Göztepe President Ankersen confident for the Süper Lig: We will be here to stay

After a 2-year hiatus, Göztepe has successfully returned to the Süper Lig, and President Rasmus Ankersen has spoken about the upcoming season.

In a statement to the broadcaster, Ankersen said they are very proud to have reached the Süper Lig.

Expressing his happiness at giving the gift they deserve to a great community like Göztepe and the beautiful people of İzmir, Ankersen said, "İzmir and Göztepe absolutely deserve to be in the Süper Lig. We are truly experiencing great happiness because of this right now. There was a very special atmosphere yesterday. This place always hosts such beautiful moments, and we are very happy to have gifted this success to our club."

Ankersen emphasized that the club's previous owner and president, Mehmet Sepil, had goals to move the club forward, stating:

"Mehmet Sepil has made very large investments in the club over the last 10 years. The club's organization was definitely top-tier. We would not have made such an investment if we didn't have a partner like Mehmet Sepil. He has a huge share in the success of promoting to the Süper Lig. Turkey is definitely a very important football country. It is a football country where people are passionately attached to the game. That is why we really wanted to come here and see what we could offer and what we could achieve, and we made such an investment. Our first goal was to reach the Süper Lig; we achieved that yesterday, and the second part of our journey begins now."

WE WILL GET TO KNOW THE SÜPER LİG

Noting that they were surprised by the difficulty of the 1. Lig, which is based on physical struggle and has good teams, but that they managed to reach the Süper Lig in 2 seasons, Ankersen said, "Now we will get to know the Süper Lig. We will respect the opponents there, and we will do everything in our power to be successful there as well."

Ankersen stated that they are in constant communication with Southampton, which is under the Sport Republic umbrella, and mentioned that there could be player transfers between the two teams.

Noting that there are many ways to advance a football team other than transfers, Ankersen added:

"In Turkey, this is interpreted a bit through transfers, but I think very differently. We are currently trying to advance everything in the best way and optimize everything so that Göztepe can reach its maximum capacity and reveal its maximum strength. Of course, big names and important players are on people's minds, but for us, the most important thing is to choose the right player and the player who will contribute the most to Göztepe. Our method is not to chase big names, but to find players who will give everything for Göztepe on the field and reveal the best potential. I don't have names in mind right now, of course there are some names, but I can promise this: we will definitely bring names to Göztepe that the fans will be very happy to see, at least when they see them on the field."

Ankersen stated that he does not like to change head coaches, saying, "I hope we work with Stanimir Stoilov for many years and realize our projects together. That was our goal from the day he first arrived, and we want it to be exactly like that. I already have my full support behind him all the way, both in good times and bad."

Noting that they want to make İzmir proud and have Göztepe represent Turkey in Europe, Ankersen concluded his words as follows:

"But of course, it is very difficult to make such predictions in football and set a specific time, but I can say this: we have reached our first goal now, we have reached the Süper Lig. We will not be a temporary team in the Süper Lig. We didn't come here as tourists; we want to achieve success here, but we won't go too fast either. We will proceed step by step and make everything permanent. When we first came here, we set a goal. We achieved that as of yesterday. Now we are embarking on a new journey, the Süper Lig journey; I hope very beautiful days await us there too."