Overview
of 1998-1999 Season for Besiktas
When the
1998-1999 season started, Besiktas targeted
the Championship of Turkish Birinci Lig and
Turkish Federation Cup as usual. In addition,
although it did not seem realistic to me,
targeting the final game in European Cup
Winners Cup sounded great to all of the Black
Eagles society. Unfortunately, Besiktas could
not achieve any of these goals. In the
following paragraphs you will find the
details about Besiktas 1998-99.
Negative
Factors
Besiktas
started the season with Welsh trainer John
Benjamin Toschak and finished with German
trainer Karl Heinz Feldkamp. Toschak did not
get along with anybody. He started friction
with the Board of Management, press, other
rivals like Galatasaray, and even with his
players. He built the team with his
"super" transfers, but it was
obvious that his transfers were another
disappointment for Besiktas. Throughout the
season, he started almost every game with a
different squad. He has failed to adapt any
playing system for the team. Toschak did no
justice to his profession and Besiktas.When
he got the offer from Real Madrid of Spain,
he left Besiktas within a week. Besiktas had
to play without a head coach until management
signed up with Feldkamp. If Toschak had
responsibility and respect, he would have
waited until management found another head
coach for the team.
Players, in
general, did not respect the trainer. They
were just scared of him. There wasn't much
friendship and team spirit among the players.
Our foreign players were just a
disappointment. After Nigerian
"Bull" Daniel Amokachi was injured
in France'98 World Cup, he did not recover
completely. When he played one game, he
missed the next five games. Another foreigner
who did not live up to expectations was
Nigerian striker, Christopher Ohen. We have
better talents in our Juniors team. Same was
true for Moroccon Jamal Sellami and Peruvian
Del Solar. Although Del Solar seemed much
better than the others, he did not get enough
chances with Feldkamp. In addition to our
foreigners, some players like Erkan, Serdar
and Rahim were another handicap for Besiktas.
I do not believe those are the quality of the
players we want to see in the Holy Besiktas
uniform.
The Board of
Management's passiveness during the transfer
time resulted in "headaches" for
Besiktas. Everybody, including their
teammates, criticized the foreign transfers.
They were poor solutions to the problems.
After following the wrong strategies, they
faced a financial crisis. As a result, they
had difficulty in paying salaries and this
opened the door to some speculations and
disturbance. They accused Toschak after every
point loss.
President
Suleyman Seba, managing Besiktas for 15
years, seemed to have completed his mission.
He could not stop any of the friction and
problems. He seems to have lost his control
over the problemd and Besiktas.
Galatasaray
has a big lobby on the federation, referees
and press. Losing points after the referee's
suspicious decisions when Samsunspor's
defender Ercan's smashed the ball which was
goalbound and ungiven penalties were just
another of the "innocent" referee
mistakes. In the game against Gaziantepspor,
after a series of mistakes and unilateral
decisions by referee and two red cards, the
reaction of fans and players resulted in 5
weeks suspension for our best defender Alpay,
and the closing our stadium for two games.
Unfortunately, these were not the first, nor
the last incidents for Besiktas. However, I
have never seen such an incident against
Galatasaray.
Birinci
Lig
Besiktas did
great this season against all of the negative
factors above. Until the last two weeks of
first half, Besiktas was leading the Birinci
Lig by 5 points from second-placed
Galatasaray. Even at that time, Besiktasians
were not happy and battling themselves.
Eventually, Besiktas finished the Birinci Lig
in second position with only one point
difference from Champion Galatasaray.
Besiktas, together with Galatasaray, will
represent Turkey in the Champions League next
year.
Federation
Cup
Besiktas
proceeded to the finals by eliminating
Ankaragücü 3-0 on aggregate, then played
the finals against Galatasaray. First game
was a scoreless draw, and Galatasaray won the
second game with a 2-0 victory to capture the
Federation Cup.
European
Cup Winners Cup
This year, our
great players wrote an unforgettable
"black" page to the history of
Besiktas. We were playing with Norwegian
Valerenga IF. It was the second round of the
cup, and quarterfinals were the next. We all
dreamed of the quarterfinals, when leading
3-0 at halftime. But Valerenga IF opened a
quick fire three-goal burst for 10 minutes
and proceeded to the quarterfinals, leaving
thousands in the stadium crying and millions
watching the TV, frozen.
However...
Through all
the turmoil and troubles of the season, this
team played in the final of the Federation
Cup and finished the Birinci Lig only one
point behind Champion Galatasaray. I would
say these are extraordinary performances
under trying conditions. Congratulations to
all Besiktasians and hoping for great success
next season in the Champions League and the
Birinci Lig.
