EuroTrip | Part 36 | Redemption Arc & Financial Disarray

After 32 years of football management largely filled with success, Trebor Mahtal suffered a horror eight months in Hungary and found himself sacked by Puskás Akadémia. The 70-year-old Zambian was keen to get back in the saddle and put the nightmare behind him.

No jobs were available initially but a potentially big one did pop up offering a ridiculous redemption arc. Way back at the start of the 2041/42 campaign, Mahtal showed the ultimate lack of disloyalty as he spent 37 days in charge of Trabzonspor then jumped ship to Norway’s Molde. But 14 years on, the Turkish side sacked their manager of one year and immediately handed the Zambian a one-year deal – without even a mention of his previous horrendous lack of loyalty.

Trabzonspor had 52 points, trailing 3rd-place Besiktas by 4 points with five games remaining. But Mahtal provided a new manager bounce, beating Kayserispor 2-0, Antalyaspor 1-0 and Gaziantep 4-2 away to jump to 3rd. A late goal downed Eyupspor 1-0 to confirm European football before beating Besiktas 2-1 to secure 3rd place.

The bigger worry was Trabzonspor’s terrible finances. When Mahtal joined, the bank balance was minus £21m, there was £2k in the transfer kitty and they were spending £65k over the wage budget. Just to exacerbate the issue, the board soon reduced the transfer revenue to 5% of sales. But things got even worse at the end of May, as it was revealed the club was £181m in debt and the “unsustainable position” meant it was close to administration.

Mahtal sold anyone worth a decent amount and/or on big wages, moving on 16 players for £41m. That freed up over £500k of wage spend – taking them from £65k over the weekly budget of £682k to £442k under it. But realistically, even that transfer business wouldn’t be a drop in the ocean as the club had SIX outstanding club president loans and a bank loan interest payment totalling £180m, which were being paid off by £575k per month, and a crippling net debt of £136m.

The best players remaining were wide playmaker Ege Ekinci, diminutive British full backs Ryan Dobson and Harry Dunbar, attacking midfielder Ragnar Åshammer and holding midfielder Koray Dohman. But Mahtal was putting faith in the likes of midfielders Ramazan Hamarat and Nahit Yuksel, goalkeeper Rauf Ozdemir, attacker Mehmet Kus, winger Willy Dalbakken and Mahir Toprak, an attacking midfielder who was converting to a centre back, most of whom were nowhere near ready for first-team football.

A Turkish Baptism Of Fire

Unsurprisingly, the bookies didn’t fancy Mahtal’s new-look youthful side, predicting them to finish 6th with title odds of 33/1. Fenerbahce are favourites to win a third straight title at 13/8 followed by Galatasaray (5/2), Basaksehir (7/1), Antalyaspor (9/1) and Besiktas (16/1).

Trabzon got a great start as Dalbakken’s early goal was enough for a win at Adana and he did it again a week later with the only goal at home to Eyupspor. A first league defeat of Mahtal’s reign followed 2-0 at Galatasaray. But they bounced back superbly as striker Latif Cinar scored twice in a 3-0 win over Alanyaspor and scored again in a 4-1 thrashing of Altinordu.

Mahtal’s young stars continued to perform, including Latif bagging consecutive braces in 3-1 wins over Kocaelispor and Rizespor before a crushing 4-1 win at Ankaragucu. A 2-0 loss to Besiktas left them behind the top two but a 4-1 crushing of Samsunspor led by the excellent Dalbakken’s hat trick left them sitting comfortably in 3rd place heading into the new year.

Much-Needed European Football

Trabzonspor’s season kicked off early as they edged past HJK 5-4 in the Europa League second qualifying round then a slightly easier 3-0 success over Iraklis. The much-needed finances of the Europa League were on offer against Ukrainian side Karpaty playoff. Striker Baris Tuncer and Dobson’s first goal for two seasons nicked a 2-1 home win before a disappointing 3-0 defeat in Ukraine.

However, that did reunite Mahtal with his beloved Europa Conference League, which he’d won with Kyiv, Djurgardens, Molde and, most recently in 2046, Zurich. They began the league phase with a 4-0 win at Bosnian side Zrinjski and the same result followed led by Ege’s hat trick at home to Mahtal’s former side Shamrock Rovers. Dalbakken’s late goal nicked a 2-2 at a strong Linfield side before easing past Rijeka, Austrian side SW Bregenz and Serbians Javor to qualify in 1st place.

They drew Hammarby in the last 16 and lost 3-2 in Sweden but an own goal and Ege’s sweet strike just after half time eased them through 4-3. Gibraltar’s Magpies followed in the quarters and Ege inspired 3-1 wins home and away. That set up a tasty semi final against Mahtal’s former side FC Zurich while Newcastle faced Austria Wien in the other. The away leg was first and they dominated the game by 13 shots to 4 but drew 0-0. It was a similar tale in the second leg as they missed a host of chances in the first half but a rousing half time teamtalk worked as Latif played Åshammer in for the opener 63 seconds after the break. The lead was swiftly doubled as Dobson’s low cross was whipped in again by Åshammer and they eased to a 2-0 victory to reach Mahtal’s 6th ECL Final!

An Outside Chance At Turkish Glory

Given the financial situation, Mahtal scrapped around trying to find free deals, which had worked nicely with Dalbakken. And a few more arrived in January in Kobenhavn right back Emil Jahic, 18-year-old midfielder Joakim Jonsson and Barcelona academy product midfielder Óscar Fontanils.

Trabzonspor began 2056 where they ended 2055, as Åshammer nicked a 1-0 at Eyupspor and Dalbakken and Ege goals down Adana 2-1. Jahic and Fontanils debuted as Trabzon hosted leaders Galatasaray, who took the lead with a wonderful finish that was obviously their first shot on target. But the hosts had the better of the game and got level as young winger Abdulhamit Budakin came off the bench and crossed for Ege to grab a much-deserved point.

A little flurry of injuries saw Trabzonspor drop a few points before enforced rotation saw them get thumped 5-0 at Fenerbahce. But an impressive performance from Latif saw him score twice to defeat 6th-place Ankaragucu 4-2 and confirm European qualification in mid-March.

A 2-1 defeat at runaway leaders Besiktas left Trabzonspor at threat from Antalyaspor and Fenerbahce, who they led by 3 and 4 points going into the final four games. A rotated side nicked a 2-2 at home to Basaksehir with Fontanils scoring his first goal and new youth academy striker Metin Hurma becoming the youngest player in Trabzon history aged 15 years 237 days. Ege nicked a 1-0 win at Konyaspor before another Latif brace secured a 3-2 win over Pendikspor in Mahtal’s 1,700th game in management. And they concluded the campaign with a 2-0 win at Samsunspor on Mahtal’s 72nd birthday.

That wrapped up 3rd place for a second successive season, finishing 14 points back from champions Besikstas and 2 clear of Fenerbahce in 4th. They finished with 73 points after 23 wins, 4 draws and 7 defeats, scoring 67, which was 2 more than Besiktas, and conceding 40. Latif was the league’s 3rd top scorer with 21 in 32, just 3 behind Galatasaray’s Abdikoglu. While Ege and Dalbakken got the 5th and 6th most assists with 11 and 9 respectively and Rauf had the 3rd most assists with 10.

Ending The Season With 2 Finals

Four days before their big European Final, Trabzonspor had also made their way into the Turkish Cup Final where they faced Basaksehir, who finished 13th in the Super League. They started brightly and took advantage as Ege cut the ball back for Nahit to turn home from 20 yards. That was all that happened in the entire match, as Trabzonspor lifted their 15th Turkish Cup!

Mahtal’s 6th and Trabzonspor’s 2nd ECL Final took them to Dublin Arena to face Newcastle, who Mahtal’s Zurich side defeated in the 2036 final. Mahtal named the same side that won the Turkish Cup, which he meant he lined up:

Rauf; Dobson, Recep, Mahir, Dunbar; Koray, Nahit; Ege, Åshammer, Dalbakken; Latif
Subs: Mehmet, Mevlut, Osman, Fontanils, Samet, Goodwin, Jahic, Hamarat, Yigit, Alper, Melih

Trabzonspor started the game brightly as Dalbakken had a shot well pushed over after 90 seconds. They were wasteful again, racking up six shots inside half an hour while it took 35 minutes for Newcastle to have one and they obviously scored their first on target. Mahtal threw everything at it but his side just couldn’t find the breakthrough and they fell to a 1-0 defeat.

A Successful Return To Turkey

Mahtal was pleased with his return to Turkey. He’d done a pretty decent job at addressing the club’s dismal finances, won a cup, gone close to another European title, and led Trabzonspor into the Europa League for next season. So he was delighted to accept the board’s offer of another one-year contract.

This season’s star man had certainly been homegrown 21-year-old Latif, who finished one goal behind Burak Yilmaz’s 2012 club record for most goals in a season with 34 in 52. Dalbakken impressed with 22 goals and 14 assists, as did Ege with 16 goals and 15 assists, Åshammer with 14 goals and 8 assists and centre back Mahir with 6 goals and 12 assists.