{"id":3008,"date":"2024-03-29T15:48:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T15:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soccerstickersfc.net\/?p=3008"},"modified":"2024-04-08T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T11:27:08","slug":"who-is-mythos-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soccerstickersfc.net\/2024\/03\/who-is-mythos-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"My Mythos Cards Horror Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
I was delighted to have the opportunity of potential employment at Mythos Cards, a football card company based in Turkey. Naturally, this would be a dream job and a great opportunity to further myself in an industry that I am very passionate about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, sometimes things don’t work out, and sometimes it can be a complete disaster. Here is my story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the pandemic (2020-21), my girlfriend (now wife) and I lived in Turkey for approximately one year because it was one of the only places open to foreigners. I am from Australia and she is from Belarus. We decided on Turkey because Australia was completely closed to foreigners and Belarus, despite being open to foreigners, was experiencing a bit of political instability. Fast forward approximately a year and we had lived in Istanbul, Antalya and Trabzon, and had enjoyed our time in Turkey. Our resident permits were expiring and we decided not to renew and haven’t been back to Turkey together since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mythos Cards is a football card company that produces cards for the major teams in the Turkish S\u00fcper Lig such as: Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Trabzonspor. These are individual team sets because the licensing rights don’t allow them to combine sets. As I understand, there are movements being made to get the license for the S\u00fcper Lig which would be a great and more complete product in my opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mythos Cards has most of its popularity in Turkey, which is logical as they produce cards for Turkish football teams. That being said, they are starting to get more of an international following and have now got an association with Topps. Mythos is quite a new company with their first sets being produced during the 2022\/23 season. It has to be said they have had fantastic growth in the short time they have been operating. Possibly their best claim to fame is being the first company to produce cards of Arda G\u00fcrler for Fenerbahce. This is what I believe has propelled the company’s reputation abroad. Arda was lighting up the football world and naturally collectors wanted his cards – Mythos was there to fill the demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of the sets Mythos Cards produces, I personally find them a bit confusing. As far as I know, they are no documented set lists online which makes it very hard for collectors to know what they are collecting. Of course, the prospectors will get all the Arda G\u00fcrler they can find but the regular collector will find it hard to get involved. In addition to this, Mythos Card’s main product is called “Mythos Today” – where they produce cards relevant to recent events in Turkish football. It is the same model as Topps Now. As for Topps, Mythos are now responsible for Topps Turkey and the social media accounts related to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, I think Mythos Cards has a very good foundation as a card company with a lot of potential. I believe there needs to be a lot more work with regard to transparency for collectors – more specifically, detailed documentation of all products and also a record of all the “Mythos Today” cards. In its current state collectors will have no idea what they are collecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being involved in the hobby for some time now and taking into account some of the issues listed above, I believe I could have been of great utility to the company which leads into the next part of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From my time living in Turkey, I made some friends who are also in the hobby. One of the friends I made often showed my cards from Mythos and I thought to myself this is great! Anyone who knows me in the hobby knows that I love products from all over the world, and if the Turkish S\u00fcper Lig can start producing cards again (Panini used to produce Adrenalyn cards) then it can only be a good thing. My wife and I had discussed how we had enjoyed living in Turkey and would love the opportunity to live there again. This prompted me to consider trying to work for Mythos Cards – it seemed like the perfect fit. I messaged my friend in Turkey who has contact with them and asked him to enquire on my behalf as to whether there were any employment opportunities – citing that I am a native English speaker and can help with growth into the Western World. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To my delight, I got a response to send my CV, which led to an online interview. Mythos Cards is comprised of three major bosses, I’m not sure if there is any seniority involved but for the purposes of writing this article, I will name them boss A, B and C. I will not be disclosing any names for their privacy. The online interview was conducted with boss A. We had a chat about my history in the hobby and their goals as a company – I got the impression that our goals aligned and it seemed like a very good fit. They were very keen to expand their operation into Europe and USA, and I was very keen to become more involved in the hobby and potentially make a career out of it. After some back and forth over the preceding month, I was informed that they were happy with what I had to offer. I was asked by boss A when I could come to Turkey – at this point I was renewing my passport in Australia over the Christmas break so I replied that I would be ready to come January 1, 2024. I was informed that this would be perfect as Mythos Cards would be attending a card convention in Germany and that I could be of use. Naturally, I was very excited and was counting down the days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the New Year approached (22 of December) I messaged boss A asking about the documentation I would need for a work permit in Turkey. I was informed he will speak to human resources and get back to me. Here is where the first red flag arrived. I received no response for a few days, so I politely asked the question again on the 25th – again no reply. So I waited patiently until the New Year with no response so I sent another message wishing boss A a happy new year. As the New Year approached I was a bit disappointed as we had agreed things were commence on January 1 but I remained optimistic. Upon receiving my new year message, boss A replied that he was sorry he hadn’t been in contact and that his pet has died. I was a little suspicious but gave my sympathies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this moment in time I booked my flights to Turkey for the 10th of January without having had any details on the work permit confirmed. My wife was waiting for me in Belarus; to get to Belarus from Australia it is necessary to transit via Turkey. I made the decision that I would fly to Turkey and if there was no news regarding the position, I would just fly onto Belarus. I let boss A know my intention to fly to Turkey on the 10th and he responded positively saying that he is looking forward to meeting me in the office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After arriving in Istanbul and settling into my Airbnb, I came to the office on the 12th of January. I met boss A and we had a very long chat with tea – if anyone has been to Turkey they will understand tea is life! We had a very positive conversation where he told me in the ins and out of the company, their goals and what I would be expected to do in my position there. My responsibilities were outline as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was very excited with the prospect of these responsibilities and in truth, I would struggle to find a more ideal position. Boss A and I exchanged many different ideas and avenues the company could pursue which again was very exciting. In this meeting I once again brought up what documents were necessary for the work permit and that the work permit was necessary for my wife to legally stay in Turkey, with the addition that my current visa was limited to 3 months. Boss A said that it can be a long process getting the work permit but if necessary I could border hop and re-enter to gain another 3 months. This is something I wasn’t really comfortable with but I was willing to make some compromises because of his statement regarding the work permit. Boss A has told me, “don’t worry about the work permit, this is Turkey, anything is possible<\/em>.” Happy with how the meeting went, we said our good byes and looked forward to what the future would bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n