Terim Sorry for tense behaviour

The Turkish national football team coach, Fatih Terim, has apologized for his behavior towards Belgium’s Rene Vandereycken during the two team’s World Cup qualifying group game last Wednesday.

Terim responded to what he called an “abusive gesture” by the Belgian, by making a gesture of his own and walking towards him, before being stopped by the fourth official. In another incident during the game, which eventually ended 1-1, the Turkish coach also kicked the ball to the Belgium bench as a reaction to Vandereycken’s throwing a ball on the pitch.

Speaking to a Lig TV reporter before the Galatasaray-Antalyaspor game, Terim said that he regretted being in a tense situation like that.

“Thinking about the incident after the game, I should not have been provoked by a coach whose career is so unremarkable,” he said. “Whatever he did, even if I was right, I should not have acted so tense. I admit that I made a mistake there.”

He added, “I owe an apology to my coaching staff, to my players, and especially the football fans, but ultimately, I owe myself an apology. An experienced coach like that should not have been let to be drawn into provocation.”

The Turkish boss was involved in another quarrel last week, when he was alleged to call sports writer Osman Tamburacı on the telephone and then swear at him, following the columnist’s comments on a television channel. But Terim was not in such an apologetic mood towards Tamburacı, who has filed a lawsuit about the situation.

“I won’t back down on that case, because the situation has a past,” he said, admitting that he said those words on the phone. “I will not say “I didn’t say that,’ but he is not telling the whole story. That is a personal issue.”

Terim jokingly added that he did good to Tamburacı.

“I did huge favor for him,” he said. “No one was reading his stories, or listening to his comments, but in a few days he became popular.”