The famous Ali Sami Yen Stadium - home to Galatasaray fans - home to an atmosphere that will bring to rubble even the stoutest of hearts, home to those legendary banners and an evil voice welcoming the visitors to HELL. The stadium will now make way to a shopping centre.
In place of a stadium that has been the icon of football in Turkey, a place that had been looked upon as the one of the proudest structures for football fans, a place that is swathed in red&yellow that represents an undying fire, a place where unrelenting drumming makes one feel he's in a war zone... there will now be a shopping complex and a memory that will never cease to exist.
During the mid-90s, Ryan Giggs said of the atmosphere in the stadium. "I've never experienced anything like Galatasaray. Two hours before kick-off, we went out to have a look at the pitch and the stadium was packed! The chanting was brilliant. One side starts, then the other, then quiet, then all of them chanting. The players really enjoyed it. Before it was good, after it wasn't!"
The Cehennem has given Galatasary fans lots to cheer about over the years, perhaps their victories against European hot-shots Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the pile. The club is also the only Turkish team to have triumphed in Europe thus far, they won the Uefa Cup and Uefa Super Cup in 2000.
The last game at the Ali Sami Yen turned out to be an emotional affair(not so much the match, but definitely the goodbye) with the home team winning 3-1 against lowly Beypazarı Sekerspor. After the match, the players got together at the centre of the pitch to salute fans with each one (fan and player alike) bidding adieu in their own special way.
The club's new home will be at the Turk Telecom Arena, also known as the Aslantepe or "Lion Hill" and can seat twice of what Ali Sami Yen could. Galatasaray coach Gheorghe Hagi said "The new stadium is beautiful. It opens a new page and I hope we can begin to re-write history here," said Hagi. "Now we have to get used to it, although that may take a few matches. However, I still believe that in one or two years this club can return to being one of the top teams in Europe."
Moving from a place with great memories, from a place that was held in such high regard by everyone can never be easy. But Galatasary fans would do well to look upto the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City moving stadiums and still being successful.
With the Lion Hill able to seat twice as many fans, it might mean visitors are bound to hear a louder version of their 'I will Survive' anthem or see twice as many red and yellow scarfs during the scarf show and it could be HELL all over again... only twice as evil.
- Vishaal Loganathan
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