They love a name, any name.
Whenever a Turkish club sign an outsider, their fans go crazy. Flares at the airport, countless chants, lots of hair-tussling and backslaps - the Turks certainly know how to welcome a new player.
Robin van Persie was the latest foreigner to receive the Ultra-treatment. Even his uncool vest didn't put the Fenerbahce fans from celebrating the Dutchman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDsC8Pa1XTM
It got us talking in the office though - Is there any player in the history of football who Turkey fans WOULDN'T mob upon arrival at the airport?
After all, Kenny Miller (!) was given a hero's welcome at the airport when he signed for Bursaspor in 2011. You might need to read that sentence again to let it properly sink in. Kenny Miller. Hero's welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Mlp0RmTfE
The Besiktas supporters were so enamored with Les Ferdinand upon his arrival on loan that they
sacrificed a goat in his honour. And Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder was greeted by flares outside the airport after being bought by Galatasaray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GFXhVQ3vb8
Meanwhile in England, Glen Johnson's unveiling as a Stoke player over the weekend was certainly more low-key.
https://twitter.com/F2Freestylers/status/620262500282535936
But to answer the question initially posed in this piece, until Sean St Ledger signs with a Turkish club, we won't truly know the depths their fans will go to before they fail to turn up on the runway of an airport dressed for battle.
