Real de Banjul returned to dominance as they won back-to-back league titles for the third time in the club’s history. Their dominant output is spearheaded by Coach Ebrima Jatta, who handed them their 14th domestic league title with 68 points. He broked the Hawks points mark set in 2022 and set a record for the highest goals scored in a season (55) goals.
Jatta, who won three coaches of the month award and was named coach of the season, sat with the Alkamba Times to reflect on the just concluded season.
“Real de Banjul winning the league is the least expected; Real have been winning for the longest time. Real de Banjul saw me from afar and believes that I match with the club’s vision and ambitions. I am still learning, just as I did under Yaya Manneh (Lamin Utd), Pierre, Alagie Sey, Ebou Jarra at (Armed Forces), Bai Malleh Wadda, Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko at (Real de Banjul). I learned a lot under these coaches. All trophies that I won, I won them as assistant coach: the 2016 League and FA Cup with GAF and the 2023 League title with Real de Banjul. At the end, Real de Banjul put all their eggs in one basket and handed it to me, and I delivered. It means a lot to me. By winning the league, credit goes to the management, players, and technical team all the way down to the fans. It’s a collective effort.” He mentioned
Coach Jatta lost Alasana Yirajang and Ousman Kujabi, among others who signed professional contracts in the course of the season, and both Muhammed Susso and Abdoulie Ceesay weren’t available during the Falcons match.
✅ DONE DEAL ✅#ModousticSportsPR is delighted to announce the transfer of winger Muhammed Suso and striker Abdoulie Ceesay to Paide Linnameeskond.
Suso, 18, and Ceesay, 20, join the Estonian club from Gambian league champions Real de Banjul FC.
All the best in Paide boys!😍 pic.twitter.com/G8nJUj9JL4
— Modoustic Sports PR (@modousticPR) July 5, 2024
“It’s part of my responsibilities as a coach to change attitude and performances to standard. I build my players to meet the true world of a professional footballer.
I reach the point where I agree that you don’t tell a Gambian player that you are a good footballer; it either destroys his character or destroys his football. I always tell them to improve themselves. Football is step by step. Our success this season is not based on individual brilliance; rather, the team final third. The final third is very paramount, and it’s our responsibility too to teach the players about the final third. It’s not important who scores; rather, the three points themselves. From the goalkeeper to the midfielder, they are all experienced players except Mustapha Nyassi. We made sure we had a solid foundation at the back, which made us less worried. Therefore we used our speed, technique, skills, and vision, and at the end only Steve Biko stopped us from scoring. The whole team understood how we were playing.”
Basori Fortress
The Basori ground has witnessed three hat tricks by the whites and a comeback against Bombada, Samger, and BST as the whites had a memorable season. Jatta admitted they were moments to savor.
“We started to make the Basori ground a fortress; in the last two seasons it was difficult to win our home matches, and we look for ways to improve that as a team by knowing the ins and the outs of our ground. My mentor Paul Put used to say that the best way to attack is to defend, and the best way to build a team is to start from the defense. It took me eight working days to build my defensive concept across the board, being the high-pressing, balancing behind the ball, the back four working as a unit. We didn’t score much in our first five games because we were trying to be compact at the back. “
“Gambian footballers have weaknesses, and our management saw that the weaknesses are lack of enough rest; feeding becomes a problem; therefore, the management camped the young players, especially the attacking players. Because the objective of the club is to develop these players and sell them, it is our responsibility as coaches to make sure we help and make sure the project works. The camper helped us really well. The level of witness we have, I don’t think most of our opponents have it, and we use this as a weapon. All these players are hungry,” he hinted.
Glory days always have been in real
“Real de Banjul is a club that they never regret at the end of the season. The glory days are always at Real; they either sell players or win titles. During that trophy-barren period, you ask yourself how many players Real sold. Therefore, you have to know Real de Banjul’s objective as a club; they always want to produce a player and sell him and win trophies or be among the top three. There is always an abundance of talent in the club. The way you go with them, that’s what gives you the result, despite lots of many Gambian players lacking tactical awareness. “
Jatta further revealed his expectations for the coming season as he maintains it won’t be different from the 2023;24 campaign.
“My target for next season will be the same; I will set the pace, and that is to win the league and break the record we set, and make Basori a fortress and win as much as possible in our away match. We lost at Bakau, Banjul, and Serekunda East because these grounds are injury risks to our players, and they were living with that fear factor. We got two wins in the East, one in Bakau, and in Banjul we got two wins. The federation can help us improve these grounds or build new grounds so that we put quality in performance. These grounds affected our style of play and may lead to neutral asking if this is the team leading the table. We are only comfortable playing in Basori and Brikama Boxbar.” Jatta concluded.
