| OPINION: ZICO MUST BE RE-SIGNED |
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| Written by Cenk Ogut | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 21 May 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Rumors are still rife that Fenerbahce may not want to extend Zico's contract for another term or two due to his lack of success in the Turkish League.
As reported earlier on anglofeb.com, Arthur Zico was to re-sign a contract to the club last week according to some very reliable sources. Now, according to them, there are some board members that are not pleased at all with the performance of the squad in the domestic campaign and are deeming Zico's increased pay request as 'too excessive'.
The speculation is that Zico is asking in the ball park range of €3,200/week + bonuses totalling upwards to €5,000/week, whereas the board is inclined to offer him only around €2,150 -€ 2,350/week. If the rumour holds true, the mere fact that such a financially prominent club are disputing a mere €900-€1,000/week gives the impression that they aren't too hot on retaining Zico's services.
It is in my humble opinion that the Fenerbahce board are once again prioritizing their decisions based on business rather than the good of the football club. Granted Aziz Yildirim and Co. have turned this club into an economic powerhouse, and a financial success, it still doesn't justify their inconsistancies in football related decisions.
When Aziz Yildirim was first elected to this club as President, he had stated many upon many ambitions for the club, including a set timeline on when we are to hoist a European Trophy. It is since that day that this club has been ever so obsessed with gaining some European success, if any. Along the way came many failures in European competitions, but that was only to be expected for a club that was still generally new to the continental tournament scene. However, the experienced gained through all those competitions has proved vital in the growth and development of this club. In the past few seasons, Fenerbahce has rose to superstar status in the Turkish League, becoming the most feared side the league has ever produced since Galatasaray's dynasty club of the late 90's early 2000's. The 2007-2008 Champions League campaign was the result of many years of hard work, dedication, millions in investments, and more importantly, the performance of the players and staff of the football squad.
The centre of this success is Arthur Zico.
Perhaps many would question his tactical ability, and judging by his odd team selection and different tactical systems in the past 2 seasons, they are warranted to do so. In terms of technical ability to manage a squad, he is probably average at best. However, it isn't necessarily tactics that has made Zico, or the squad for that matter, successful. It is his ability to bring together and establish a sense of desire to go the extra mile and succeed, his personable ability to mold together strong relationships between himself and the players, and more importantly, implementing a reward system in which the hardest working players earn their place in the first 11. Three critical attributes that are so very rare in managers today, you would only see attributes like these in only top flight managers in England, Spain, Italy, Germany etc. - let alone the Turkish League.
Any other manager in Turkey would've also probably given up on Deivid and his lacklustre performance in his first year, the same goes for faith in Gokhan Gonul's unknown potential at right back. Past Fenerbahce managers were stuck with a static 11, prioritizing name and experience over younger Turkish talents, whereas Zico experimented the possibilities of utilizing different players in his favoured lone striker tactic. This simply worked wonders for the squad.
Alex de Souza is another player that has been affected by Zico's influence, rising to a new height in terms of leadership and bringing the game under his control when the club needed it most. Barring any miracle in the Champions League final, he will finish atop of the assist leaders in all of Europe.
Perhaps the constant criticism of Zico in the past 2 seasons was the fact that something like this (reward system) is so alien to the football bodies in Turkey. It seems that the Fenerbahce board are somewhat in agreement to this as they still haven't agreed to terms with their manager, despite what he has achieved:
1. An excellent derby record 2. Winning the domestic title once in his two seasons at the helm. 3. European Success.
A quick refresher, Zico's derby records against rivals Besiktas and Galatasaray:
He has earned 7 Wins, 3 Losses, and 3 Draws, and interesting enough, 2 of the 3 losses came in the Turkish Cup, something that the Fenerbahce board and Zico have claimed unimportant, and I quote Sekip Mosturoglu (board member) "We see the Turkish Cup as a reserve league." (see link: In Turkish, Fenerbahce.org )
It wouldn't seem logical that his derby record would be the basis for the stall over his contract negotiations, the board themselves said that the Turkish Cup is a reserve league, so essentially they only lost 1 derby under Zico.
As mentioned before this board has been obsessed with gaining European success, and we have finally achieved it this season. It is absolutely ridiculous that they are seemingly turning their backs on the first manager that has set groundbreaking accomplishments for the football club just because of one missed Turkish League championship. A note to the guys upstairs: YOU CAN'T WIN ALL THE TIME. The main goal of attaining European competition is still in tact as the 2nd place finisher still books a place for the Champions League qualification rounds, and thanks to the results we have gained under Zico, we may be a seeded team in the 3rd qualification round which bumps our chances of reaching the group stages even higher. I plea to the Fenerbahce board, it's time to wake up and make decisions for the sake of the football club. Consistancy is what made all the big name clubs successful in the first place, let's try to follow that example as well.
Indeed it is Aziz Yildirim and the board that hired Zico, and were under a lot of criticism when he first came to the club as he was unproven at club level. They had stuck by him through the up's and down's of his first season, which could arguably be worse than the downs of this season. It just seems very odd that they are not sold on the idea of re-signing him.
If the Fenerbahce board do not decide to continue further with this now legendary manager for the sake of saving €900-€1000/week on wages, and because he did not win a Turkish League title in his second consecutive season, it may be one of the biggest mistakes this club has ever made.
- Cenk Ogut
anglofeb.com invites you to rate this article:
5: I completely agree, we have to keep Zico. 4: I agree somewhat, Zico should stay but he needs to produce better results domestically. 3: I'm undecided. The board have the right to be upset at his domestic performance no matter what happened in Europe. 2: I disagree, Zico needs to take a pay cut and learn that the domestic league is as important as Europe. 1. I fully disagree, Zico needs to go, we need a bigger name manager.
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