By:Baboucarr Fallaboweh, TAT Sports Editor
Bakary Sanneh has been a Forest Green fan since 2017, the season ticket holder was there when Forest Green gained promotion to League two but more importantly joined the 100s of fans at the One Call Stadium as the club wrote history.
It was a game he didn’t regret attending due to the euphoria.
” The Game was crazy at some point, I thought that was it after The Stags went 2-1 up but Jost March scored two minutes later to give us hope, after the final whistle we couldn’t celebrate because the game at St Jane’s Park was still going, it was a nervy one minute. I am glad I had the opportunity to celebrate with the team on the pitch.” Sanneh remembered with nostalgic feelings.
Alkamba Times Sports: Where did you and Forest Green find each other?
Bakary: In 2017 I visited the New Lawn stadium and learned about the effort the Club was doing outside of football to save the environment. It’s nice to breathe clean air and FGR is all about Sustainability, I fell in love with that. They have managed to inspire a lot of other organizations, been the GREENEST football club in the world says a lot. With the construction of Eco Park and all the other facilities the club is fulfilling its projects and giving back to the community and at the same time staying Green and being sustainable.”
Alkamba Times Sports: League One is a big boys league, how will the Greens survive?
Bakary: The target is to stay in League one, for the first season, so finishing mid-table will be a huge effort. Off course, we will lose some quality players, but our recruitment has been great in the past two seasons, I believe the team is on the hunt for a replacement already, and I also believe we will spend heavily on one or two quality players to strengthen the squad. Our target is that the next 3 seasons we are going to Championship, then another three to four seasons we target the premier league.”
Alkamba Times Sports: Your best game of the season?
Bakary: it must be against Mansfield (H)
I think it was a game in hand and winning it was so important towards our hunt for promotion and Mansfield at the time was in a good run of form. It was just one of the games I wasn’t gonna be disappointed if we had lost it, so it was a joy to witness the win.”
Alkamba Times Sports: Another two crucial games followed against Bristol Rovers and Mansfield again, pressure or not?
Bakary: The game was tense, as FGR only needed a point, the atmosphere was amazing after the final whistle, you can see what it meant to the players and fans. A little club on top of a hill in a small Village called Nailsworth with a population of 5,000 people in League one, is something unimaginable.
it was a mixed feeling at the beginning of the season the way we were playing there were high hopes, at some point in the midseason, we were 10 points clear of the 2nd place team and at a point also we were 18 points ahead of Exeter who finished in 2nd place. The past 3 seasons have seen us struggle with the last 15 games, this season was not an exception, but the difference with this season was that we opened up a 10 point gap and the teams below us weren’t doing well, we went 7 games without a win and remained top spot. Going into the last game, winning the title wasn’t in our hands, but we knew we had a chance if other results go our way, and everything went our way.
Alkamba Times Sports: In the long run, You will love to see your boys playing for the Greens, but what role do you think you can help in Forest Green?
Bakary: I think we are all part of the project in one way or the other and we are contributing to it. I hope one day I can play a big part in Sustainability in Sports. I aim to strengthen this in The Gambia shortly.
Alkamba Times Sports: You and Ebou how is the Gambia connection? we have seen you raising the Gambian flag in Cameroon.
Bakary: Offcourse I and Ebou share a lot from FGR to Gambia National team, and he appreciates me as he mentions all time. I appreciate him too and I have always been a big Supporter of Ebou. I welcomed him to FGR from day one and I believe he needed that. We Journeyed to the AFCON together and we hope for more AFCONS ahead. Ebou is one of the most humble guys in the FGR Squad and the FGR fans will attest to that.
