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There is no denying it, the club is at breaking point, and the smallest movement could set off a chain of events over the course of the rest of this season.
Let's take a look at the different situations, and how each of them will impact other areas of the club.
1 - Luis Aragones, Manager
The finger of blame always points to the manager first and foremost, and Luis Aragones is no different. As much as we try to defend papa, it looks like he has his eyes on the prize, all €7m of it. He will not finish his contract, but he also will not leave without a big payout.
Repercussions?
Our big signing Daniel Guiza will not be happy. He has already gone on record in an interview with Marca saying "I'll be upset if Luis leaves, but I can't say the same for my teammates".
Should he leave before the European competitions are up, we'll see the club try it's best to persuade Bülent Uygun to take the helm, which he may should Sivasspor NOT be in a title challenging position. If that doesn't happen, a plethora of foreign names will go by, before someone like Aykut Kocaman will be placed on the radar. Should the sacking/resignation come later, the club will most likely make do with a caretaker for the rest of the season.
2 - Aziz Yıldırım, President
His previously unshakable position is now seriously under threat. Most of his latest actions are coming back to bite him hard, and even the good he's done is often being taken too far (i.e., the Fenerium is great, but declaring war on street vendors and later fan groups has taken it too far and swung a positive into a negative against him). A resignation, a real one, isn't as unthinkable as you'd have thought in years gone by.
Repercussions?
Firstly, other figure heads at the club will more than certainly follow him should he leave, Nihat Özdemir and Mahmut Uslu at the front of that queue.
In terms of the impact it'll have on the club, the first will more than certainly be a breath of fresh air. The second will be squabbles between those pro-Aziz Yıldırım and those who are happy to see him go. In the long term, you really can't say, because while the club is now in a strong, self sustainable position (a rare breed in Europe, let alone Turkey), there are no guarantees that a new management would not throw that all out the window with just a few bad business dealings (like say, paying so much for Emre and Aragones!).
One important thing that will be put on hold with this uncertainty is player contract negotiations, which you can read more about after the jump.
The Jump
3 - Players
The following players are out of contract in June 2009, and with uncertainty all around the club the likelihood that these will be taken care of in time is small;
Repercussions?
At the very least, we're going to have some holes in the squad that will need filling, and hopefully not much more than that.
In the case that Alex and/or Lugano leaves, it could mean a massive restructure of the team as both of them are almost irreplaceable. It's easier to sign two good defenders than it is to sign one Diego Lugano, likewise it's easier to stop basing the team around a playmaker than it is to sign someone of the calibre and consistency of Alex.
And should there be a mass exodus, it's the same, a big restructure of the squad from top to bottom will need to be assessed.
P.S - I have two reasons for writing this large, probably mostly boring piece. Firstly because we're all aware of all this, but haven't had a place to really discuss it properly, at the moment we're just throwing out odd insults in match threads. The second is that I have been prancing around the club issues and laughing, so I want to show that I do still care. I would just prefer to laugh than to let something as trivial as a football club depress me.
Let's take a look at the different situations, and how each of them will impact other areas of the club.
1 - Luis Aragones, Manager
The finger of blame always points to the manager first and foremost, and Luis Aragones is no different. As much as we try to defend papa, it looks like he has his eyes on the prize, all €7m of it. He will not finish his contract, but he also will not leave without a big payout.
Repercussions?
Our big signing Daniel Guiza will not be happy. He has already gone on record in an interview with Marca saying "I'll be upset if Luis leaves, but I can't say the same for my teammates".
Should he leave before the European competitions are up, we'll see the club try it's best to persuade Bülent Uygun to take the helm, which he may should Sivasspor NOT be in a title challenging position. If that doesn't happen, a plethora of foreign names will go by, before someone like Aykut Kocaman will be placed on the radar. Should the sacking/resignation come later, the club will most likely make do with a caretaker for the rest of the season.
2 - Aziz Yıldırım, President
His previously unshakable position is now seriously under threat. Most of his latest actions are coming back to bite him hard, and even the good he's done is often being taken too far (i.e., the Fenerium is great, but declaring war on street vendors and later fan groups has taken it too far and swung a positive into a negative against him). A resignation, a real one, isn't as unthinkable as you'd have thought in years gone by.
Repercussions?
Firstly, other figure heads at the club will more than certainly follow him should he leave, Nihat Özdemir and Mahmut Uslu at the front of that queue.
In terms of the impact it'll have on the club, the first will more than certainly be a breath of fresh air. The second will be squabbles between those pro-Aziz Yıldırım and those who are happy to see him go. In the long term, you really can't say, because while the club is now in a strong, self sustainable position (a rare breed in Europe, let alone Turkey), there are no guarantees that a new management would not throw that all out the window with just a few bad business dealings (like say, paying so much for Emre and Aragones!).
One important thing that will be put on hold with this uncertainty is player contract negotiations, which you can read more about after the jump.
The Jump

3 - Players
The following players are out of contract in June 2009, and with uncertainty all around the club the likelihood that these will be taken care of in time is small;
- Alex
- Diego Lugano
- Deivid
- Volkan Demirel
- Roberto Carlos
- Claudio Maldonado
- Tümer Metin
- Can Arat
- Selçuk Şahin
- Volkan Babacan
Repercussions?
At the very least, we're going to have some holes in the squad that will need filling, and hopefully not much more than that.
In the case that Alex and/or Lugano leaves, it could mean a massive restructure of the team as both of them are almost irreplaceable. It's easier to sign two good defenders than it is to sign one Diego Lugano, likewise it's easier to stop basing the team around a playmaker than it is to sign someone of the calibre and consistency of Alex.
And should there be a mass exodus, it's the same, a big restructure of the squad from top to bottom will need to be assessed.
P.S - I have two reasons for writing this large, probably mostly boring piece. Firstly because we're all aware of all this, but haven't had a place to really discuss it properly, at the moment we're just throwing out odd insults in match threads. The second is that I have been prancing around the club issues and laughing, so I want to show that I do still care. I would just prefer to laugh than to let something as trivial as a football club depress me.