Tugay Kerimoğlu (born 24 August 1970), known in England as just Tugay, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for Galatasaray, Rangers and most notably Blackburn Rovers. After retirement, he was the coordinator of the Galatasaray youth academy, after a short spell working with Mark Hughes at Manchester City. He then served as Roberto Mancini's assistant at Galatasaray during the 2013–14 season.

Tugay Kerimoğlu
Tugay in 2016
Personal information
Full name Tugay Kerimoğlu[1]
Date of birth (1970-08-24) 24 August 1970 (age 54)[1]
Place of birth Trabzon, Turkey
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder[3]
Youth career
0000–1983 Trabzonspor
1983–1987 Galatasaray A2
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1999 Galatasaray 279 (34)
1999–2001 Rangers 42 (4)
2001–2009 Blackburn Rovers 233 (11)
Total 554 (49)
International career
1986–1987 Turkey U16 13 (1)
1987–1988 Turkey U18 8 (0)
1988–1991 Turkey U21 20 (3)
1990–2007[4] Turkey 94[5] (2)
Managerial career
2010 Galatasaray A2
2010–2011 Galatasaray (Assistant manager)
2013–2014 Galatasaray (Assistant manager)
2015–2016 Şanlıurfaspor
Medal record
Representing  Turkey
Men's football
FIFA World Cup
Third place 2002 Korea/Japan
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1993 Languedoc-Roussillon
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

edit

Tugay was born and raised in Istanbul.[6] He started playing football in the youth academy of Trabzonspor. His father, Özkan, was a semi-professional footballer before becoming a bank manager and his brother, Tolgay, was also a football player.[7]

He played for Galatasaray from 1987 to 2000, where he won the Turkish League six times and the Turkish Cup four times. The midfielder was made captain at Galatasaray in the 1992–93 season, making him the youngest captain in the history of his club. He had signed for Scottish club Rangers in the January 2000 mid season transfer window, and joined Blackburn Rovers for the 2001–02 season.[8]

Former Galatasaray boss Graeme Souness brought Tugay to Ewood Park from Scottish side Rangers in the summer of 2001 for a £1.3m fee. His debut for Rovers was as a substitute against Sunderland. His first goal came on 14 October 2001 in a 7–1 home thrashing against West Ham United in which he scored with a trademark effort from outside the box, lobbing the keeper. Tugay immediately became a fan favourite at Blackburn, where he was an integral part of the club's success on the field since his first season. He missed Blackburn's League Cup final win in 2002 through suspension. Tugay was named Blackburn's Player of the Year in the 2003–04 campaign.

Tugay's final career goal came against Portsmouth in a 3–2 Premier League defeat at Fratton Park on 30 November 2008. He retired from football on 24 May 2009 at the age of 38.[9] His last game was against West Bromwich Albion at home at Ewood Park in front of a crowd of over 28,000 fans, who applauded Tugay during the match when he was substituted in the 85th minute to be replaced by Swedish left back Martin Olsson.[10][11]

International career

edit

Tugay has represented Turkey at Euro 1996, Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where Turkey finished in the quarter finals of Euro 2000 and third place in the 2002 World Cup. He retired from international football in 2003 after Turkey failed to qualify for Euro 2004 in order to focus on his Blackburn Rovers career.[12] His last match was on 5 June 2007 in a friendly against Brazil in Dortmund, Germany. He wore number 94 to commemorate his 94 caps for his country.[13]

Style of play and reception

edit

Primarily a deep-lying playmaker in midfield, he was also competent as an attacking midfielder or playing in the holding role. He was widely recognised for his ability and was highly rated in the football industry. In 2000, former Romanian midfielder Gheorghe Hagi rated him as one of the finest ball-playing midfielders in Europe,[14] and in 2006, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had suggested that if he were ten years younger, Tugay's ability would make him an ideal player for the Old Trafford team.[15] When Tugay's manager at the time, Mark Hughes, was asked if he too wished Tugay was ten years younger, his answer was "No, because if he was, he'd be playing in a Barcelona shirt."[16]

Managerial career

edit

On 3 June 2009, Tugay began working with his former manager Mark Hughes behind the scenes at Manchester City academy in a coaching role. He was linked for various assistant positions for the Turkey national team after Fatih Terim's departure, then he became the coordinator for the Galatasaray youth academy in February 2010.

On 21 October 2010, Galatasaray SK announced that Tugay was assigned for the position of the new assistant coach for Galatasaray, alongside of Gheorghe Hagi.[17] On 22 March 2011, Hagi was sacked following a string of poor results.[18][19] Tugay refused to become the head coach until the end of the season, saying it would be wrong to accept the position for the head coach right after the sacking of Hagi.

On 4 October 2013, Galatasaray SK announced that Tugay was assigned again for the position of the new assistant coach for Galatasaray, this time alongside of Roberto Mancini.[20] However, after Mancini's dismissal at the end of the 2013–14 season, he left his position.[21]

In November 2015, Tugay took over Şanlıurfaspor in the Turkish second division as head coach for.[22] He left in April 2016 by mutual agreement.

Personal life

edit

Tugay generally keeps himself out of the media spotlight, and even with very good English and an apparent good sense of humour, he rarely gives an interview, even to his previous club's own radio station (Radio Rovers). Tugay was married to Etkin, a former Galatasaray and Turkish international basketball player. He has two children, named Berke and Melissa. As a youngster, he was also an extremely promising motor racer, competing as high as a Formula 3 level. Tugay is a Muslim, stating that his religious beliefs are "something which is in my heart and I don't need to express that to other people".[23]

Career statistics

edit

Club

edit
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup[24] Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Galatasaray 1987–88 1.Lig 4 0 2 0 1 0 7 0
1988–89 1.Lig 16 0 4 0 3 0 1 0 24 0
1989–90 1.Lig 23 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 28 0
1990–91 1.Lig 12 0 2 1 3 0 17 1
1991–92 1.Lig 26 3 2 1 2 0 30 4
1992–93 1.Lig 25 6 6 1 3 0 5 0 39 7
1993–94 1.Lig 25 12 5 0 3 0 10 0 43 12
1994–95 1.Lig 23 1 6 2 3 0 7 0 39 3
1995–96 1.Lig 30 3 6 0 3 0 2 0 41 3
1996–97 1.Lig 33 4 1 0 1 0 35 4
1997–98 1.Lig 30 2 7 1 3 0 8 2 48 5
1998–99 1.Lig 22 2 7 0 1 0 5 0 34 2
Total 279 34 50 6 28 0 45 3 402 43
Rangers 1999–2000 Scottish Premier League 16 1 16 1
2000–01 Scottish Premier League 26 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 33 3
Total 42 4 0 0 0 0 7 0 49 4
Blackburn Rovers 2001–02 Premier League 33 3 0 0 6 0 39 3
2002–03 Premier League 37 1 0 0 4 0 4[a] 0 41 1
2003–04 Premier League 36 2 0 0 1 0 2[a] 0 38 2
2004–05 Premier League 21 0 2 1 1 0 24 1
2005–06 Premier League 27 1 1 0 5 0 33 1
2006–07 Premier League 30 1 3 0 0 0 7[a] 1 40 2
2007–08 Premier League 20 2 1 0 1 0 5[a] 0 27 2
2008–09 Premier League 29 1 3 0 4 0 36 1
Total 233 11 10 1 8 0 18 1 293 13
Career total 554 49 60 6 50 0 70 4 744 60
  1. ^ a b c d Appearances in UEFA Cup

International

edit
Appearances and goals by national team and year[4]
National team Year Apps Goals
Turkey 1990 3 0
1991 6 0
1992 6 0
1993 5 0
1994 3 0
1995 11 0
1996 10 2
1997 3 0
1998 3 0
1999 5 0
2000 4 0
2001 6 0
2002 16 0
2003 11 0
2004 0 0
2005 0 0
2006 0 0
2007 2 0
Total 94 2

Honours

edit

Galatasaray

Rangers

Blackburn Rovers

Turkey U21

Turkey

Individual

  • Blackburn Rovers Player of the Year: 2003–04

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Tugay Keri̇moğlu". Turkish Football Federation. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Tugay: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Tugay". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Kerimoglu Tugay – International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  5. ^ "The golden generation". FIFA. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  6. ^ Rich, Tim (4 October 2003). "Tugay welcomes the next wave of Turkish talent". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  7. ^ Sam Wallace (20 September 2003). "On the Spot: Tugay Kerimoglu". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Tugay's goodbye". Lancashire Telegraph. 21 May 2001. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  9. ^ Andy Cryer (23 May 2009). "Former Blackburn Rovers manager Hughes hails Tugay". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  10. ^ Graham Chase (24 May 2009). "Blackburn bid emotional farewell to Tugay as West Brom bow out". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  11. ^ Rich Sharpe (24 May 2020). "Remembering 'magician' Tugay 11 years after Rovers farewell". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Tugay quits as Turkish international". The Irish Times. 28 November 2003. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Tugay to bow out against Brazil". UEFA. 13 May 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  14. ^ [dead link]"Tugay Kerimoglu". Mail&GuardianOnline. 13 July 2000. Archived from the original on 26 March 2002.
  15. ^ "Ecstasy then agony for Tugay". ESPN FC. 20 November 2006.
  16. ^ "Tugay Kerimoglu: A Turkish Delight, a Blackburn Legend". Bleacher. 23 May 2009.
  17. ^ "Hagi and Tugay take Galatasaray helm". UEFA. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Blackburn Rovers legend lands job at Galatasaray". Lancashire Telegraph. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Hagi leaves Galatasaray for the second time". UEFA. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  20. ^ Futbol Takımı Yardımcı Antrenörlüğüne Tugay Kerimoğlu Getirildi. galatasaray.org. 4 October 2013
  21. ^ "Tugay Kerimoğlu görevi bıraktı". Sabah. 16 June 2014.
  22. ^ "Tugay Kerimoğlu resmen Şanlıurfaspor'da" [Tugay Kerimoğlu is officially in Şanlıurfaspor] (in Turkish). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  23. ^ Wallace, Sam (20 September 2003). "On the Spot: Tugay Kerimoglu". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2003.
  24. ^ Includes also Chancellor Cup, President Cup and TSYD Cup
  25. ^ Crouch, Terry (2002). The World Cup - The Complete History. Great Britain: Aurum Press Ltd. p. 548. ISBN 1845131495.
  26. ^ "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  27. ^ "Korea Republic 2 – 3 Turkey". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
edit
  NODES
Idea 1
idea 1
INTERN 9
Note 1