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Just kebabs and tea in Sivas – hence the team’s success
“There is no nightlife in Sivas,” states Sivasspor coach Bulent Uygun.
This is why his team are surprise leaders of the Turkish championship.
Located in Anatolia’s bleak central heartland, Sivas is a tortuous 12-hour drive from the temptations of Istanbul. Turkey’s glittering beach resorts aren’t much closer.
You’d have thought the 38-year-old Uygun might have a bit more sympathy for his players. But to a man nicknamed “the soldier”, and whose website displays poems he has penned to Turkish generals and the Turkish Republic, discipline is key.
“There are only a few shops where my players can buy drinks but I’m in contact with the shop owners,” Uygun told Hurriyet newspaper.
