The Istanbulspor Gazette
Match11 Aug 2029
30 matches without a win for Istanbulspor
The run now stands at 30, and the questions being asked around Istanbulspor are no longer polite ones.
Match11 Aug 2029
Istanbulspor cannot find the net
19 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohamed Ashraf
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Istanbulspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Aug 2029
Michael Ologo puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Istanbulspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Istanbulspor
Mustafa Sol was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Türker Yılmaz is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eren Elmalı is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Graduation day at Istanbulspor
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market13 Aug 2029
Umut Torun steps up from the Istanbulspor academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Umut Torun has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
- Market Istanbulspor promote Omer Guler from within
- Market Istanbulspor promote Ali Tufan from within
- Player ratings David Sambissa runs at them all day