Last night’s game proved that Beşiktaş as we know is dead as long as Mr. Demirören keeps the throne. During the game thousands of fans got in fistfights. The fans were divided between pro-Demirören and anti-Demirören. In fact, most of the fans were anti-D but gang-like pro-D attacked them. They attempted to stop anti-D chanting and threatened other fans.
Most of us, Beşiktaş fans, support Beşiktaş football team not because of its successes, but because of a particular identity it had preserved in most of its history. In fact, if we supported for the success itself, then we would prefer the other major teams. A Beşiktaş fan knows s/he is destined to lose more than to win.
A center-left oppositional identity with lots of lower-class fan base, a history mostly away from ordinary football corruption, a model of fair-play is all gone during the reign of Mr. Demirören. He has been the president of the club for 6 years and the club was never the target of corruption rumor as much as it had this period.
Some of the rumors:
* Incredible transfer pays for unknown players. (rumors of white-washing or manipulations by managers)
* Paying fan groups in order to get continuous support.
* Speculative relations with Galatasaray against Fenerbahçe
* Making club debt-ful to himself so that he can be elected next time. This is not rumor in fact. In all those speculative transfers, the club pays huge amounts based on credits from Demirören companies so that in the end Demirören gets money back and the club loses. etc
The most ironic issue is that Mr. Demirören had been a fan of Beşiktaş since his youth. His good intentions end up making his beloved team the worst performance in decades…
| These photos are from the last year, but better represents this year’s situation:
|
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.