The Chiefs coach who was born in the Turkish city of Istanbul in 1949 put all birthday celebrations on ice as he put his charges through their paces in searing heat mid morning on Saturday, as the only icing on his mind was the finishing touches that needed to be done for Chiefs preparations for Sunday’s crucial Premier Soccer League encounter against SuperSport United.

When Chiefs headed out of Johannesburg to their Tshwane hotel late on Saturday afternoon the coach had still not had time to celebrate turning 48, and was still firmly focused on taking three points off SuperSport.

Coach off side

As afternoon turned to night there was to be a pleasant surprise for the coach who must have thought that his technical team and the players had forgotten about his special day; all his fears were laid to rest after dinner on Saturday evening. When the Chiefs players along with the hotel staff caught the coach off side when they brought a cake specially baked by the Chef for Ertugral, and the entire restaurant where the Amakhosi were having their evening meal came to a halt and serenaded the coach with a number of traditional birthday songs.

A beaming Ertugral said afterwards, “at one stage I did think that the guys had forgotten it was my birthday and what they did after dinner really caught me off guard, I just want to thank everybody for going through the trouble that they did to have the cake made and spending my birthday with what I term as my extended family was wonderful. My birthday wish if I can have one will be to take three points home with us from Tshwane on Sunday by defeating SuperSport United at Loftus”.