Gold Championship 17 - Kayseri Erciyesspor

I am still looking to spend the whole of my budget, and as expected, veteran defender Rigobert Song arrived from Galatasaray for a fee of £6.5M. I thought this was a great fee for such a natural leader, and I decided that Song would capatin Kayseri for the season ahead.

The other major signing to date is Gaetan Krebs. The Frenchman has joined from Hannover 96 of Germany for a fee that cost Kayseri just over £2M. Krebs is set to play a subsitute role at the club. He is said to be very happy with joining and looking forward to life at the transformed club.

The only signings on Thursday were Sport Recife youngster RInaldo Kassio who joined for a fee of only £50k, which I think is a great fee for the youngster. He joined along with Karabulut Aydin, who arrived from Turkish side Besiktas for a fee just under £2.5M. He was happy with joining, and said it would give him valuable match experience.

Theirry… and not Henry, but Nigerian youngster Thierry Doubai joined from Swiss outfit Young Boys for £3.3M. He is set to be the heart of the Kayseri central midfield, and be a key player in my plans. Grasshoppers striker Teixeira Gabriel Machado has also joined as the side has now started to take shape.

The final day of negoiations before the start of the Turkish league against favourites Fenerbahce, and I was quick to sign a player that would be a vital player in the team. Kas Ibrahim was the second player to join from Besiktas. He arrived for a fee of £5M and I think he is the perfect partner in the centre of the defence alongside RIgobert Song. The next is Kay Voser joined from Grasshoppers. He was the second player to arrive from there, and cost Kayseri a fee of £3.5M. The final signing of Saturday morning, and he may be the final signing for quite some time, was 84 rated Gerado Cortes. He joined for £4M, whlist Halit Kocabasl and Ates Omer moved to Chilleian side, Deportes Concepion.

After speaking all the news about transfers, Kayseri Erciyesspor faced their first real test against a strong Houston Dynamo side with names such as Alan Smith and Edgar Davids. I decided that I wanted ti see what the fringe players this season could do, and ony three players of my ’intended starting XI’ started.

The team somehow came away from the match with an astonishing 5-0 win. Serkhan Calik grabbed a hat-trick on his non-competitive debut, whlist young striker Teixeira Machado got the other two goals. It gave me some real confidence going into the evenings match with Kevin Heaton’s Fenerbahce.

So how did it pan out I hear you say? It ended up a miserable night away from home as a second rate Kayseri Erciyesspor slammed down to a disappointing 4-0 defeat against Fenerbahce. All of Kayseri’s four fans were unhappy with the defeat. I was the only man linked with Kayseri with a hint of a smile, and I had this to say: