[ad_1]
Photo: imago / Seskim Photo-Scanpix
Imago Photo / Seskim Photo-Scanpix
Turkish strategist Ertugrul Erdogan described in detail the five days during which he negotiated with the Kaunas “Žalgiris” team for the position of head coach this summer.
Fines are thrown this season
| Hits: | 14.9 |
| Accuracy: | 82.6% |
| League place: | 6 6 |
| Best achievement: | 25 |
| Worst achievement: | 8 |
| More common: | Zach LeDay |
The specialist learned of Žalgiris’ attention from Šarūnas Jasikevičius, and then began to communicate with Paulius Motiejūnas.
“Two days after extending my contract with Galatasaray, I received a call from Šarūnas Jasikevičius. We have been in contact with him since we worked together at Club Fenerbahche, and we got along well with him.
Jasikevičius said that the chief of “Žalgiris” called him and asked for my number, and Šaras gave it to him. He told Žalgiris that he had a contract, but that they still wanted to negotiate as long as they got permission from the club. Jasikevičius said he would be ready, “Žalgiris” would make me an offer, he was very happy about that.
After 4-5 hours, on Thursday night, Paulius Motiejūnas, President of Žalgiris, will speak to me. I told him that I had signed a contract and he asked me if I would like to see if the club would give me permission, “Erdogan told Tivibu Spor.
The coach contacted the President of Galatasaray and received his consent to start negotiations with Žalgiris. Erdogan only had one request for Motiejūnas.
“I told Motiejūnas that I would be very happy if we agreed, it would be a great professional leap for me, but I want to solve it as soon as possible.” At the time, I was already analyzing the player market, so I didn’t want to hit myself, Galatasaray or Žalgiris. I said that I wanted to finish the negotiations in 2-3 days, no later than Sunday night.
We met 2-3 times, once we had a video call. They told me they have two more candidates. This is normal, such a team, separate from Jasikevičius, has to choose between several candidates. Of course, I wasn’t a well-known coach in Lithuania, but I wrote so much about myself that people were already beginning to recognize me.
On Monday night, I was already going to issue a press release (which will remain at the Galatasaray club), but Žalgiris asked me for another half day. I felt they were undecided. I think they themselves had different opinions.
Imago Sport Photo – Scanpix
When I woke up on Tuesday morning, I still hadn’t received a response, so I circulated a press release. After an hour and a half, they gave me an explanation and soon they announced their new coach. Apparently, they interacted at night with a coach who worked in the United States.
People say that my application was rejected in the press, but that is not true. The negotiation process was very civilized, fluid. Still, I had to make a decision and I made the right decision. I distributed a message and did not receive the message “What are you doing? We wanted to agree with you.” That means my reaction was correct.
I think these negotiations were important because it was time for us Turkey’s coaches to assume high positions abroad. I was very happy and felt appreciated. I think if we had talked on television in June about the fact that the Turkish coach could lead Žalgiris, then people would not have taken him seriously.
Thanks to Jasikevičius, he helped me a lot. We talked, we evaluated this option together, he also had his thoughts. I agreed with his comments, but as I said, it is a matter of choice. Žalgiris decided to sign a contract with Martin Schiller. Time will show it all. You can never say that the decision was good or bad, you can only understand it after all. Maybe if I had left, I would have been unlucky, and maybe I would have finished the season on the team.
I did my best, and at the end of the day, the decision was made by a president and two employees.
Those 4-5 days were very kind to me. My name was mentioned there … It is also an experience. I had such a meeting for the first time. It was a fun, NBA-like process, “said the coach.
Finally, Žalgiris signed a two-year contract with Martin Schiller, and Erdogan remained in charge of the Galatasaray team.
[ad_2]
