Yıldırım Demirören

Yıldırım Demirören (b. 1964, Istanbul) is a Turkish businessman and the chairman of the Istanbul-based Turkish multisports club Beşiktaş. He also owns "Demirören Şirketler Grubu" (English: "Demirören Group of Compaines"), which were founded in 1964 [ [http://www.gunesgaz.net/Turkce/Tarihce.asp Tarihçe (Eng: Company History)] ] and focused on liquid gas distribution.

Presidental career

He had various duties on club board as his father, former businessman Erdoğan Demirören served the team as well. Then he announced his candidateship on May 2004 as one of the 3 participants among Fikret Orman and Orhan Kaynar. [tr|icon [http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2004/05/11/spor/spo01.html 3. Aday Demirören (English: Demirören as 3th candidate)] ] After the club congress, he had achieved the chairman charge of the team as successor of Serdar Bilgili.

He was responsible for the renovation of the İnönü Stadium, the home stadium of his club. During his term of office also a club-owned TV-channel, BJK TV was founded which informs about the latest events and featuring various TV documents and programs related to club. He is able to support the club and to engage famous trainers like Vicente Del Bosque and Jean Tigana as well as players like John Carew, Ricardinho and Ailton with his own massive financial resources. He also promoted merchandizing of fan articles.

Beşiktaş have reached the top of Turkish League for the very first time in Demirören era after 137 league match weeks with beating Galatasaray in Istanbul derby after almost 4 years. [tr|icon [http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/spor/futbol/8356728.asp?gid=214&sz=31044 Dört Yıl Sonra Zirve Siyah-Beyaz] ]

As a President, his lack of leadership and poor player/manager decisions let him to be the worst president Besiktas ever had since its foundation in 1903 and brought the team at the verge of a financial hardship. Use of his own financial resources to transfer players/managers did not change the fact that Besiktas is having his worst years since 1903. Furthermore, he declares "he will take back what he gave" to the club [tr|icon [http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/spor/futbol/9611538.asp?m=1 HurriyetSPOR - "Paramı Geri Alacağım" (English: "I Will Take My Money Back")] ] and reminds that more than three or four times per season [tr|icon [http://www.internetspor.com/news_detail.php?id=78348 İnternethaber Spor - Demirören Parasını Geri İstiyor (English: Demirören Wants His Money Back)] ] [tr|icon [http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2006/09/25/pamir.html Sabah - "Beşiktaş'a 20 milyon verdim" (English: "I gave 20 millions to Beşiktaş")(2006)] ] [tr|icon [http://jp.goal.com/tr/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=505913 Goal.com - "35 milyon verdim, geri alacağım" (English: "I will take my 35 millions back")(2007)] ] . He made the club to loan more than 40 million euros to himself, so noone can even try to be a candidate for presidentship. Not only the soccer team is having trouble, he also put other branches such as basketball and volleyball in jeopardy. His limited vision and amateur manegement attitude brought Besiktas back several decades, while other teams progressed upwards and forwards. Although daily wins seems like a huge success to him, he continues to frustrate many fans who expect him to resign from his current presidential duties soon.

Club achievements

* Beşiktaş
** 2005-06 Fortis Turkey Cup
** 2006-07 Turkish Super Cup
** 2006-07 Fortis Turkey Cup

Personal life

Demirören is an alumni of Leysin American School. He is married and have two children. He is also member of Turkish business associations TÜSİAD and TUGİAD. His hobbies are golf and traveling.

External links

* [http://www.netbul.com/kim_kimdir/kim_kimdirdisp.asp?id=311125 Netbul.net profile]
*tr|icon [http://www.gunesgaz.net/Turkce/Index.asp Official Demiroren GoC website]

References