Wonderkid Factory | Part 6 | Surviving Board Interventions for Another Playoff Shot

For the second time in 12 months, Thespakusatsu Gunma suffered promotion playoff heartache fresh from recording the best position in club history in 2030. Their overachievement saw manager Robaato Rasamu interviewed by relegated J1 League side Cerezo Osaka, but he remained committed to the Gunma cause.

Rasamu began the 2030/31 campaign by releasing 21 players, while the board approached him to improve the club’s youth facilities – without telling him it would cost £2m! That left the club with £4.1m in the bank, a transfer budget of £5.25m and £25k of the £60k budget going spare. But it was boosted by selling Givaldo, another Brazilian free transfer failure from two years ago, to Kofu for £750k. Rasamu’s moronic board went over his head to accept a poorly structured £4m bid for star centre back Diogo Soares Cruz, who thankfully rejected the move. Then, at the end of deadline day, they did it again to accept a pathetic £1.4m bid from Júbilo Iwata for full back Giovani Fernandes.

Rasamu smashed the club’s transfer record on 18-year-old winger Tenshiro Myogan for £775k from Cerezo Osaka and planned to retrain him to fill a gap at right back. And, as has become the norm, he bulked out the squad with loanees. Rasamu also decided to retrain midfielder Ryotaro Kodama as a centre back and winger Shota Osada as a central midfielder, as he switched to a more aggressive 4-3-3 that drops into a 4-5-1.

Strong Start to Season 5 at Gunma

Gunma’s odds got cut to 16/1 this season, with the bookies predicting them to finish 8th in J2. Relegated Cerezo are 1/3 favourites, followed by YF Marinos (5/4), Albirex Niigata (6/1) and Nagoya Grampus and Shonan Bellmare (7/1).

Rasamu’s fifth season at Gunma began with a dreadful match at Tokushima Vortis, which deserved to finish 0-0 but for midfielder Kentaro Ogawa finishing off the only moment of quality in the 92nd minute. They were much improved a week later as striker Masaya Nishi’s brace led a 4-1 win at home to Sapporo and striker Matheus’ penalty nicked another 1-0 at Mito Hollyhock. And Rasamu reached 200 games in management with Matheus earning a 2-0 win at home to Niigata. The good start continued, despite a run of drawing 8 out of 11 matches in October and November. Gunma improved with wins over rivals Mito Hollyhock and Albirex Niigata in December, which took them into 2031 sitting in 2nd place in J2 League.

Injuries Lead to a Tricky Spell

During a two-month break, Rasamu collected his Continental Pro licence, sealed a new three-year contract on £3k a week, and the club’s youth facilities were boosted to “Good.” However, the dumb board were at it again, accepting a £4.8m bid for Soares Cruz and multiple bids of only £1.5m for striker Matheus. But, thankfully, both rejected the moves. And, despite the mass of usual derogatory bids, Gunma held on to all of their young stars.

As usual, a mass of injuries struck – and, thanks to the latest FM26 bug, Rasamu wasn’t able to rest players to prevent it, as that would have seen him offer his entire squad out for transfer! As a result, they lost their first two games of 2031, 2-1 at home to Montedio Yamagata and at Shonan Bellmare. Asada inspired a 3-1 win over Renofa Yamaguchi before a 1-0 defeat at Iwaki and 3-1 defeat at home to runaway leaders Omiya Ardija, which made it four losses in five games, saw the promotion race tighten up with 3 points separating 2nd from 5th.

That forced Rasamu into a tactical switch, moving to a more of a 3-4-3, which started well as Nishi and Asada strikes earned a 2-1 win at Cerezo before Nishi and Matheus earned a 2-0 win at struggling Fujieda. None of the J2 League contenders put together a consistent run of form, including the leaders Omiya, who saw their lead cut from 11 points to 1 point with five games remaining. Furthermore, Gunma slid to 5th but only trailed the leaders by 4 points.

Gunma drew 0-0 at Fagiano Okayama, while Omiya drew 1-1 at Iwata, Gifu got thrashed 5-1 at home to Iwaki and Nagoya lost 1-0 at home to Renofa. But a wasteful Gunma lost 2-0 at home to YF Marinos, despite having 17 shots to 8 and 58% possession, before Soares Cruz’s header earned a 2-2 at Iwata, leaving them 5 points behind Iwaki, who’d leapfrogged Omiya in 2nd. A huge game followed at home to new leaders Gifu and Gunma kept the promotion race interesting by winning 4-2. While that knocked Gifu off top spot, it left Gunma 4 points behind them going into the final day, killing their automatic promotion hopes. However, a 3-1 win at Nagoya on the final day lifted Gunma into 3rd place and with an advantage going into the playoffs.

Gunma finished on a club record 67 points, just 1 point behind Omiya and level on points with Iwaki, to record the highest finish in club history for the third season in a row. Gunma racked up 18 wins, 13 draws and 7 defeats, which was the fewest in the league, scored 62 goals and conceded 42. Nishi was the 13th top scorer with 13, way behind Omiya’s Jorge Rivaldo on 28, while Tomoyuki Koyama made the most saves in the league.

That sent Gunma into the J2 League Playoff Final for the second consecutive season, this time at home to Iwaki, who beat Nagoya 2-1. Gunma started well again and went close as Asada hit the bar after 8 minutes. And they soon hit the front after a brilliant passing move ended with Myogan crossing for Matheus to finish at the near post. Nishi and Myogan had shots well saved before Iwaki undeservedly equalised with their first shot. Iwaki grew into the game after the break, but Gunma eventually got a second with Myogan again providing the cross for sub striker Isao Yoshisa to sweep in at the near post.

Thespakusatsu Gunma won the Playoff Final and were promoted to J1 League!

Homegrown Talents Shine in Gunma Promotion

Rasamu was delighted to finally end Gunma’s playoff pain and secure the club’s first-ever promotion to J1 League. Academy product striker Nishi led the way with 16 goals in 43 games, followed by Matheus (14), Asada (10) and Takahashi (8). While Matheus topped the assists chart with 10, followed by Takahashi and loanee full backs Tatsuya Sakamoto and Yuya Miyoshi (9) and Asada (7).

Rasamu’s attribute ID tracker showed that Matheus had established himself as by far the best player at the club, along with midfielder Luc Andre Siakam, who doesn’t deliver much in goal contributions, and Myogan. Click the image below for a full breakdown of all the homegrown players in the first team.

And below is a breakdown of players coming through the youth team, some of which haven’t really progressed as hoped.

On a more positive front, Gunma had a good youth intake led by two elite prospects in left back Yoshimitsu Mito and giant striker Yusuke Ishii, who’d grown an inch in the two months since the intake. Other players to keep an eye on include midfielder Yutaka Tsuboi, winger Yoshiki Kimura and midfielder Nobuhiro Yoshida.

Rasamu now had a huge task on his hands to strengthen the Thespa Gunma squad to compete in J1 League for the first time. His squad was already a little threadbare, so he was likely to need to bring in reinforcements during the off-season.

Could Rasamu lead Gunma to safety in J1 or would they be in the thick of a relegation battle? Join us next Wednesday to find out!