In 2008, Bursaspor started the season under Samet Aybaba’s management and appointed Ertuğrul Sağlam as head coach following a 4-3 defeat to Denizlispor in November. The successful coach, taking over the team in 9th place, brought the team up to 6th place with a few reinforcements from his former students. However, the real story started in the 2009/2010 season.
Sağlam aimed to retain young talents raised from Bursaspor’s resources and complement them with two crucial foreign player additions to fill the missing pieces. The first of these players was defender Tomáš Zápotočný, who was loaned from Beşiktaş, a club with which Bursaspor had a long-standing rivalry. In addition to his goals and contributions, he became very popular among Bursaspor fans, earning the nickname “Hired Killer” for scoring against Beşiktaş.
The second transfer was the Argentine legend Pablo Martin Batalla, considered a turning point in the club’s 47-year history. Standing at 1.70 meters, this diminutive man provided significant support to the team by scoring 6 goals throughout the 09/10 season. Despite leaving his country for the first time at the age of 25, his performance and status as an important figure made him beloved in the city, akin to a local hero born and raised in Bursa. The fairy tale, which included a championship, playing in the Champions League, a third-place finish in the league the following season, Europa League qualifiers, and many successes, eventually ended. Although no one expected it to be so tragic.
In the 32nd week of the 2012/13 season, Bursaspor earned a crucial 3 points by winning 2-4 in an away match against Orduspor, which was vital for their European ambitions. However, upon returning to the city, President İbrahim Yazıcı suffered a heart attack and passed away three days after being hospitalized, taking a successful sports figure from life and cutting Bursa off from its successful days. This news marked the beginning of the end for the Bursa community. While discussions were ongoing about who would succeed the president, Erkan Körüstan, who had previously been president when the club was in the lower leagues, was elected president in the general assembly. Managing a worse process compared to his previous term, Körüstan sent the Argentine legend to China after a dispute between the newly appointed coach Christoph Daum and Batalla, drawing the ire of the fans. The mistakes that started with Körüstan’s term following the champion president’s death and led to the team’s downfall cannot be written in only one article. Long story short, numerous errors, from disrespecting club legends to misusing financial resources, transfer mistakes, poor coaching choices, attempts to transact club properties, and damage to new stadium materials, severely harmed the club’s finances and reputation. These uncontrollable mistakes continued to escalate during the tenures of Recep Bölükbaşı and Ali Ay. The move that led the club to its inevitable end came during Ali Ay’s term. During his presidency from 2016 to 2018, the club battled for survival in the league for two seasons. The community did not welcome Bursaspor’s struggle for survival, given that the team had been champions seven years earlier and had maintained a successful image in the process. However, in the 2018 election, Ay was re-elected due to divided votes and various reasons. The following season, the team was relegated to TFF 1st League, sparking a downhill slide.
In the 10th year of the championship season, Bursaspor would compete in the TFF 1st League and had plans to quickly get through the season with new management and 18 new transfers to return to the Super League. However, when the management repeated some of the mistakes that happened in the past, it was as if they demolished all the hopes they had built with their own hands. This period also showed how influential the fans were in the Bursaspor community. The fans, disliking the playing style of the successful coach Yalçın Koşukavak, demanded his departure. The management heeded this call, parted ways with the current coach, and brought in İbrahim Üzülmez. The team, showing a fluctuating performance, finished the league in sixth place, securing a spot in the playoffs before the pandemic started. However, they had to postpone their dream of returning to the Super League after losing 4-1 to Adana Demirspor in the second leg of the playoff semifinals after a 0-0 draw.
The following season, starting with a transfer ban due to the burden of the previous period’s transfers and reduced revenues due to the pandemic, the team began the season with young players from the academy and young coach Mustafa Er. Despite factors such as positive COVID tests among players and the inexperience of the youngsters, they miraculously finished the season in tenth place, managing to stay in the league. Inspired by this miracle, a significant congress was held before the next season, with three presidential candidates. The elected team was financially strong. They opened the transfer window, made 20 transfers, and claimed to have built a squad for the Super League, asserting that the team would compete in the Super League the following year. However, the plan did not go as expected. Due to wrong coaching choices, fan pressure, and political issues, the current management resigned mid-season, handing over to the candidate indicated by the mayor. However, due to mistakes during the season, the team could not prevent another relegation. The journey started with a Super League squad, and the goal ended in TFF 2nd League.
Starting the TFF 2nd League struggled with the same management, Bursaspor finished the season just 1 point above the relegation zone in fourteenth place after three coaching changes and one management change. At the end of the season, the efforts of Özer Hurmacı, who had captained in previous seasons, were significant. However, the new management did not start the new season with Hurmacı. Additionally, the team was deprived of fan support for the first home games due to a penalty from a previous match. With a turbulent and problematic season, repeatedly experiencing management mistakes, coaching changes, and mid-season management changes, the chaotic community could not hold on to the league and was relegated to TFF 3rd League.
As of the upcoming season, the team will play in TFF 3rd League, has a management team that unites the whole city following the recent election, and still dreams of returning to its rightful place, bearing the championship title from Anatolia.
Resources:
Bursaspor Futbol Takımı – 2024 @ Mackolik.com
Süper Lig Tarihçe Şampiyonluklar Arşiv Gol Krallığı TFF
Bursaspor’a acı haber: İbrahim Yazıcı vefat etti – Son Dakika Spor Haberleri | NTV Haber
Bursaspor – Tüm transferler | Transfermarkt