FM23 - Growing Gambia

[ToMexico!!]

August 2039

A quick successive poaching, this time from a bigger club in Real Sociedad. I'm really looking forward to these players coming through at their new clubs. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2039

I've decided the stop with the end-of-season reviews in their current format. From now on I'll just post images to represent the season. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2039

Two players left in the summer window, left-wing back Mauro Junior, who was pissed at me for not bringing in another Angolan to help him settle and Momodou Jobe who had declared he would be exploring his options at the end of his contract. 

I forgot to mention I sold some clauses, Bah's, Dossou-Yovo's, Roland's and Faye's. It leaves us with the following clauses available to sell. 

We could get £3.77m from selling Owolabi's, a nominal £60k for Ceesay's 20% and £770k for Mendy's 40%.

[ToMexico!!]

February 2040

We reach the 40's...

We sell one player but he immediately rejoins on loan for the remainder of the season. David Abdulsalam is a good player but he's never really fitted in well with the team. When we signed him I was hoping he would play at DM but instead I decided to push him into Mezzala at CM. 10 goals and 7 assists in 16 games in the first season shows he could do it but there's two problems with him, his personality and his fitness. He's only played 2 games so far this season. 

We only get £1m for him, so minimal profit but we do have the 50% profit clause inserted into the deal. With him back on loan that gives me plenty of time to find a replacement for the next season. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2040

Musa Savage has come through at Las Palmas. Worth upwards of £3.3m at the age of 16, Las Palmas already trying to sell the 5% clause for £133k to me. I think I'll wait. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2040

Another stadium expansion. The new capacity will be 11,217 once the work is completed. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2040

League | Cup | Champions League

[ToMexico!!]

July 2040

Another player is gone, we're really not keeping players for long now. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2040

After the sale of Abdullahi to Al-Fayha we sold wantaway midfielder Yahya Ceesay to Mexican side Monterrey for £675k. 

We then spent £1.8m on new players. 

• Yves Fofana - MC - will play deep-lying playmaker
• Abdoulie Kujabi - AML - been tracking him a while and was worth £6m+ but they transfer listed him
• Muhammed Bah - DM - a big money signing from Austria, will hopefully improve with gametime. 
• Daniel Agu - AMR - Belgian/Nigerian right winger, will play second fiddle to Keita
• Bilel Gabsi - CB - cheap defensive signing to replace Abdullahi

I've promoted Dodou Sarr to the first team, he's improved well since coming through at the academy.  

[ToMexico!!]

January 2041

[ToMexico!!]

April 2041

Ali Dambelleh has come through at Real Sociedad having been poached a few years prior. 

Hopefully Drammeh comes through at Huesca in the next few days. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2041

I wonder how much more it can be expanded. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2041

Just a good intake but we have one player I'm really intrigued by...

...only rated as a top talent at the moment but I feel Lamin Carayol will be a 5* potential player at some point. His physicals will improve naturally but if we can improve his work rate, anticipation and off the ball we have a very good player on our hands. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2041

Champions League | League | African Super Cup | Gambian Cup

Another 73 for Darboe, takes him to 375 for the career so far. Youth Product Sarr with a rotational 25 goals, Kujabi ousted an aging Dukureh. 

 

[KristianT]

"Another 73 for Darboe" 

[ToMexico!!]

1 minute ago, KristianT said:

"Another 73 for Darboe" 

Well it's not quite the 99 goals from the 2036/37 season but it will do   

[ToMexico!!]

November 2041

A bit behind with this one. We spent another £1.5m on new players. 

We brought in three foreign players which meant we would have a surplus but the idea was to loan them out to other clubs in Gambia. That didn't go to plan. 

Stanley Papama isn't a happy chappy, I didn't register him for the league campaign due to foreign player limits and he wants to leave already. A £250k signing from Sundowns in South Africa he could prove a bargain if he stays. We then signed our first non-African player Patrick Rodallega, the Colombian midfielder was a pre-emptive buy to replace wanted-man Yves Fofana but his sale didn't materialise and Rodallega wasn't registered for the league but didn't kick up a fuss. We returned to ASEC Mimosas to buy Junior Bamba, a young centre back for just £325k, he will be registered as I purposefully sold Bilel Gabsi to make room. 

A 35 year old Ebrima Jah was signed on a short-term contract to add some depth to the centre-back region, a position a few players were moaning about lacking depth. Last to join was Omar Jatta from Italian side Mantova for £500k, he then returned to his former club on loan for the remainder of the season. He's a player I had tracked since coming through at Mantova and will likely see plenty of first-team action on his return to his new club next season. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2042

A short stay for Yves Fofana as we strike a deal with Leipzig for £1.5m + 40% profit. 22 goals and 22 assists in 39 games from CM is a decent return. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2042

Ousman Drammeh comes through at Huesca. He looks a decent-ish prospect.

[ToMexico!!]

June 2042

Champions League | League | African Super Cup | Gambian Cup

Two nil-nil draws in the Final of the Champions League as we won it on penalties. 164 goals in the league which equals our record from the 2037/38 season. We scored 40 goals in four Gambian cup games. 

80 goals for Darboe this season which takes him within touching distance of 500 for the club already. We changed formation from an AMC to two-ST with Sarr alongside him. 35-year-old Dukureh reaches 600 career games for us but with less and less input.

[himan]

No no no, you can't get away with that draw without telling us. 

[ToMexico!!]

6 hours ago, himan said:

No no no, you can't get away with that draw without telling us. 

A 3-3 draw where we needed a 93rd-minute equaliser to take the spoils against Banjul Utd. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2042

I'm a bit behind so a few catch-up posts. 

Five players in. 

Bakary Nyassi was the first of four players in on the opening day of the window, the right winger was out of contract at Cordoba, he will act as a back-up. Mory Magassa followed Nyassi in then went back to CO Bamako on loan for the remainder of their season. The young Malian will probably go back out on loan until we have a foreign spot available for him. 

Ansumana Danso has played for The Gambia 72 times scoring 65 goals, he's signed for the season with the view to extend if game criteria are met. He started at Barcelona before moving to Dutch side PSV, swapping allegiances to Feyenoord and then had a brief stint in Greece. Having sold our left-wing back in the summer we needed a replacement but decent ones are hard to come by, we plumped for Egyptian Hassan Soliman from Nogoom for just £60k. Primarily a left back that can play centre back, he will be retrained and play at LWB. Last to join was Prince Itoua, a right back, we've moved on from three CB's to two CB's and installed a right back, back into the side. The Congolese international was the best of a semi-bad bunch available but again at £60k, no harm done. 

A few outs from the summer...

Alpha Juwara was a surprise, the youngster seemingly improved unnoticed and Marsielle swooped in with a bid which turned his head, off he goes for small money but we have a 40% profit clause in the deal. Sariang was not going to make it here, whilst athletic, he can't mark a player well or head the ball. Papama goes out on loan again. We cut our losses on Daniel Agu, with the incoming Nyassi, he was surplus due to taking up a foreign spot which we could utilise better elsewhere. The big sale of the summer was that of Yakubu Balogun to Hannover for £1.4m rising to £1.8m. The Nigerian international leaves having played 111 times, scoring 14 times and making 72 assists. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2043

Originally it was Real Madrid that came in first for Junior Bamba but I semi-created a bidding way which didn't go a high as I had hoped. Anyway, he joins Real Sociedad for up to £925k. We have a 40% profit clause on the defender. 

I've replaced him short-term with Idriss Sima from Malian side Djoliba for £100k. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2043

Champions League | League | African Super Cup | Gambian Cup

We smashed ES Tunis in the first leg of the ACL final 5-0, which was thankful as we were missing 16 first-team players who were called up to the AFCoN. A blend of experienced players and youngsters, smashed them 4-1 to win ACL number seven. 170 goals scored in the league and 11 conceded, meaning new records for GS & GD, the next highest scored 46   

The front two combine for 153 goals in a 40-game season for the pair. Kujabi was excellent on the left wing. Dukureh has set a retirement date but he will hopefully stay as my Assistant Manager, currently working on his National B license. Added Keita and Sarr to the overall list. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2043

A small but pricey expansion. 

[ChaosClive]

Complete dominance in Africa now. What are your facilities looking like at this point?

[ToMexico!!]

7 minutes ago, ChaosClive said:

Complete dominance in Africa now. What are your facilities looking like at this point?

Yeah, really dominant now. 

They're Average and Good off the top of my head. JC & YR is maxed out. We have the money its getting the board to agree to upgrade which is the problem. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2043

A better intake on the basis that we have five top talents. 

• Ebrima Kanform - ST - the best of the bunch, great finishing, technique, first touch along with good composure and off the ball. Could be a future striker for us. 
• Kabba Juwara - ST - some good attributes too but clearly not as good as Kanform.
• Musa Janneh - CM - the dreaded low determination/attribute combination. Otherwise could be a good option for the bench in the future. 
• Kebba Fatty - ST - quick and can finish, he'll do well elsewhere in the future.
• Alieu Gaye - CB - good Gambian defenders are hard to come by, will need to improve a bit for a chance of being a future starter. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2043

Lets a take a look at the best academy players to have come through in recent years. 

Still at the club...

First Team

• Doudou Sarr - the star of the academy so far, constantly wanted by some European clubs but so far I've managed to keep him. A physical beast for the league with high finishing is a reciple for goals. Regular Gambian international. 
• Bamba Colley - a rare decent defender but can also play DM. A Gambian international. 
• Ebrima Manneh - another defensive option but less effective in his role. 45 caps for Gambia says otherwise though. 

U19s

• Yusupha Colley - still only 16, great physically, great work rate, determination and good aggression. Hopefully, he will improve technically still. 
• Modou Jawneh - 17 year old GK, poor determination/personality combo but could be a good back up option in the future. 
• Lamin Carayol - the lesser-spotted Gambian left-wing back. I'm going to promote him to the first team for the new season, no real stand out attributes but well rounded, gametime will see him improve. 
• Lamin Ceesay - spent the back end of last season with Banjul Utd, needs another season with first team football I think. 

Sold or Released

• Alpha Juwara - seemingly a huge mistake letting him go for £100k but we have a profit clause in the deal. Improved massively after a seasons loan with Paris FC in Ligue 2. 
• Yahya Ceesay - wanted out at the end of 2040 season, I sold him to Mexican side Monterrey for just shy of £700k.
• Alagie Sariang - played once for us, technically poor but physicals would get him out of a pickle. 
• Fabio Finardi - Italian born striker who came through in 2035. Never played for us before being released. Done well for himself since.
• Mustapha Bah - one time Icelandic international, technically poor but decent enough option for the defence.  
• Bakary Mboob - playing in South Korea for Jeonbuk via French side Boulogne. 
• Omar Janko - getting further down the list now, quality on the decline but players are still forging decent enough careers. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2043

An incredible career spanning 19 seasons with us, making 605 appearances, scoring 469 goals and making 468 assists for the club. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2043

Down to three clauses available for sale. We've sold Alieu Mendy's and Yves Fofana's in recent times. 

• Vianney is now at Leipzig after eight seasons with Bayern Munich. RB paid £44.5m for him last summer. 
• Omossola's career arc is varied since leaving Liverpool for Celta Vigo he went on loan at Elche and then Bordeaux. He was then sold to Ajaccio for £5m before being sold to Osasuna. 
• Yahaya has gone Girona > Cottbus > Cincinnati. 
• Ousman Ceesay has retired and is now an unemployed AssMan.
• Cheick Thiam is also retired and an unemployed Head Coach.
• 31-year-old Fred Soro is still at PSG, 47 goals in 121 league games is respectable. 
• Alieu Mendy is still at Al-Khaleej.
• Mustapha Bah is still at Al-Khaleej.
• Dossou-Yovo is at Hoffenheim having just got promoted back to the Bundesliga with them. 
• Leon Roland is currently at Cadiz having joined them for £4.4m. Wanted by Real Madrid at the moment. 
• Latyr Faye moved to Granada for £1.9m, he spent last season on loan at Fiorentina playing just nine times. 
• Jocelin Gbohouo left Athletico for Strasbourg then went back to Spain with Sociedad but has gone on loan to Nice and now Elche in the past two seasons. 
• Julius Ahmed is at Sheffield Utd. 
• Emanuel Mendes is still at Nice, now worth over £30m. 
• Julius Olowobi left Leverkusen for Paderborn before moving to Fulham. 
• I missed Mauro Junior moving to PSG for £10m, we had a 40% profit clause in the deal to Saudi side Al-Nassr. 
• Momodou Jobe is still at Al-Raed.
• David Abdulsalam moved to Espanyol for £18m. Currently under bid from Leverkusen for £37.5m.
• Abdullahi is still at Al-Fayha. 
• Fofano is still at Leipzig but is wanted by Villarreal. 
• Balogun had a successful first season at Hannover.
• Bamba is still at Sociedad. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2043

Three players in this summer. 

Yahya Ceesay returns, he left back in the 2038/39 season when he signed for Union Berlin for £190k, a couple of seasons there he moved on to Heidenheim. He arrives back in The Gambia on a free transfer and will likely slot back into DM. We then upgraded at CM with the signing of Daniel Fumo from Cape Town City. The 18-year-old South African has ousted Mory Magassa from the squad as a foreign player for the season ahead. 

Upon having a browse through the other squad within the division I spotted 16-year-old Amadou Ceesay at Banjul Utd. It gave me the opportunity to overpay for a decent Gambian national from a home-based team. He's gone back on loan to Banjul for the 2043/44 season. 

A few players left the club. Lamin Carayol had only ever been a bit-part player, filling in for injuries mainly, so I allowed him to leave with my best wishes. We have a 25% profit clause inserted in the deal which I can already sell for just shy of £1m. I allowed foreign player Stanley Papama to join French Ligue 2 side Brest on loan. The other player to leave was Patrick Rodallega, the Colombian international kicked up a fuss for not playing at AMC when the previous season had finished. We made a small profit on him and have a 50% profit clause on the deal. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2043

2nd game of the new league season...

Love how Plater of the Match was my LWB who made three assists and not Daraboe who scored 11 of the 21 goals. 

[KristianT]

5 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

November 2043

2nd game of the new league season...

Love how Plater of the Match was my LWB who made three assists and not Daraboe who scored 11 of the 21 goals. 

FC Bombarded.

[ToMexico!!]

March 2044

[Cheez3y]

Really nice progression.

Complete dominance in Africa and it seems like every talent want to join you.

And since you cant really keep them for more then 2 years, you grown a lot as club and league.

[ToMexico!!]

March 2044

A forgotten transfer update...

In January we saw three players leave. 

We lost a lot of money on Omar Jatta but he wanted to leave having not had much game time behind Kujabi at AML, he goes back to Italy with 50% profit clause if things go well. Egyptian Hassan Soliman never 100% fitted in within the squad, his unfamiliar LWB slot taken by a Gambian and he was never really first choice at CB, we make decent profit and gain another clause. Benfica then came in for Mory Magassa who wasn't registered for the first team domestically. I couldn't really say no to another £400k profit and another clause. 

I replaced Soliman with Jones Jackson, a Ghanaian CB from Hearts of Oak for £100k. I don't see him as a long-term replacement, not that many foreign players stay for long anyway. 

[ToMexico!!]

6 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Really nice progression.

Complete dominance in Africa and it seems like every talent want to join you.

And since you cant really keep them for more then 2 years, you grown a lot as club and league.

Thanks, utter dominance domestically, although the recent loss suggests we're not having it all our own way. 

It's been a bit of a struggle recently to find replacements, most players we're scouting are coming back as, at most, B's for ratings. But that may be a scout personnel issue. I like that we can't keep the foreign players for long, I like manually scouting and unearthing a player from the depths of the Ivory Coast pyramid or its Tanzania etc etc. 

[Cheez3y]

15 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Thanks, utter dominance domestically, although the recent loss suggests we're not having it all our own way. 

It's been a bit of a struggle recently to find replacements, most players we're scouting are coming back as, at most, B's for ratings. But that may be a scout personnel issue. I like that we can't keep the foreign players for long, I like manually scouting and unearthing a player from the depths of the Ivory Coast pyramid or its Tanzania etc etc. 

I would say atleast CL semi final for the past 10+ years (I ignore the one quarter in between) is continental dominance in my eyes too.

The big teams from the northern countries are and will always be very strong.

 

Struggle to find replacements...I know that feeling from my China, KSA and now Chile save.

This is always the hardest part in countries/league with foreign restrictions.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Cheez3y

[ToMexico!!]

2 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

I would say atleast CL semi final for the past 10+ years (I ignore the one quarter in between) is continental dominance in my eyes too.

The big teams from the northern countries are and will always be very strong.

 

Struggle to find replacements...I know that feeling from my China, KSA and now Chile save.

This is always the hardest part in countries/league with foreign restrictions.

Yes of course continentally too but we've had a couple of lucky scrapes through and penalty wins in the finals. 

Tunisian sides seem to be the bane of my life, Morrocco, Algeria and Egpyt less so. 

I love the foreign limit of just four players for the Gambia, I've done other African saves where it's 10 and it's too much. Normally you would get foreign players who nationalise but so far I've only managed one and then I sold him. It takes five years to gain Gambian citizenship, like I said we're lucky to keep a foreign player for more than two seasons at the moment. 

So that puts the emphasis on home-grown and youth intakes which aren't really up to a great standard. So also searching for Gambians abroad is a must and patiently waiting for the right time to bring them "home". But then I do love the Poaching aspect of the game, although that seems to have dried up on us after the three at the turn of the decade. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2044

A poor intake due to only having one "top talent" coming through. Ansumana Barry can't run for toffee and has the dreaded low determination double. 

Taking a look elsewhere, here are the top talents from abroad...

• Lamin Sanyang - born in Belgium and already capped at U19 level, I don't us being able to bring him to The Gambia. 
• Ismaila Jatta - in Spain with Oviedo, a CB but again has the low determination double. 
• Abdoulie Koroma - in Italy with Taranto, a CM but unambitious. Is playing first team football so should improve. 
• Musa Savage - our poached player, has become interested in signing for us which we may do in the summer. 
• Lamin Janneh - another CB which are in short supply. Again, unambitious/low determination and can't head but may be worth bringing in if possible. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2044

Champions League | League | African Super Cup | Gambian Cup

We went into the ACL final against Al-Ahly with 40 players away on international duty, we had just three first-team squad players available; Jackson, Fumo and Danso, we'll take a 2-1 loss. We returned to a full squad for the 2nd leg and we smashed them 3-0 in Egpyt to retain the ACL once more. The loss in the league was devastating, it ended our 286-game unbeaten run, it came at the hands of PSV Wellingara. 154 goals scored and nine conceded, still, some way to equal 2040/41's single goal conceded. The board were devastated at the Super Cup loss on penalties. We got some payback on PSV defeating them in the Gambian Cup final again. 

A quieter season for goals, with the front two only combining for 138 goals as opposed to 153 last season. It's unlikely Kujabi will be here next season due to a release clause I couldn't get rid of when signing a new deal last season, his goals and assists will be missed unless we're lucky. A brilliant debut season for Carayol at LWB. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2044

The balance was creeping down a bit and these clauses hadn't increased over the season. So we regained the losses from across the season by selling these three clauses. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2044

Since leaving to join Benfica, Mory Magassa has not featured for the Portuguese side. So when the clause became available for a tad over £4m, I had to sell it. 

[himan]

No world club cup?

[ToMexico!!]

14 minutes ago, himan said:

No world club cup?

We played in the 2037 edition, finishing bottom of our group. 

For some reason, we didn't play in the 2041 tournament. Raja Casablanca, Sundowns and Al-Ahly played in it from Africa. 

The next one is in 2045. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2044

Just rejected this bid from Hertha Berlin for Doudou Sarr...

[ToMexico!!]

September 2044

This is out of the blue...

[ToMexico!!]

November 2044

Five first-team players left the club this close season. Muhammed Bah returned to Austria, Kujabi was the biggest loss heading to France, Juwara's head was turned by Qatari side Al-Sailiya, Lamin Bah hardly featured and I needed rid of Idriss Sima. We get small fee's for all and a few extra clauses added in. 

Incoming were...

Just three players as we looked to promote more from within. 

Chibundu Utin is a little older than I would normally buy but he's a much better defender than those he is joining, physical, determined, can tackle and can head. I then splurged on formerly poached player Ali Dambelleh from Real Sociedad, not in the fee of £150k though, we're paying £6k p/w in wages for the 19 year old back up striker. I had a bid accepted for another poached player Musa Savage at Las Palmas but he wanted just shy of £15k p/w to join but he isn't as good as our current LWB Carayol. So, instead I decided to sign Cherno Saidy from PSV Wellingara for his release clause of £170k, a much cheaper alternative. 

Losing Kujabi and not finding a replacement has prompted another slight formation tweak. 

We've moved the AML to AMC(R), switched the AMR from an IF to W, moved the PF centrally, moved the AF to the left. We may swap the BPD and NCB around, allowing the left-sided CB to cover the wing-back who I've allowed free roam of the left hand side paired with a Mezzala who will hopefully arrive late into the box for his crosses/passes.