Ali Güneş vs İbrahim Toraman: The Great Car Stereo Debate
One of Ali Güneş’s funniest memories from Beşiktaş wasn’t about tactics, derbies or dressing-room drama. It was about two footballers bickering in the car over music on the way to training.
Ali (German-born, gurbetçi) used to ride with İbrahim Toraman, who leaned more toward mainstream Turkish pop.
Ali, meanwhile, defended old-school arabesque with surprising passion. At one point he put on Hakkı Bulut – the sort of music associated with heartbreak, late-night kebab shops and emotionally exhausted intercity bus rides.
Toraman basically looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Ali remembered the two constantly having these tiny, pointless arguments over changing songs in the car. Nothing serious. Just footballers winding each other up over music taste like an old married couple on the E-5 highway.
The funniest part is how perfectly it captures that era of Turkish football. Modern players arrive at training listening to trap music and Spotify playlists curated by PR managers. Back then, professional footballers were genuinely debating whether Hakkı Bulut was acceptable pre-training listening.
