A presidential election was held at the financial general assembly meeting with ordinary elections in Kocaelispor. Administrative and financial statements were accepted by majority vote at the general assembly, which started at 11:00 at Kocaeli Congress Center. Then, the council board announced the candidate management, auditing, disciplinary and registry board lists and they were submitted to the vote of the members. The new boards, chaired by the current president Recep Durul, were accepted by 430 delegates who came to the hall. Recep Durul was re-elected as the president of Kocaelispor.
“MANAGING KOCAELİSPOR IS THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD”
President Recep Durul, who renewed his confidence in Kocaelispor, then took the podium. A group of general assembly members left the hall as President Durul started speaking. Durul said, “We are proud to embrace the common conscience, fighting spirit and common love of a city together. We commemorate our founders, presidents, managers, veterans and all our devoted fans who paved the way for us today and who are not among us. We are trying to represent the flag we received from them in the best possible way. While doing this, we are trying to show the honor and stance of Kocaelispor to all of Türkiye. When we took office on June 9, with the will of the delegates; 5 We tried to do the best with our friends as managers for the last 2 years. When we took over, all our accounts were seized in the Federation and the banks. We were looking forward to embracing the Super League. Many of our friends took on this task in the past and tried to do their best. Everyone worked hard and paid the price for Kocaelispor. In the process, we are here today, there will be others tomorrow, it is the easiest job in the world to manage the club with ready, good balance sheets and solid resources. The important thing is to develop a strategy to get the club back on its feet in difficult times, to pay the price and to take responsibility. After 16 years, we believed, we convinced the city and we integrated with the fans. You don’t see this too much.
“We say give them money, but they don’t. We tell them to run for office, but they don’t. Then they criticize.”
Referring to the candidacy process, Recep Durul made a complaint. President Durul said, “I said, ‘Let’s manage the club together.’ Then the candidates came out. I said, ‘Anyone who believes that they will benefit Kocaelispor should come forward, I will withdraw. Because this job is very tiring. I also have a family and a business life. It is not right to insist on staying here. If the task is up to you, you will do it. No one came forward. Those who did stepped back. We say, ‘Give money’, but they don’t. We say, ‘Be a candidate,’ but they don’t. Do you mean the one who advertises? eleştireni mi dersiniz Kocaelispor olmasa bunlar ne yapacak merak ediyorum. O buralıymış, bu şuralıymış. Bu şehirde yaşayanların etnik kökeni farklıdır ama kent kimliği Kocaelispor’dur. Diğer kulüpleri yönetenlere bakın aynı memleketten mi? Burası bizim zenginliğimizdir. Depremden sonra şehrin demografisi değişti. Çok göç aldı, verdi. Bugün Kocaelispor’a katkı yapmak isteyen, kim olursa olsun, bu şehrin insanı. Katkı sağlayacaksa destek olmalıyız. Bu çağrıyı yaptım, kimse çıkmadı. “Then don’t write these down! We are acquitting here. I don’t understand what we will not acquit. If it wasn’t Recep, it would be Ahmet, if it wasn’t Ahmet, someone would do this job somehow,” he said.
“DON’T USE THE PRESIDENT OF TAHIR IN THESE THINGS”
Kocaelispor President Recep Durul responded to those who said “After Tahir Mayor gives me money, I will do it too” and said, “Tahir Mayor gives money, come on, come on, where are you? Tahir Mayor is the mayor of this city. He does whatever is necessary for Kocaelispor, anytime, anywhere. They say, ‘Tahir Mayor, take control of the incident, Tahir Mayor remove them from office’. Tahir Mayor knows everyone in this city. Do not use Tahir President as a tool for these things. He will do everything for Kocaelispor. Recep’i, Ahmet’i, Mehmet’i yok. Uzun yıllar sonra 75 dönüm üzerine kulübümüze tesis yapıyor. Kocaelispor’a verecek. Bu sene bitecek inşallah. Müzemize öncülük etti, yapıyor. Örnek müze olacak. Yönetim kurulu binamızı yeni yerimize taşıyacağız, stadın içinde olacak. Tahir başkan yapıyor, adam görevde, her an sahada. Şehirde sıkıntı var, ekonomide sıkıntı var. Globalde ekonomi çökmüş durumda. Ekonomi savaşları var. Amerika orada hapşırsa biz hasta oluyoruz. Şirketler ayakta kalmak için mücadele ediyor. Firmalara gittiğimizde; sponsorlukla, bağışla alakalı Tahir başkan bize öncülük ediyor. 1 milyarın üzerinde öngördüğümüz gelir var. Geçen yıl 850 milyondu. Bu yıl 500 milyon daha arttı. Başarı artıyorsa gelir de artıyor. Alt liglerdeyken kimse bakmıyordu. Süper Lig’e yükseldik, güven inşa ettik, ligde kalıcı olduk. Bu güven arttı. Kaybolmuş güveni inşa etmek kolay değil. Kocaelispor’un çok büyük marka olduğunu tüm Türkiye’ye göstermeye “We will continue,” he said firmly and clearly.
“THE SOLUTION IS NOT TO ERASE THE FACTORY DOORS, BUT TO BE A MANUFACTURER”
Clarifying the financial issues, Recep Durul said, “When we arrived, there was a debt of 300 million. The first priority in the clubs is sports success. It brings spirit to the city and revitalizes the economy. Since we achieved success, there is still criticism, still criticism, still criticism. We need to put an end to this. We will continue to work to move forward sustainably with these revenues. We have been away from the Super League for 16 years. We will continue by getting stronger. The solution is not Ahmet, not Mehmet. Our metropolitan president is not finding resources by breaking the factory doors. “The solution is to be productive, to recruit players from the infrastructure and to become stronger with transfer fees by giving them to national and international clubs,” he said.
“KOCAELİSPOR IS NOT ANYONE’S TOY”
Regarding his statements about the criticized European goal, Durul said, “We prioritized sporting success. After 16 years, the Super League is to be permanent this year. I said the European goal, but our 21 points were stolen. If it had not happened, we would have been in the top 5. If there had been no economic difficulties, they would have taken our points again, we would not have been able to go. They slapped us because we were new. Hopefully, there will be justice in Turkish football, too. We say this with every team in mind; as justice comes, Kocaelispor’s success will increase. This year’s Our strategy is to give players to other clubs by increasing the transfer fees from the infrastructure to the superstructure. Even if we sell 2 players, we will save the season. We, as Kocaelispor, are trying to build this step by step. We will always continue to be here. Let’s not make decisions without considering where Kocaelispor comes from. “The people who will manage Kocaelispor need to be prepared properly and professionally. Don’t criticize, come here and let us support you. The club cannot develop by criticizing. Say something constructive and we will do it.”
“WE CANNOT WASTE KOCAELİSPOR’S MONEY. WE ASKED SMOLCİC TO DROP BELOW 1 MILLION”
President Recep Durul stated that there was no need for madness when the members reminded Croatian football player Smolcic and said, “1 billion 323 million income is real income. Kocaelispor’s brand value has strengthened. Do not leave Kocaelispor alone. You can support other teams, support other teams. But Kocaelispor is also the brand of this city. Do not forget this. Never postpone Kocaelispor. Take care of it, my call is clear. Our fans say ki; Avrupa. Gerçekçi olmak lazım. Smolcic’in (stoper Hrvoje Smolcic) bonservisi 2,5 milyon euro. Ön anlaşma sözü aldık ama o parayı Smolcic’e verdiğimiz de 800-900 milyon da kendi parası tutar. Etti sana 3,5 milyon. Gözümüzü karartıp şu alalım, bunu alalım diyen yöneticiler değiliz. Kocaelispor’un parasını da çöpe atamayız. Rasyonel davranmalıyız. İlk aşamada 1,5 milyona They went down. “Let’s talk about it. The fans want it so much, we want it too,” he said. “If not, we can get 3 talented players who are open to development. As long as the team is established, there will be goals in Europe. The deficit of 420 million lira is not a deficit that we have wasted. It is not the failure of the club, but the difficulties caused by the economic conditions.”
“NO ONE CAN BUY KOCAELİSPOR WHEN I AM EXISTING”
Durul, who expressed a very important claim by sharing the dialogue at the Clubs Association meeting, said, “I always say ‘Kocaelispor does not create a goal that will only stay in the league’. Our Kocaelispor will always chase success and will continue to be the nightmare of the teams that come here. Here, A team or B team does not matter, we are Kocaelispor. I am sharing here; at a Clubs Association meeting, a big club manager said, ‘7 clubs are acting together’. ‘What do I mean?’ “I understood, but I pretended not to understand. We make decisions together,” he said. “We are Kocaelispor, it is not possible for us to be involved in other matters. I said, ‘Look where those who did this are today. No one can buy Kocaelispor while I am here.’
“HODRİ MEYYA SET THE RECORDS, WE CAN’T BE PROUD”
Kocaelispor President Recep Durul underlined that they worked in harmony with Coach Selçuk İnan and that the fan group Hodri Meydan broke the records the club broke, and said, “Our coach works very harmoniously with us. I would like to thank our coach, technical team and football players for the pride they have given us. May our congress be beneficial to our community. Türkiye’s largest fan group Hodri Meydan, we cannot be proud enough of you. I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. The stands are full and We are breaking a record in Türkiye in terms of sales of season tickets. We broke the record with 132 thousand passolig cards, 20 thousand average occupancy and 21 thousand 500 season tickets. Let’s continue to increase this number. The greatest happiness is being a member of Kocaelispor. Long live glorious Kocaelispor.
HE DID NOT FORGET GÖLCÜKSPOR AND EMPHASISED TOGETHERNESS
Recep Durul also touched upon Gölcükspor, which was promoted to the professional league. Durul said, “Our Gölcükspor is currently in the 3rd League. It has doubled our happiness. It was the picture we were longing for. We will be on the field arm in arm with Kocaelispor as a pilot team, with joint projects. I congratulate Gölcükspor and wish them success in the next period.”
Kocaelispor President Recep Durul’s new list includes the following names:
Principal: Ahmet Arık, Burak Gülener, Engin Arat, Erkan Bilgiç, Gürhan Darcan, Haşmet Uçar, İsmail Yaman, Kadir Genç, Kamil Sert, Kani Furkan Kaçar, Mert Kavşut, Mustafa Tanrıkulu, Niyazi Şahin Gündoğdu, Ömür Öztürk, Rafet Kırgız, Sefa Ertuğ, Serkan Akpolat, Serkan Bulut, Veli Başkurt, Zeynel Abidin Akyol,
Substitute: Ercan Fırıncı, Çetin Zerenoğlu, Adnan Ulusoy, Mehmet Orhan Dursun, Murat Durul, Burak Kanpara, Ahmet Baha Turan, Halil Yüksel, Menderes Kaya, Tarık Gürgen, Yusuf Albayrak, Mustafa Şener, Abdulkadir Yılmaz, Tunç Altın, Mikail Pehlivan, Veysel Köksal, Mustafa Ay, Erol Gür, Muhammed Kılıç, Orçun Aygül and Okan Akman.
Supervisory Board
Principal: Ali Karaca, Mehmet Tamer Solakoğlu, Özlem Feyzioğlu, Fikret Gökmen, Necat Çakır.
Substitute: Abdullah Eryarsoy, Altan Temirtaş, Emre Aydınoğlu, Eyüp Gökmen Filinte, Samet Balabancı
Disciplinary Board
Principal: Yunus Emre Kurt, Selim Ordu, Vedat Özdenizer, İsmail Taş, Muzaffer Gürfidan
Substitute: Muhammed Seydaoğlu, Halit Gedik, Mesut Baki Efe, İbrahim Varol, Yücel Gül
Registry Board
Principal: Cengiz Sarıbay, Hüseyin Acurman, Engin Korukır, Burak Çelik, Burçin Bıçakçı
Substitute: Yücel Mısırlıoğlu, Ongan Uzunoğlu, Yahya Yalçın, Ahmet Talha Özdemir, Yasin Çoktay
