Ozbey on Turkey, youth systems, and Sydney FC

In the inaugural Sydney FC season, the side qualified for the finals series and faced off against Adelaide. Enter Tolgay Ozbey. He may have only played one match for the Sky Blues, but he did sit on the bench for them in the finals.

The striker who has been touted as the best thing to come out of Sydney Olympic in recent times, debuted for Sydney United in the NSL at the age of 17 and has won numerous awards with Blacktown City.

After his spell in the A-League (Newcastle and Sydney), he joined Blacktown again, Marconi and Sydney Olympic, before moving to Turkey to play for his current club.

He is a brilliant player.

We talked to Ozbey about Turkey, New South Wales’ youth system, playing at Sydney FC, and his future.

THE OFFSIDE: You’ve been playing at the highest level for almost six years now, what has been your biggest achievement?
TOLGAY OZBEY: “There is a few actually, my NSL debut with Sydney United at the age of 17, My A-League debut at the age of 19 for Sydney FC (A-League Champions inaugural year) and the Golden Boot and NSW State League Player of the Year at the age of 20 while I was playing for Blacktown City Demons.”

T.OFF: Anything you wish you’d done differently?
T. O: “Come to Europe at a much younger age.”

T.OFF: With your current club, BURSA NİLÜFERSPOR A.Ş, you are currently sitting at 2nd (at the time of writing) in your group. Are you currently exceeding expectations, or was this the plan all along?
T.O: “Believe it or not no we are not, the club has really high expectations of us and the clubs budget for this season is over 1 million dollars they expect nothing lower then first spot in our group.”

T.OFF: Now the big question. Will you guys be gaining promotion this year?
T.O: “At the moment it’s a bit hard to say, we have eleven games left in our group and the top two will play in the play offs for promotion, at the moment we are on track but there’s still a long way to go.”

T.OFF: Being of Turkish descent, are you finding it easy to fit into your club? How well do you get along with your team mates?
T.O: “The first couple of weeks were a bit hard, but now I’m used to everything and it definitely makes it easier being of Turkish decent, I have a great relationship with my team mates, we all live together in our club facilities so we are all like one big family.”

T.OFF: You played one match for Sydney FC, and was on the bench for two others including the grand final. What was it like being part of the Sydney setup?
T.O: “I joined Sydney FC for the finals so all eyes were on Sydney FC, we had all the big names (Dwight Yorke, David Carney, Corica and many more), so that was an amazing experience for me. The club’s professionalism is clearly above what I’ve seen so far.”

T.OFF: Would you like to have stayed longer at the Sky Blues?
T.O: “I definitely would have loved to.”

T.OFF: Moving onto Newcastle, you met up with your former mentor Nick Theodorakopoulos. Were you disappointed with how things had started that season, and did you wish you could have stayed to make amends?
T.O: “I had a great time with Nick Theo and really learnt a lot. He has always supported and helped me with my football, but after Nick and Newcastle parted ways I wasn’t given another chance to play so it was time for me to leave.”

T.OFF: You were brought up in the Sydney Olympic youth side. Back then, what was the youth system like at the club?
T.O: “I was a junior at [Sydney] Olympic from the age of thirteen all the way to first grade training with Lee Sterry, the development I received I don’t think I could have got anywhere else.”

T.OFF: With the new Project 22 being implemented, what is the future of the game?
T.O: “I think the future of football in Australia is growing every year: Project 22 will definitely be a step to bring up stars for the future. What juniors in Australian football lack is the full-time training, like it is over here in Europe, and Project 22 will provide that.”

T.OFF: Sydney’s West is touted as the biggest playing pool in Australia. With Project 22, and a new A-League side for 2012, is this the best time to be a youth footballer?
T.O: “The development of Australian football is increasing and It definitely is the best time for the juniors to step up.”

T.OFF: How did you end up with the nickname Tolly? Did it eventuate from your childhood or was it one of your friends?
T.O: “It started at Sydney United when I was 17, but I can’t remember who it was that first called me Tolly.”

T.OFF: You’ve been touted as one of the most talented players to come out of Sydney Olympic in recent times. Do you think the national team is something you hope to achieve?
T.O:” The national team is a dream for any footballer.”

A big thank you to Tolgay Ozbey for agreeing to an interview.

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