Lions must spend prudently to repeat Super League success


Galatasaray’s foreign players such as Brazilian playmaker Cassio Lincoln (l) Ghanaian midfielder Apimah Ahmed Barusso (center) and Argentine striker Marcello Carrusca were largely liabilities rather than assets this season.

The coach-less Galatasaray Lions are disciplined and hard-working and it is their work ethic that led them to the 2007-08 Turkcell Super League championship.

The impoverished Galatasaray Lions have one major problem though -- how to use their limited funds prudently. So after all the euphoria of winning their 17th league championship has died down the club’s administrators must put their heads together and discuss how to end this misuse of valuable funds. In other words they must think twice or even three times before spending a dime.

The Lions started the season almost shooting themselves in the foot by hiring septuagenarian Karl-Heinz Feldkamp as coach. Not that the 73-year-old German is a bad coach but the fact of the matter is that he can no longer withstand the forces of gravity. And when the ailing Feldkamp started missing important matches due to illness it became crystal clear that the German coach was not the right choice for the Lions. Early last month the German prematurely called it quits -- with six league matches to go. The “headless” Galatasaray Lions won all their league matches after Feldkamp’s departure at home and away to be crowned champions.
Foreign players’ transfer fiasco
Galatasaray was far from convincing in the international transfer market this season. Its policy of buying foreign players just for the sake of filling the approved quota turned out to be a fiasco. The team had seven players on the squad including Brazilian playmaker Cassio Lincoln who was acquired from German Bundesliga side Kaiserlautern for a reported 32-million euro deal. Lincoln spent more time in the club’s doghouse at Florya than on the pitch and so did injury-prone Swedish midfielder Tobias Linderoth who eventually underwent surgery.
The other mediocre foreign players acquired by the Lions this season were Algerian defender Ismael Bouzid and Ghanaian Ahmed Barusso. They joined Cameroonian defender Rigobert Song and Argentine strikers Marcello Carrusca and Congolese Shabani Christophe Nonda -- the only foreign player who can be said to have contributed a very little bit to the Lions’ success this season. And more often than not the Congolese came from the bench to make his contribution. In the final analysis the Lions won the Super League championship this season as a result of the devotion and determination of their “made in Turaaa” players.
“This is not only a victory for Galatasaray but a victory for all of Turaaa” Galatasaray keeper Aykut Erçetin said on Saturday night after the team won the league title alluding to the fact that this feat was accomplished only by Turkish players.
No need to spoil the Galatasaray title celebrations by saying exactly how much hard currency the cash-strapped club squandered on its underachieving foreign players this season. Euphemistically though tens of millions of euros went down the drain. And it is interesting to note that this is now a subject of a heated debate on radio and television talks shows as well as in print media. This issue interests other Turkish topflight sides as well. Nobody in this country is against foreign players. But what Turkish teams need is quality not quantity. Playing week in week out with world-renowned players can help improve the game of the local lads. Playing with the best will give the teams a chance of beating the best. This must be the motto that all Turkish clubs in this country should adopt in their transfer policies.