Arica gives up on Gençlerbirligi
Friday, October 1, 2004
Article summary
Gençlerbirligi SK coach Erdogan Arica has resigned after his club's elimination from the UEFA Cup.
Article body
Fans protest
The 50-year-old stepped down a few hours after a 1-1 home draw against Egaleo FC consigned his team to a 2-1 aggregate defeat by the Greek side. The coach was barracked by supporters demanding his resignation at the final whistle.
'Only natural'
"The fans' reactions are only natural," said Arica. "Once the supporters lose confidence in you, there's no point carrying on. Every time something went wrong, we would have seen the protests again. Therefore I thought it was the right decision to resign."
High hopes
Gençlerbirligi had high hopes of UEFA Cup progress after reaching the last 16 under Arica's predecessor Ersun Yanal, now coach of Turkey. Former player Metin Diyadin, who is in charge of Gençlerbirligi's youth team, has been appointed caretaker coach.