Wonderkid Factory | Part 3 | Takeover Precedes Gunma Playoff Push

Thespa Gunma’s young stars achieved a solid top-half finish in the longest football season known to man, as a 16-month J3 League campaign finally ended in May. That overperformance saw managed Robaato Rasamu field interview requests from J2 sides Akita, Imabari, Iwata, Shimizu and Sapporo, but of course he wanted to stay put and further develop his youngsters.

A taxable profit of £800k in Rasamu’s first year in charge had seen the club’s bank balance soar to £3m, and they were only spending £28k of the £45k wage budget. That was boosted as several of the club’s older players departed at the end of their contracts along with 12 players in total. Midfielder Enishi Yamamoto was sold to ReinBerg for a new club record £60k, before centre back Shuta Sasa joined Sapporo for his minimum fee of £375k.

Rasamu promoted several youngsters in their place, including midfielders Seigo Ai, Shota Asada and Takeshi Kano and goalkeeper Taiki Nakata. He also brought in some players aged over 19 (which is allowed as we look to make our way up to the top of Japanese football) to boost the current ability, in Senegalese striker Rassoul Ba, South Korean centre back Kwak Seung-Min and Bahraini right back Ramzi Abdulla. He also added a couple of young prospects in Lebanese winger Mark Nicholas and Iranian striker Salman Ghaffari.

Rasamu stuck with the 4-4-2 he’d used last season. Ba comes in as a channel forward, the wide positions were up for grabs, and Rasamu decided to remove the no-nonsense centre back roles he had to use last season.

Second J3 League Season

Rasamu’s transfer business and youth development at least saw Gunma no longer the bookies’ favourites for relegation. They were now predicted to finish 14th with title odds of 50/1. Kumamoto are evens favourites, followed by relegated Imabari (evens) and Matsumoto (3/1), along with Kagoshima (4/1), Ryukyu (9/2), FC Gidu (7/1), Yamaguchi (12/1) and Nara (16/1).

Gunma opened up with a drab 0-0 at home to Nara and a 2-0 defeat at Yamaguchi, before homegrown strikers Masaya Nishi and Takahiro Kato earned a 2-0 win at home to Nagano. Nishi scored the only goal at and Ba came to life with a brace to down YSCC Yokohama 3-1, before a narrow 1-0 defeat at Kumamoto. A good start continued, including Ba scoring both in a 2-0 win at Miyazaki and the only goal at Tottori, before Nishi’s brace secured a 3-1 win at home to Hachinohe then scored the only goal at Tochigi.

Vultures Circle Before New Ownership Bid

However, that good start came at the cost of bigger teams showing an interest in Gunma’s star youngsters – including Nishi, winger Tatsuhiro Takahashi and Kato and midfielder Ryotaro Kodama – when the transfer window opened. And, when derogatory bids were rejected, the players got unhappy and caused havoc in the dressing room. One player was allowed to leave, as Kato, who wasn’t getting in the team and told Rasamu he’d leave at the end of his contract, moved to Niigata for £500k and returned to warm the bench on loan. And eventually, Rasamu pinned down Kodama and Nishi to new deals.

At the end of the transfer window, chairperson Mikio Sasaki announced his intention to retire. A few days later, the board enforced a transfer embargo with rumours of several interested parties circling. And just two days later, the embargo was lifted as a consortium led by Kitakyushu-based investor Kaito Niinuma completed a takeover and invested £300k into the club. Rasamu wasted no time making some requests and, despite rejecting youth facilities, Niinuma agreed to boost youth recruitment to “established.”

On the pitch, Gunma endured a six-game winless streak. But they snapped it with a 2-0 at Yokohama and striker Seiji Goto and Takahashi earned a slightly fortuitous 2-1 win over Kumamoto, which lifted them into the playoff places. Albeit only briefly, as they lost 2-1 at 2nd-place Kagoshima and at home to 4th-place Gifu.

Another little tricky spell was bucked by Ba and Goto edging a 2-1 win at home to Tottori. That left Gunma in 5th place with 2nd to 7th split by 7 points going into the final five games. Takahashi earned a hard-fought point at Hachinohe, and a heroic display by goalkeeper Tomoyuki Koyama, making nine saves along with Asada’s strike just before halftime, edged a vital 1-0 win at home to 5th-place Tochigi. That was backed up by another 1-0 courtesy of Goto, which moved Gunma up to a new high of 4th, still 5 points off 2nd with two games remaining.

The strong form continued as Ba laid on goals for Goto and Takahashi to earn a dominant 2-0 at Iwaki, taking them 3 points ahead of 7th for the final day. The campaign wrapped up with a 1-1 at home to Matsumoto, which wrapped up a playoff place. Ginma finished in a strong 4th position with 64 points after 17 wins, 13 draws and 8 defeats, scoring 45 and conceding just 28.

That teed up a one-leg playoff semi against Kumamoto at a neutral venue. Nishi, returning from injury, took 13 minutes to poke them in front and it stayed that way until Kumamoto equalised on the break. But Gunma kept going and a freekick was headed across goal by Kwak for Kato to score his first goal since his return.

A week later, the playoff final took them to Matsumoto for an away match, which felt a bit unfair! The hosts dominated early on but Gunma landed the first blow as a ball into big Ba was glanced on for Nishi to smash past the keeper. And it was soon two, as Takahashi got down the left, cut inside and teed up Asada to convert into the bottom corner. Gunma nearly scored a wonderful third as an exquisite Ba backheel sent Nishi clean through, but his chip cannoned back off the bar. But it didn’t take long for the goal to come, as Takahashi again skinned his man and passed for Nishi to turn home.

Thespa Gunma were promoted to J2 League!

Celebrating an Unexpected Promotion

Rasamu was delighted with his young players’ progress this season, putting in a strong run of form at the end of the season to charge to an unexpected promotion. And he hoped that promotion would at least appease the youngsters looking to “move to bigger clubs.”

Nishi again led the club’s goalscoring chart with 17. But the arrival of Ba had defintely been a catalyst, bringing a physical presence up top and delivering 10 goals and a club-high 12 assists. Asada also impressed in his first season in the first team with 5 goals and 11 assists, Takahashi scored 9 with 7 assists and centre back Rikiru Nakano scored 8 with 3 assists. But Rasamu was slightly concerned by the lack of goals and assists from the two holding midfielders.

Here’s a more detailed look at how our homegrown players have progressed in their time at the club, with Nishi and Takahashi the big standouts.

And here’s an overview of the better prospects in the youth teams. None really stand out as overly exciting at the moment, especially after a pretty dismal youth intake.