Unexpected Premier League success with Fulham meant Trebor Mahtal was on the move quicker than expected. The 79-year-old Zambian went in search of his 22nd club fresh from ticking off the 19th letter from his Alphabet Challenge.
That meant the letters now eluding him were: C, D, G, H, I, K and X. Upon resigning, only two clubs that began with those letters had vacancies – one of which was in the newly unlocked Japan. Said Japanese side jumped at the chance to interview Mahtal and, a few days later, offered him the vacant position. And Mahtal jumped at the chance to return to Asia for the first time since leaving Perak in 2032.
Who Are Gamba Osaka?
Gamba Osaka is a professional club based in Suita, a city in the Osaka Prefecture. The club was founded in 1980 under the name Matsushita Electric SC, the company now known as Panasonic, and was a founding member of the J League. Its name changed to Panasonic Gamba Osaka in 1992, before dropping the Panasonic moniker in 1996. And the Gamba element of the name comes from the Japanese word ganbaru (頑張る), meaning “to do your best” or “to stand firm.”
Gamba has two Japanese titles, in 2005 and 2014, and won the Asian Champions League in 2008. However, it’s not finished in the top three of J1 League since a 2nd-place back in 2020. Mahtal only switched on the Japanese league in January, but Gamba have become a very midtable club, finishing between 7th and 16th ever since being promoted back to the top tier in 2043. Gamba still play at the 39,694-capacity Osaka Stadium, which is supported by 19 youth recruitment and 14 training and youth facilities and junior coaching.
Gamba started this season poorly, sitting in the relegation zone with 18 points halfway through the season, albeit only 1 point off safety. The media predicted them to finish 13th, and Mahtal’s new board expects him to “become established” in J1 this season. On the plus side, Mahtal joins a club in a solid financial position with £48m in the bank, £27m in the transfer budget and with £56k of its £260k wage bill available to spend. And that’s only been boosted by £4m of sales in the last five years. Furthermore, Mahtal’s first task was to hire an entire backroom staff.
The best player at Gamba is winger Sena Tobori, along with Korean centre back and captain Jung Won-Jin and midfielder Shintaro Ikefuji. Oddly, they had two good left backs, Mitsuhiro Okanishi and Fuga Tone, and two good right backs, Kenta Yokouchi and Kyohei Yamamoto, along with midfielder Keigo Konno and striker Koki Kaneko. They also had a few decent youngsters to keep an eye on, led by 16-year-old goalkeeper Yosihiro Michiue, striker Hitoshi Shimazaki, midfielder Koji Osada and full back Hayato Tominaga, who Mahtal would be looking to give first-team minutes. Mahtal added to that by bringing in his former Queen’s Park midfielder Ales Vorel, who’d just been released, and later added promising South African striker Wandile Fortuin for £200k from Cape Town City.
Mahtal was initially forced into playing a 4-2-4, as he only had two centre backs and nobody capable of playing in holding midfield. However, he later transitioned to a 3-4-3 approach, which required a few players to retrain, with Tobori and young Korean Ryoo Seung-Min playing as AMs but with instructions to drift wide in behind Kaneko, veteran Kazunori Soga or Fortuin.
Straight Into Relegation Battles
Mahtal’s time in Japan began with three huge relegation clashes within two weeks of being in the country. First up was a trip to 19th-place Fagiano Okayama and they got handed a great start as Konno converted a penalty before Kaneko and striker Jun Okanishi put them 3-0 up inside 38 minutes. Three days later, they entertained 17th-place Yokohama FC and a late strike by sub Soga earned a crucial 2-1 win that moved them 5 points clear of the dropzone. A week off was followed by entertaining bottom-side Hokkaido Sapporo, who were easily dismantled 4-0 led by an Okinashi brace.
After that bright start, things got difficult as they lost 2-0 at 2nd-place Kashima Antlers and a slightly unlucky 3-2 at home to 4th-place Urawa Red Diamonds. Kaneko earned a point at midtable Albirex Niigata, which sent them into a month-long transfer window in which Mahtal moved on five players for a profit of £2.9m.
The 3-4-3 started nicely as Ryoo’s first two senior goals earned a 2-1 win at home to Shonan Bellmare before a really solid 0-0 at 4th-place Vissel Kobe. Those crucial points moved Gamba 11 clear of relegation with 10 games remaining. Fortuin bagged his first goal in a 2-1 win at 16th-place Sagan Tosu, and exciting youngster Osada ran the show with a goal and an assist to defeat Kyoto Sanga 2-1. That saw Osada become Gamba’s youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years 272 days.
Gamba crashed down to earth with a 5-1 hammering at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, but Tobori’s strike earned an impressive 1-1 at home to runaway leaders Yokohama F Marinos. That left them 10 points clear of relegation going into the final five games and, realistically, probably safe. They lost at Nagoya Grampus but another Ryoo double downed Avispa Fukuoka 2-1 to confirm survival with three games remaining. Gamba lost Mahtal’s first Osaka Derby 2-1 at Cerezo, then dominated bottom-side Júbilo Iwata 5-0 but lost 1-0 at Kashiwa Reysol on the final day.
That saw Gamba secure a decent 12th-place finish on 46 points, 11 clear of relegation. They won 13, drew 7 and lost 18, scoring 47 and conceding 53. However, they took 28 points from Mahtal’s 19 games, compared to 18 in 19 before his arrival. And a 56-point tally would have been enough to finish 7th, so they’d definitely progressed under his rule.
Progress and Potential at Gamba Osaka
Mahtal was relatively pleased with the start he’d made in Japan. He had a tricky job turning around a struggling side that had a few too many older, underperforming players. He’d managed to get a reaction from a few of the players while putting faith in some of the club’s young prospects, but it was clear they needed more output. Kaneko led the way with just 9 goals in 26 games followed by Fortuin, who’d made a good start with 5 in 10, Ryoo with 5 in 31 and Tobori with 5 goals and a club-high 6 assists in 41 while learning a new position.
The potential was boosted by an exciting youth intake with five elite talents. The pick of the bunch was apparently full back Takuya Kikuchi, but Mahtal was most excited by midfielder Naoto Tsunoda, along with centre back Yu Fukunishi, midfielder Takayuki Nakamura and 6ft 6in striker Tetsuya Wada.
Mahtal had plenty of work to do in the summer, including binning off a few more older players while bringing through more promising youngsters. But could he strengthen Gamba ahead of his first full season in Japan? Join us on Monday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment