Sport Republic recently purchased Turkish side Goztepe, now their sporting director Ivan Mance has claimed that the Turkish side is a bigger club than Saints, here we look at this claim and how accurate he is.

The claim that Goztepe is a bigger club than Saints would on the face of it seem a little optimistic from sporting director Ivan Mance, but perhaps gives an indication that Sport Republic have some big ambitions for the clubs they buy.

Mance has this to say:

“Our scout department is still under construction. We do not want to make mistakes in this department. We are establishing a joint scout department for Sport Republic’s Premier League club Southampton and Göztepe. Göztepe is a big club, bigger than Southampton.

“I’m here to build the best academy, the best system, the best scout team. Göztepe and Izmir are our biggest advantage.”

Most Saints fans had never heard the name of Goztepe before it was announced as the latest aquisition by Saints owners Sport Republic, indeed Turkey is dominated by the Istanbul clubs who have won most of the Super League titles in that country.

Indeed in it's 63 year history since becoming the Super league only 3 clubs aside from the 3 big Istanbul clubs Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Besiktas have won the title since 1957, that being Trabzonspor 7 times, with Bursapor & İstanbul Başakşehir with one win apiece.

That makes the premier league look a very balanced competition in comparison.

So how big are Goztepe in Turkey, the answer is that have won the Turkish top flight, but just the once and that was back in 1950, since then they have led a rather chequered existence, after staying in the Super League until 1976/77 they spent only 4 out of the next 40 seasons in the top flight and at one time dropped to the 3rd League.

They started their recovery in 2014/15 being promoted from the 2nd League to the first and then 2 years later being promoted back to the top flight for the first time in 15 years.

Their first season back saw a 6th place, but then followed 4 years of mid table placings culminating in relegation at the end of last season.

So in terms of their standing in their own country they cannot compare with Saints over the past 60 or so years, indeed in the last 45 most of it has been spent in the lower Leagues, from this respect they would struggle to claim to be a bigger club than Portsmouth let alone Saints, although like our near neighbours they do have that League title from 70 odd years ago to crow about.

Their main rivals are another İzmir club, Karşıyaka and indeed they also have a rivalry with the other large clubs in İzmir, Altay, Altınordu, İzmirspor and Bucaspor.

In terms of support their ground on 26 January 2020, Göztepe played the first game of their own Gürsel Aksel Stadium after groundsharing, the stadium holds 20,000, but over the last few seasons in the Super League it seems it was rarely full, although it did reach between 16-18,000 for the visit of the big clubs, attendances dropped below 10,000 for most of the other games as the season progressed.

So in terms of support certainly in the past years and indeed due to stadium capacity their support is nowhere near ours, although it should be pointed out that Ismir is a city of some 3 million, so it is likely they have many fans who never get the chance to see them play these days, however there are 5 other clubs in this area so that will dilute their potential fanbase.

So Ivan Mance is perhaps talking up the club to the Turkish press and indeed the club's own fanbase when he makes this claim, indeed Goztepe are not making a good start in their quest for a quick return to the top flight, they currently sit 10th with 14 points from 11 games, nearer relegation than an automatic promotion spot, although they could have a shot at the play offs.

Whilst I hope that all Saints supporters would now wish Goztepe well and indeed vice versa, if Sport Republic want to build a sporting empire they would perhaps do well to build good will between the two clubs rather than wind up the fan bases.

I understand that Turkish football is a very volatile thing and that Mance is trying to bring those supporters around, Goztepe are said to have a very working class support and perhaps may not be that amicable to becoming a corporate thing, so Sport Republic have to try and big up what they are trying to do.

But clearly if you look at the size of the clubs Southampton is the bigger of the two over the past 60 years and it has a bigger stadium and fanbase and the opportunity to grow it.

The only other question is how big Goztepe could become in Turkey, from this perspective they are up against the 3 big Istanbul clubs and Trabzonspor and that is a big gap to breach.

But the truth is that the glory and the big money is not there in Turkey as it is in England, Mance may talk of Goztepe being bigger, but he will know that a member of Saints first team would not be attracted Goztepe, but vice versa would be the case, it is never a jump up from the Premier League to the Turksih Super League, the money is not there unless you are one of the big 3 Istanbul clubs.

However good luck to Goztepe, I truly hope that they are promoted this season and relationships are established between the two clubs.

Photo: Action Images

Ifonly added 08:01 - Nov 4 So Sport Republic's idea of a "big" club is playing in front of around 15,000 fans in the second division. Is this their ambition for Saints? Or don't they think we're big enough for that level? I don't see how any of this is supposed to help Saints. Goztepe might get some good loan players out of this arrangement but it does nothing for Saints at all.
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dirk_doone added 08:44 - Nov 4 Their average home gate is 4,684. When they were in the third division it was 659. They never managed an average of more than 9,000 in their history. They must be huge.
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