So what is their fearsome reputation? well this week they sacked their coach Yilmaz Vural having hired him last week. Vural was in the Gençlerbirliği hot-seat a full six days. He was in charge for just one game which was a 2-0 defeat to fellow Super Lig strugglers Eskişehirspor. That loss left the club in 16th and a point off safety.
Vural is now the fifth manager to be sacked by the club this season. The man in charge of pulling the trigger is İlhan Cavcav. Vural joins the likes of Englishman Stuart Baxter and Mehmet Özdilek who have felt Cavcav's wrath this season.
In his tenure as owner of the Ankara-based side Cavcav has gone through 51 coaches. The longest serving coach was Ersun Yanal who was in charge for a full two years from 2002 to 2004 and oversaw the club's best finish in the league plus that UEFA cup run.
Only one other club in Europe I can think of that can boast a higher number than 51 coaches since 1978 is Sicilian side Palermo who themselves have gone through 59 coaches, however not all under the same owner which is what makes Gençlerbirliği and İlhan Cavcav a special case in having managerial stability.
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| Cavcav with the number of coaches he has sacked this season source: ajanshaber.com |
The club president since 1978, Cavcav hasn't been one to remain silent on certain issues. It was him, who in November 2014 bought about his own anti-beard legislation to the club. Yes you read that right, anti-beard. Cavcav vowed to fine any Gençlerbirliği player who had a beard claiming it was a bad influence on the younger players. The fines were about €10k. Cavcav was so set against beards he wanted the Turkish Football Federation to introduce a nationwide ban on them.
Cavcav is clearly insane.
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