By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The business impact of the coronavirus pandemic on teams is apparent early into the offseason, but Fenerbahce Beko hit an additional hurdle with Zeljko Obradovic departing. The legendary head coach and the current financial situation were topics discussed by president Ali Koc.
“Thanks again to Obradovic. He made us achieve so many things and he made us so happy,” he mentioned, “A legendary teacher in both the world of basketball and the world of Fenerbahce. Of course, nobody wanted him to go. It was a traumatic situation for us. If somebody wants to go, you can only fight until one point. He wanted that very much. There was an impression like he was staying but because of some situations at his family, he said he doesn’t want to coach a team for a year. He promised us not to work for another club and he is not working. I am thanking him once again for all the things he has done for us.”
The Turkish powerhouse since hired Igor Kokoskov, also added Danilo Barthel, Lorenzo Brown, Johnathan Hamilton, Dyshawn Pierre, and Edgaras Ulanovas despite budget restrictions. “Our budget dropped from $30 to $18-20 million. We had to do that. However, we need to take a good look at how we got here, why we had to get down,” he pointed out, “The deficit of our basketball branch today is half the deficit of the football branch. We broke up with our coach. It helped us in our rebuilding process. I am thanking him for that. We also received his opinions.”
“If you ask me in this process, replacing Obradovic is not easy for any club. After his departure, all of his clubs had problems,” he added, “However, our Deputy Chairman Semih Ozsoy and Maurizio Gherardini did a great job within 15 days. We have brought a brand name, a successful name to our club, which will be accepted and excited by people who understand basketball, in a very short time. It was a surprise to many people; They did not expect. But we did a very good job here. This three-legged approach with our coach made the roster restructuring as stated by Cenk Renda. There are a few more steps to finalize, but when I look at the numbers compared to the past, I think we did the best we can do in terms of cost and performance. We will see this on the court.”
“In the coming days, Semih Bey will touch on general topics about basketball. He will make statements on TV. Then there will be the opportunity to share them with the public in more detail. Once again, I would like to thank our former teacher Obradovic. I welcome you to our new teacher, Igor. I welcome you to our new transfers. Hopefully, Fenerbahce Basketball team, which is a brand in Europe, will walk in the same way.”