 Şenol Güneş and Ertuğrul Sağlam, two legendary coaches of Anatolian giants Trabzonspor and Bursaspor, respectively, resigned on Sunday after their teams failed in top division games over the weekend.
Things were not going well for either coach. Once fighting for the top of the Spor Toto Super League, both sides having been slowly dropping behind in the race for the title with successive disappointing results in the league.
Güneş was first to announce his resignation, following Sunday's 3-1 loss against relegation candidate Sanica Boru Elazığspor. Trabzonspor is placed 11th with 24 points in the league. The Black Sea Storm, as the team is often called, saw its last win on Dec. 3.
Under Güneş, Trabzonspor has been suffering its worst season in the past five years. Its undefeated run in the Ziraat Turkish Cup, which is of secondary importance for the league's heavyweights, remains far from satisfying fans.
“I am responsible for the unsuccessful results that Trabzonspor has in the league. I am not proud of this. I am sad, embarrassed and distressed,” Güneş said at a press conference on Sunday. The experienced coach said he cannot communicate with his players and believes that a new face will be good for the team.
“There is no point in talking about the match,” Güneş said and added: “I believe this squad can achieve better results. The uneasiness with coming from behind in the league has been seen with a breaking point in every game, after every goal we concede. The place we are at in the league does not fit Trabzonspor's history,” he said.
Güneş said he shared his opinions with the club's management and that Trabzonspor needs a change so that it can get rid of this negative atmosphere. He refused to talk about the league, calling himself a failed coach.
This farewell was Güneş's fourth to Trabzonspor. He was first brought to the helm as a coach in the 1988-89 season and later resumed the post for the 1993-94 and 2004-05 seasons and again in 2009. He had served as the team's coach for four years before his most recent resignation.
Meanwhile, former Trabzonspor player and coach Tolunay Kafkas has reportedly arrived in Trabzon to negotiate his move to the team as its new coach.
Later on Sunday, Bursaspor managers told reporters that coach Sağlam did not show up to his team's evening training session and that he had informed the club's managers of his decision to step down. Bursaspor was defeated 3-0 by Fenerbahçe last week in their Ziraat Turkish Cup and was stunned by İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor 4-1 in the league on Saturday. The team is ranked sixth with 27 points in the league. The loss to İstanbul ended an eight-game undefeated streak in the league. Unlike Trabzonspor, Bursaspor has shown a lackluster performance in the Turkish Cup, with one win and three defeats.
Under coach Sağlam, Bursaspor was able to break the run of the Big Four -- as Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor are called -- as the champions of the league and won the title in the 2009-10 season
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