On Sunday, Fenerbahçe experienced the unraveling of their grand ambitions as they watched their hopes of besting their bitter-arch rivals Galatasaray dissipate into air like scattered clouds.
The Lions' resounding 3-0 victory at the Ülker stadium sent a deafening silence through the stadium, puncturing Fenerbahçe's dreams of at least being top at the Spor Toto Süper Lig.
When the Yellow Canaries suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the roaring Lions in the giant derby, all eyes were instantly fixated on one man and yes, you guessed it right, President Ali Koç, particularly after his post-match remarks.
For the devoted Fenerbahçe fans, the wait for their beloved team to reclaim league silverware since their 2014 triumph has been a long and arduous nightmare, and one which still stands.
After assuming presidency of the Yellow-Navy Blue team, Koç has been unable to bring success to the table or even gain admiration of his supporters, a feat that was ultimately supplemented by dismal results.
Ali Koç, who replaced Aziz Yıldırım on Nov. 5, 2018, worked diligently in the chairpersonship for more than four years, during which he collaborated with many technical men and coaches.
Despite his best efforts, he was unable to experience the joy of winning any league title with the renowned technical men, and his expenditure worth millions of euros still failed to bring the championship trophy to the delight of fans in Kadıköy.
Koç has been grabbing the limelight with the results his team has achieved against their archrivals since he took office. In the five encounters between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray under his leadership, the Yellow-Navy Blues could only take home a victory in the season finale last year with a 2-0 score.
The first meeting of Koç's tenure ended with a draw at 1-1, followed by a 1-3 and 0-1 defeats at home.
However, their most recent meeting, which took place on Sunday, ended in a devastating 0-3 loss for the Yellow Canaries. The bitter 0-3 defeat to archrivals Galatasaray sent shockwaves of outrage through the Fenerbahçe faithful.
As the final whistle of the derby blew, some of the Yellow-Navy Blue faithful directed their ire toward club President Ali Koç who had been watching the match from the protocol tribune, and vented their frustrations. "Enough of the president! When will we smile again?" they cried, in an emotional response to the match result.
After the derby, Koç said: "We apologize to our fans. It's nothing more than three points. When we made Galatasaray taste the heaviest defeats, we could not become champions in the seasons we won 4-0 and 6-0."
Fenerbahçe President Ali Koç's words were met with criticism by the fans. On social media, a Fenerbahçe supporter, unable to make sense of Koç's statements, remarked, "Isn't the 3-0 score heavy enough, president?"
It is particularly noteworthy that Ali Koç, who assumed the presidency at Fenerbahçe following Aziz Yıldırım, has fared poorly in high-stakes derbies.
Under Koç, Fenerbahçe endured a rather unimpressive record, having only notched up three wins in 18 matches, while settling for 10 draws and five losses, resulting in an average score of 1.06.
Former President Aziz Yıldırım had been a record-breaking leader, having won 42 of the 85 derby matches, drawn 20 and lost 23. With an impressive 1.72 points average, he holds the highest score average in derbies among all Fenerbahçe presidents.
