Trabzonspor president breaks his silence after betting accusations: A mistake may have occurred
"No malicious intent"
Ertuğrul Doğan has finally spoken. In his first official comment since the betting allegations crisis erupted and rocked Turkish football, the Trabzonspor president broke his silence to lay out the details of what happened, insisting there were no hidden motives and declaring himself ready to present his full defence before the relevant authorities.
The comments came in response to press enquiries, most notably from Turkish website "61saat", this Wednesday, over reports that club directors held betting accounts.
Admission of error
Doğan spoke frankly: "I am a frank person and everyone knows me. This is my ninth year in management, and these matters were not previously on the agenda."
The Trabzonspor president explained that the Turkish Football Federation had passed these warnings on to referees and coaches in their meetings but never gave directors and administrators the same information, treating it as a separate matter the directors should have known about.
"Perhaps some error occurred, but I want to confirm that there is no deliberate misunderstanding or any other circumstance," he added. "I speak on behalf of Trabzonspor. We have many friends here among the former and current directors, all of them respectable people of good character, and I vouch for the character of all of them."
A closed account
A key plank of his defence followed. "I had a closed account long before these events," Doğan revealed. "These companies were sponsors of clubs, and their launch parties were held at the Federation's own headquarters, and because there was no hidden motive on my part or on the part of my colleagues, perhaps no one expected such a problem to occur."
He continued: "The Federation showed this degree of discretion. If we made a mistake or there was a shortcoming, we apologise. We have no hidden motive. I know the other directors, there are competent people and presidents, none of them had any ideas or expectations regarding these matters. Is this a shortcoming? Yes, it is."
A lesson for Turkish football
The club president traced the phenomenon back many years, noting that some people had opened accounts in the past. Again he insisted he had closed his own accounts long before this all blew up.
"Something similar happened to us, and we will defend our position," he added. "This will be a lesson for everyone in Turkish football. Everyone's intentions are good, we look to the future."
"There is no problem, we do not want to think that they have any malicious intent," the Trabzonspor president continued. "We have made mistakes too, and we need to read those procedures more carefully,
Doğan signed off with a defiant message: "I wish the agenda had not been occupied by such a matter, but we will always continue to say what we believe to be right. We will continue to defend the interests of Trabzonspor and the interests of Turkish football, and we will not back down an inch."
