The 2nd Ordinary Meeting of Beşiktaş Council for the year 2010 was held at Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel today.

The meeting took off with an opening speech by Council Presidency Member Dr. Sedat Piroğlu made on behalf of President Yalçın Karadeniz.
Then, the Club General Secretary Fahrettin Curoğlu addressed the club members and drew their attention to Club’s raising revenues. “For years, UEFA Cup matches had been a real burden on our club as we lost serious money. However, thanks to the launching of Europa League, it’s been a different story this season. We’ve so far received €1 million from the UEFA Europa League Organizing Committee with the additional €8 million is pending.  In addition to this, we’ve taken in TL17 million from the season tickets and TL3.5 million from the box seats. Last season, we had made around TL 21-22 million from each match we played. This season, we expect this amount to go up to TL30 million. Due to our football team’s recent European successes, more fans are coming out to watch us. The sales of three different Beşiktaş jerseys we put out this seasons have been consistent. We plan to release four additional jerseys in the second half of the season,” said Curoğlu. 
He went on to point out that his administration was not trying to save the day but aiming at long-term financial sustainability of the club: 
“By finding new sources of revenues, we want to build a strong financial foundation for our beloved Beşiktaş. We are open to all kinds of criticisms, but those who criticise us must also come up with viable solutions. If you need any information regarding to our financial situation you can easily reach me and my colleagues at the club. We are at your service seven days a week so please pay no attention to unsubstantiated rumours. Speaking about the rumours, there was an article in a paper the other day claiming that this administration had been shying away from auditing. This is not true, and this type of false accusation does nothing but tarnish Beşiktaş’s image locally and internationally. I hereby declare to everyone that our doors are open to all kinds of auditing 24 hours a day. We are a law abiding, institutionalized club with proper regulations and procedures. For security reasons, we only asked the auditors to carry out their auditing inside the club, but some people got this wrong and started attacking us without a barrage of accusations which we were grown accustomed to over the years.    
In his speech, Beşiktaş Deputy Chairman Responsible for Financial Affairs and Sponsorships Ertunç Soğancıoğlu focused on the TL75 million worth credit Beşiktaş recently received from a consortium of Turkish banks and said it would help cover the club’s short-term debts and expansion plans:
“We needed the said credit for fiscal discipline. This 6-year loan is not intended to bring a new loan burden on the club but rather pay out all our short-term loans and strengthen the club’s loan structure. It will give us more financial flexibility. The credit will be repaid from the rent income generated by our Fulya Complex so no one should be alarmed. When it comes to new loans we are real careful, because we don’t want to put the future of our club at risk.  
We are also looking for alternatives sources of revenues for Beşiktaş. As mentioned before, our participation in the UEFA Europa League will generate a substantial sum of cash for our club. Since we are the only entry from Turkey, together with TV broadcasting rights, this amount may exceed €10 million this season, and this is no small amount.  
For our new projects, we are at the verge of bringing Beşiktaş Bonus Credit project into a conclusion. We’ll make announcement on the subject this week. In addition to this, we will sign a deal with a prominent insurance company to provide accident insurance to those fans which come to our games.”  
Metin Keçeli: Keep Trusting Us
Lastly, Beşiktaş Vice-Chairman Metin Keçeli took the floor and asked the members to keep their trust in his management because they would do nothing to hurt the club financially. He then responded to members’ questions:   
“As often said here, the credit we’ve got will be spent solely on the repayment of our expensive, short-terms loans to which we sometimes pay nearly 20 percent interest each year.  The 8 percent interest rate of this 6-year loan will reduce our dependence on expensive loans for liquidity. Most Turkish clubs will consider this low interest rate as a great success. 
The money we’ve spent on new players is less than the previous seasons. This season, we’ve brought in some international stars without paying exorbitant transfer fees. I think the time has arrived for Beşiktaş to make some money. There is no reason why this club shouldn’t make profit every year. That’s why we are here for. In addition to revenue sources such as sponsorships and sales of season tickets, we are constantly on the look out for the new ones.  
Here, I must mention the renovation of our Inonu stadium which will contribute to our income in a big way.  We cannot bring it down and build a new one because it is a historical site so its renovation is the only solution we have. We hear the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will give us the go-ahead next week. This new stadium, with all its cash generating sections, would be massive financial boost for us. But, in addition to existing ones, we must find new sponsors who will help us complete this giant project, and we have made some serious inroads on this matter already.
My friends, under the leadership of Mr. Yıldırım Demirören, who is not with us today because of his illness, we will always take note of your constructive criticisms and provide you with the information you need. We are a fully transparent administration; just keep trusting us.”