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Trabzonspor has been one of the most consistent teams in the Turkish top-flight. In the last six years, the club has never finished below sixth place, and have found themselves in the top four on two occasions.
This season has witnessed significant strides from Trabzonspor as they head the league at the halfway stage, opening a nine-point gap with second-placed Konyaspor. We take a look at what makes the Turkish club such a consistent form in the Süper Lig.
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Time and space for managers
Apart from fan violence, one of the biggest problems that ravages Turkish football is the volatility surrounding managerial changes. Almost all Istanbul-based clubs witness a minimum of one change per season when it comes to the head coach role. Trabzonspor, however, have played the game differently.
The club has worked with just four managers in the last five-and-a-half seasons. Eddie Newton stayed at the club for a year and a half before the current regime of Abdullah Avci, which is now onto its third season.
Shrewd transfer business
For quite some time, Trabzonspor has underplayed its transfer market activities. Given the marketing and fan-following of other major Turkish clubs, Trabzonspor conduct their transfer market business in a fairly quiet but shrewd manner.
In the pre-pandemic days, the club ensured a net spend of less than $15 million for three successive seasons. The club has also managed to recruit some promising European talent in recent seasons. This includes the arrival of Juraj Kucka from AC Milan in 2017, Burak Yilmaz from Beijing Guoan, Daniel Sturridge from Liverpool and Yusuf Sari from Marseille.
After the COVID-19 pandemic affected the finances of Turkish clubs in the middle of 2020, most major clubs were forced into a major overhaul. Trabzonspor escaped this tribulation owing to their smart transfer policy in the pre-2020 days.
This was one of the major reasons why they were so active in the recent transfer window as well. They managed to secure the services of Andreas Cornelius from Parma and Marek Hamsik from Goteborg.
The influence of Abdullah Avci at Trabzonspor
Abdullah Avci was the guiding force behind Istanbul Baseksehir's recent rise in Turkish football. Before joining Trabzonspor, he spent five seasons at Baseksehir.
Appointed as head-coach last year, Avci changed Trabzonspor's style to a high-pressing game with a sound deployment of wingbacks. This marked a break from the traditional Turkish game which makes use of a four-man midfield. He also introduced a number of academy players into the first-team.
Since his appointment, the club has managed to pick up par-2 points per match. Their only defeat of the season came in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Besiktas. Apart from that setback, they have recorded 14 wins from the 18 games they have played so far in the league.
