Besiktas appoint Del Bosque as manager

Besiktas appoint Del Bosque as manager

Date: 7-6-2004
Wrote: EP's reporter in Istanbul Ali AVCI

Ahmed Hassan's Besiktas finally decided on ex-Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque as their new boss. The Spanish manager came to Istanbul today with president Yildirim Demiroren and the director of football Kivanc Oktay who was in Europe for a week of transfer negotiations. Besiktas signed the experienced manager for two years yesterday in Madrid. Del Bosque will also sign an official contract tomorrow in front of the media.

Yildirim Demiroren won the presidency with his Lothar Matthaus promise. But after the official mission was undertaken, Demiroren faced different statements from the German coach. Besiktas supporters and the sports media of Turkey also stated that Lothar Matthaus is an inexperienced coach who has not enjoyed any serious success yet as manager. Matthaus is working with the Hungary national team and the Hungarian FA's statements about the German coach changed the mind of Yildirim Demiroren from Matthaus to Del Bosque. Matthaus had a player list for Besiktas which included Serbian Vladimir Iv?c, French left back Johann Gomez, Brazilian forward Goivane Elber and Hungarian Zoltan Gera. The list will probably be cancelled. Now, the club will ask the new manager Del Bosque about new player options.

Director of football Kivanc Oktay talked to the press saying, "We had talks with Mr. Del Bosque before the elections. He didn't accept before because we were not an official board. After we were selected officially he accepted the official offer and we negotiated for two seasons. We are happy with our Spanish manager and will make our transfers based on his opinions."

Spanish Reactions:

The Spanish press are stating that Del Bosque's move to Besiktas is a surprise. The press claimed that Del Bosque will work with his Real Madrid staff assistant manager Jose Antonio Grande, physio Javier Minano and coach Paco Jimenez. "It was a good and attractive option," Del Bosque told Spanish daily El Pais. "I am keen to get to know the Besiktas squad and see if the team needs strengthening or not. They have promised me there will be some new signings." Spanish press also wrote that Del Bosque rejected the offer of Real Madrid to be the football technical director of the club and accepted the attractive offer from the Istanbul club. As reported, he rejected the offer of Florentino Perez to work again with Real and went to Turkey, and so he shall work outside his country for the first time. El Mundo Deportivo stated that Vicente is going to gain new success at Besiktas, after choosing the best offer from many offers.

Turkish Press Conference

Club press spokesman Reha Muhtar talked to the press after the Spanish manager came to Istanbul. Muhtar said, "We introduced him and are very happy to sign such a successful coach. Before the board being appointed it was very hard to sign with a world-class manager such as Mr. Del Bosque, so, we negotiated with Mr. Matthaus. Matthaus is also a valuable manager. But after the official appointment, we thought Del Bosque will be more suitable and useful for our club. Matthaus also stated he would stay with Hungary. I asked Mr. Del Bosque if he'll take players from Spain and he answered that he will sign with players from La Liga if he needs them for the first team. We sent a message to the Istanbul exchange market that the club signed a successful manager for two years with a total of 4 million euros as the contract."

Del Bosque:

Vicente Del Bosque was a successful player who played in La Liga 441 times with 38 goals in Castillo, Cordoba and Real Madrid. He had 18 caps with Spain, 5 league titles and 4 King Cup titles with Real in his playing career. Del Bosque started to work for Real's youth teams and finally took charge of the A team in 1994 and between 1999 and 2003. Bosque has won 2 Champions League titles, 1 Super Cup, 2 La Liga titles, 1 Spanish Cup and 1 Intercontinental Cup. He is well known for his work with star players Zidan, Roberto Carlos, Raul, Figo and Ronaldo without problems. Real Madrid was playing a team game in the command of Del Bosque insipite of lots of star players. After the purchase of Beckham, the president of Real Madrid decided to sign with Carlos Queiros and sent Del Bosque away. Then the big defeat of Real Madrid started, and the Spanish club couldn't gain success like the old seasons. The 53 year old manager is a calm and disciplined coach who grew big stars in Real Madrid and this took the interest of Besiktas, a team that needs young players.

Vicente Del Bosque was welcomed in the airport with big media interest and went to the club building. The Spanish coach also saw the training camps and club facilities. He said he knows some players of Besiktas but will decide their positions after he took all in all the information. Del Bosque said he'll decide on transfers after he feels an absence in the team.

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