Our Technical Director Ertuğrul Sağlam held a press meeting at the end of his team’s training camp in Austria to inform the public about the latest condition of Beşiktaş.

According to Ertuğrul Sağlam, besides getting ready for the games physically, it was important to establish a team spirit and their camp in Austria turned out to be quite useful in this regard. “In addition to our regular training, we had to prepare our team mentally and build a kind of team sprit that would help us get through the season next year. Without a true solidarity and unity in the team, it is difficult to achieve our goals, so we must keep them high at all times. And I think we were quite successful in building an effective team spirit in this training period and the results we’ve got so far prove this point ,” said Sağlam.     
Sağlam pointed out that the positive atmosphere created by the close cooperation among his players would definitely have a positive impact on the results of the upcoming games and continued, “The team spirit we’ve established on the pitch so far well exceeds our expectations. I think it will pay its dividends once the season starts. We are confident that with a little extra work we’ll start getting those results our fans have been waiting for a long time.”
After calling Beşiktaş’s fans as the team’s “12th man” on the pitch, he went on to invite them to provide more support, “If they really love us and  want to see us go all the way, they have to come out game after game and give their unconditional support. Without them, there is no way we can attain our goals. We’ll do our best to pay off our debts remaining from the previous years.”
When asked about the events that took place between İbrahim Üzülmez and İbrahim Toraman, Mr. Sağlam replied: “Sometimes, crises may end up paving the way for positive developments. That unfortunate fight among our two captains had taught us a good lesson in terms of discipline and strengthened our team spirit. The unity and solidarity among our players have created such togetherness that I have not witnessed for a long time. I hope we can maintain it until the end of the season.”
Sağlam also talked about Beşiktaş’s new game strategy and announced that the Black and White would play with two stoppers positioned in front of the defense this year because that formation produced much better results than other tactics during the off season.
He revealed that he experienced no problems with Club’s General Manager Sinan Engin and added: “Sinan Engin is trying to provide us with the best working environment. The reports which claim that we have not been getting along well lately are not true at all. Furthermore, our President has been behind us 100% during this training and restructuring period. He has mobilized all his sources for our success.”
Sağlam conceded that the Black and White, like most of their competitors, had trouble getting the best out of their new players in the past, but they had learned from their mistakes and this season’s team would prove to be much different than the previous ones.
In regard to Beşiktaş’s new players, Ertuğrul Sağlam made these comments: “In addition to their skills on the pitch, we paid special attention to the characters of our new transfers and picked only the ones who would suit our team the best. Since we could not afford to face any adaptation problems and wanted to come out of the gates flying this season, we added only the top professionals to our roster. It is nice to see that they have not disappointed us during our pre-season training and adapted to their new team very quickly. Their performances in pre-season games have also been more than satisfactory. I hope they continue to perform at this level until the end of the season.”
Ertuğrul Sağlam regarded the season as a long marathon and tested his players in different positions during the training period to find the most effective starting lineup. This strategy paid off and gave them more than one alternative for each position.
Sağlam reminded the reporters that the young players they added to the first team who some day would turn out be big stars. “If we want to capture the top spot and stay there, we have to pay attention to the talented young players coming from our youth organizations. By adding one new player to our roster each year, we can also save money for our club, because the transfer fees have gone through the roof these days and will not get back to their old levels anytime soon. I am quite pleased with the performances of our young players. When we go back to Istanbul, we will bolster our team with 3-4 young players. They will be a real asset to our club in a couple of years,” said the Technical Director of Beşiktaş.
 
Sağlam stressed the need for open communication between the technical staff and players without any kind of discrimination. He continued, “All our players have take responsibility on and off the pitch. After becoming our team captain, Delgado has started looking like a different but much more effective player. This is a positive sign but we expect the same from all our players.  To accomplish this task, we talk to each one of our players regularly and keep all channels of dialogue open at all times.”
Ertuğrul Sağlam expressed strong disapproval of the press reports about Beşiktaş’s ex-player Fahri Tatan:
“The reports circulating in the press about Fahri do not reflect reality.  It is sad to see some well known columnists have treated his statements as absolutely wrong and therefore reached wrong conclusions. Although we were easily accessible, they did not even bother to contact us. We’ve become the target of one-sided and unjustified criticisms. No decision is taken on player transfers without my approval. Some people keep forgetting who is in charge at Beşiktaş regarding these technical matters. I talked to Fahri before his transfer and convinced him that his transfer procedures were carried out with my approval. In the end, he accepted Konyaspor’s offer. If he didn’t like it, he could’ve stayed with us. We never force our players to act against their own wishes. But most importantly, no player can come in and go out of the club doors without my permission.”