Aziz Yıldırım's statement on Alex: If needed, gladly

Former Fenerbahçe President and Presidential Candidate Aziz Yıldırım met with congress members and yellow-dark blue fans at a hotel in the Izmit district as part of the Kocaeli program. Responding to a fan's question about the role of one of the club's legendary players, Oğuz Çetin, in the new management structure, Yıldırım said, “Oğuz Çetin is a person who has taken a place in Fenerbahçe's history and whom the fans have nicknamed 'Emperor'. Oğuz Çetin does not stand out. Our former athletes have such a tradition. They never want to show themselves, they stay in the background. Oğuz Hoca is one of them. He is the person who gives diplomas to all the coaches who receive diplomas from the federation, trains and teaches them, but he remains in the background, unseen. Because he does not come forward, he seems as if he is not there. Captain Oğuz will be responsible for sports within this system. We haven't named it yet, we will discuss it together, he is currently working. He is currently the head of football intelligence. We will create a formation with the friends on the board of directors, and he will be responsible for it. We will also work on scouting. We will carry out an operation and an arrangement regarding this. When I spoke with little Şenol last night, I also said this; let the former athletes come together, let's make a team out of them, let's scan the whole world. Let's start now, let them report in a year. Let the administrations that come after us benefit from this. We will establish all these systems.”

'TWO FORWARDS WILL BE ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK, WE HAVE AGREED IN PRINCIPLE'

Yıldırım, who said that success will come if there is unity and togetherness, continued his words as follows:

“We missed playing in Europe, we missed the Champions League music. We need to recreate these. We will forget the past, leave it behind. We will look ahead with a new line. I will make all the preparations, look, I am telling you. We will sit with friends; we will discuss what a committee will do. Here we will prepare Fenerbahçe's 5-10 year vision program. We will compile it into a file. Let those who come after us benefit from it. What is in this? Player tracking programs, Fenerbahçe's needs in facility development, what needs to be done this year, player acquisitions, and studies on the financial budget system. We need to make 5 and 10-year plans regarding these. We are going without a plan, without a program. Your budget is 350 million, while the budgets of teams in Europe are 1 billion. You cannot compete. Because football is played with good players. If there is no quality, you cannot play. Therefore, we will not rush. Two forwards will be announced this week, we have agreed in principle. The transfer is about to be completed, I am not mentioning names to avoid offending anyone. We have agreed in principle with both valuable players. Our friends are also negotiating with their clubs. It may happen this week, we may announce it next week, it is not a problem. We will also make some transfers to other areas. Our friends, whom we call football intelligence, are working. The problem here is this; there is a right to 14 foreign players. We have over 20, I think 21 foreign players. With the new transfers, the number rises to 23-25. It needs to be reduced to 14. There is a bit of a problematic position, but we will overcome it. We are also looking at local players. If suitable, we will transfer them too. We plan to have everything completed by June 20-25. Perhaps for the first time, we will become a team ready for the Champions League and the league. However, there is the World Cup. If transfers are made from there, some players may be late. Let me also mention this.”

ALEX STATEMENT

Answering the question of whether former captain Alex De Souza will be part of the new structure, Aziz Yıldırım said, “They brought Alex 8 years ago, used him as election propaganda in the lodges. They haven't given Alex any role for 8 years. We have no problem, if necessary, if he needs to come, if needed, gladly.”