Nine years of hurt

Patience is running out for Fenerbahce’s club president as the Yellow Canaries await their first title since 2014

- Nick Bidwell

No figure in the Turkish game is under more pressure on the eve of the new season than Fenerbahce president Ali Koc, who desperately needs silverware to silence his many critics at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

Since Koc replaced the long-serving Aziz Yildirim in the executive hot-seat five years ago, the Yellow Canaries, Turkish league winners on no fewer than 28 occasions, have had to live on a diet of championship crumbs and, with no titles in nine long years, the patience of supporters is wearing decidedly thin.

The Fenerbahce faithful had assumed that Koc, a scion of the richest family in the country, would swiftly kick-start a magnificent new era for the team in yellow and navy stripes. Instead, underachievement has proved the norm. Championship glory is what the supporters crave. A pair of runners-up spots – trailing behind Trabzonspor in 2021-22 and arch-rivals Galatasaray last term – does not even begin to satisfy the hunger pains.

Koc certainly has not been passive in his attempts to reach the Promised Land. During the five years of his presidency, he has brought in some 80 new players and employed nine different coaches.