Sun shines on Deniz Mehmet
Tuesday, 18th Apr 2023Deep depression makes way for season of success
“The sun`s out, not a cloud in the sky, it`s a beautiful day.” Yes Deniz Mehmet knows his crossbars from his isobars but the Pars keeper has not turned weather forecaster. After he was part of the side that ensured a return to the Championship at the first time of asking, his summation was a fitting script for the likes of Carol Kirkwood or Judith Ralston.
“To do it the way we did it, it`s an amazing feeling - there`s no other way to put it in words. It`s been agonising, the last two or three games - just waiting, waiting, waiting. You`re thinking, `Come on, it`s only a matter of time - we`re not going to say it`s done until it`s done. You`re just waiting thinking, `One more game, one more game’ and finally we got it over the line, which is amazing and really good.”
Equally amazing smiled Deniz was the difference the end of last season to the end of this as the Dunfermline Athletic fans sung his name in celebration. He commented:-
"Considering what it was like last year, 100%! I think if you had told them a year down the line they`d be doing that, they`d have told you you`re mad. I would have anyway! It`s just mad how football changes so quickly now. The fans were brilliant. They`ve been through it all over the last two years that I`ve been here as well. There have been ups and downs, this year as well. There have been some performances maybe not as good and as fluid as we wanted them to be.
"Thirty-six games in a league season, you`re going to have ups and downs but to have a good backing like that and have them the way that they were, cheering on for 90 minutes is brilliant."
Albeit he was on the bench last season, Deniz is one of thirteen Dunfermline players who are still at the club following relegation through the play-offs last season. He claimed that it took a lot of character from the players to fight their way back to the Championship at the first attempt:-
“If you look at the team, it`s the majority of the same bunch of boys from last season. We got additions in as well, which has been amazing, but it is great for the boys who have been here last year to bounce back and experience this.
"It was the most surreal feeling I have had when we lost to Queen`s Park. I couldn`t believe it. I was sat in the dugout thinking, `This is not happening.` Not even a year down the line we`re celebrating like this to be back where we were again. It`s amazing."
Deniz won the Championship with Dundee United in 2019-2020 but that was in the Covid curtailed season. United were declared as league champions with eight games left to play and there was no celebration to even compare with that on Saturday with the Dunfermline fans:-
"I`ve not had anything like this before. When we won at Dundee United, it was the covid season. They cut it short and it was all over Zoom but here everyone got a beer in their hand and was celebrating. When you are sat there in your seat and it`s not the same. You can`t celebrate, but this is brilliant and the boys deserve it."
Deniz admitted that there is a big challenge ahead next season in the Championship but for the time being they have just got to enjoy the tag of champions.
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