' I am conducting election propaganda. Beşiktaş is heading to one of its most critical elections. Beşiktaş is currently at a crossroads. Beşiktaş members will choose the vision for the future for the next 3.5 years. This will be a decisive election. I will continue to fight until the end, until the election."

"THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE"

"Rather than a difference in vision, there is a difference in performance. Immediately after taking office, I said that there should be a change of duty within the club, but Hasan Arat said, 'Let's wait a little.' First of all, we should have given up on one of the duo of Brad Friedel and Samet Aybaba, but it didn't happen. I wanted to make changes not only in football but in all areas, but Hasan Arat did not do this."

"I COVERED IT OUT OF MY OWN POCKET"

"Neither I nor Hasan Arat realized that the economic situation was this bad. We had been constantly running a deficit since last January. No bank was giving us loans. I covered all the financing the team needed out of my own pocket."

"I HAD SERIOUS TRANSFERS"

"Since the day I arrived, I have been the only one covering all the resource transfers of the team. I have had serious resource transfers for the 'no-debt' letter for UEFA criteria."

"HASAN ARAT WAS ASKING ME THROUGH KAAN ŞAKUL"

"The president was mostly asking me for the financing deficit through Mr. Kaan Şakul. Mr. Kaan Şakul would call me, send me messages. The president would say, 'We need this much, if we don't pay, we can't get the no-debt letter from UEFA,' and I constantly supported him with such statements. I supported him sincerely as well. I am the second president there, I feel responsible. Because of this, I supported him."

IMMOBILE, RAFA SILVA AND PAULISTA

"I covered everything for the transfers of Ciro Immobile, Rafa Silva, and Gabriel Paulista, from going to their countries to picking them up and bringing them. I viewed the transfers other than these three negatively. Other than that, I was aware of the transfers made, but I was not involved in any of them."

"70 MILLION DOLLARS"

"Mr. Serdal Adalı says, '100 million dollars of debt plus.' He is right. 50 million dollars comes from interest. We paid this interest. 20 million dollars comes from tax debt, we paid the taxes. 70 million dollars came out of our pockets. Is there money? No. 30 million dollars is for transfers, transfer fees. But 30 million dollars is spread over 4 years. 7.5 million is spread over the current year. What is called 100 million dollars is actually 7.5 million dollars. The rest comes from interest and tax debt."

"I HAVE PLANS FOR 50 MILLION EUROS"

"My plan A is not wanting to pay 50 million euros out of my own pocket; this plan is my plan C. Our plan A is that we have real estate projects. We have a plan regarding these turning into cash. We have an application, and we have determined a plan with the money that will come from there. I cannot explain plan B because I cannot say it since we are a Public Offering. In the worst-case scenario, I will activate plan C and pay all the money myself, and I will bring the ship safely to the port in May." 

"I AM ALSO A CANDIDATE IN MAY"

"I am already a candidate in May. Mr. Serdal also said this; we are evaluating this election as a 3.5-year term. Whoever wins this election will win the election in May by 90 percent."

"I WILL WIN THE ELECTION"

"I said I see Serdal Adalı ahead, but that does not mean he will win this election. I have no doubt that I will win."

"MY BIGGEST PROMISE IS TO PUT THE MONEY IN THE TREASURY THE DAY I AM ELECTED"

"On the day I am elected, I will put a 50 million Euro promissory note into Beşiktaş's treasury. I also demand that Serdal Adalı put one in."

"THIS IS MY BIGGEST DREAM"

"Beşiktaş's biggest problem is financial, and the reason for this is the Banks Association. 50% of the money that comes goes directly there. I have a dream like this; currently, our debt is 3 billion TL. This money makes 90 million dollars. My dream is to pay this money and get out of the Banks Association."

"WE WILL BORROW FROM BUSINESSMEN" 

"I made a promise, even a call, for 50. The doors of all businessmen will be knocked on regarding the 90 million dollars. We will raise funds for the SuperApp. We will collect from here, we will borrow from people, from businessmen, and we will close the Banks Association Debt with 90 million dollars. We will promise this; we will not make transfers. We will not go and buy Talisca."

"HE WILL BE THE FIRST PERSON I WILL MEET"

"The first person I will sit down with will be Sergen Hoca as soon as I am elected. I wanted Sergen Hoca at the beginning of the year too, but some friends in the management opposed it for various reasons. They had their own justifiable reasons. In the end, it didn't sit well with the president. I insisted a lot on the name Sergen Yalçın at the beginning of the year."

"WE MET TWICE"

"We had two meetings with Sergen Hoca. Like before and after Christ. Before and after Samet Hoca's statements. More precisely, before the president's resignation. It was quite positive. But later, with the president's resignation, the situation becoming turbulent made Sergen Hoca uneasy. Sergen Hoca said, 'First agree among yourselves, then I will not refrain from putting my hand under the stone.' He was one hundred percent right. There was a boiling pot in the middle."

"WE CAN ALSO CONTINUE WITH SERDAR HOCA"

"I have a possibility of continuing with Serdar Topraktepe. We are currently continuing with him. Serdar Hoca deserves this very much. He made sacrifices, he was very successful. We would not refrain from continuing with him. But it is obvious that we are looking for a new head coach for 3.5 years. At the very beginning of these is Sergen Yalçın. We have other plans too."

"WE WILL MAKE REINFORCEMENTS IN JANUARY"

"We will make reinforcements in January, we will make wing reinforcements. We had a meeting with Serdar Hoca. We are working with him right now. Feyyaz Hoca is providing support. The scout team is providing support. After the election, we will all sit down together. Our transfer list is ready. I had started the work before President Hasan resigned. We went down from a list of 700 people to 70 people. We need to go for more loan players. But Beşiktaş does not have a losing year, not even six months. I believe that Beşiktaş can reach much better places with 1-2 reinforcements."

"THERE ARE OFFERS FOR MUSRATI"

"There will be player sales. There is a club officially interested in Musrati from Saudi Arabia, we will go after that. There is no one else for another player right now, but there is no work. The Musrati offer was also a surprise, we are thinking of evaluating it."

"HAVE NO DOUBT"

"Beşiktaş has seen the period of sacrifice, and it has seen the period of pleasure. At the point we have reached, we are not at the point we hoped for, let them not lose their hope. The moment they lose their hope, everything is over. We will somehow get Beşiktaş back on track. Let them have no doubt that we will reach the old days, the days when that college atmosphere existed."