Ertugrul Erdogan: “I was promised Fenerbahce coaching job in 2010, but they went with Spahija”

In an interview with Socrates Magazine, Galatasaray coach Ertugrul Erdogan has spoken about the time in which he was close to be appointed as Fenerbahce head coach 10 years ago.

“I was promised the job, if we were to win the Turkish championship [which Fenerbahce won, with Erdogan as first assistant to Bogdan Tanjevic], but while we were the semifinal they interviewed Neven Spahjia. I stayed, and remained as first assistant to him. Later came Simone Pianigiani, with Luca Dalmonte as first assistant, and I was relegated to second assistant, to a team which it was wrongly set up from the beginning: Kaya Peker at 4, as Mike Batiste who never played there in this life, I tried to warn the management. They relied on me to take the team at mid-season, but we were eliminated by Karsiyaka in the playoffs”, he said.