After A String Of Poor Results Gambia Axes National Coach

The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) announced on Saturday it had parted ways with coach Raoul Savoy following a string of poor results.

The decision came as a surprise after the GFF had earlier backed the Swiss coach following the Scorpions’ elimination in the preliminary round of Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying in October by Namibia.

Savoy’s dismissal was announced at a hastily arranged news conference in Banjul.

“We have a mutual agreement amongst the stakeholders to terminate the services of Raoul,” said GFF official Ebou Faye.

“The coach himself has been contacted about this development and hence we want to move on, it is important that we take a different approach,” Faye added.

The search for an immediate replacement has begun and it is believed the GFF is not limiting its choice to only a foreign coach.

42-year old Savoy was appointed on 14 May as Peter Bonu Johnson’s successor but failed to win any of his five matches in charge.

Savoy lost his last match with The Gambia 2-1 away to Namibia following a frustrating 1-1 draw at home in the preliminary rounds of Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying.

Courtesy of BBC Sports

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2 Comments

  1. Unfortunately, endless sackings and hirings of coaches/managers will not solve the problem…

    You can have the best manager in the world, but if the resources are lacking, the results will be the same : disappointment, poor performance and underachievement…Even great managers like Sir Alex Fergusson, can’t do much with Gambian football in its current state…

    A complete rethink of football development and management is necessary to produce the desired results for the national game…

    An important component of this rethink is how young talents are identified, nurtured, managed, protected and guided in their career development towards the fulfilment of their potentials, as professional players that can attract attention and interest, from teams in the world’s top leagues…

    We got to stop sending our young upstarts to the US League because that path, though lucrative financially, is a “death knell” in any ambitious young player’s career.. .Only players at the end of their careers go to the US..

  2. Bax, I think the players want to be rich , so there is no problem to come to USA to make the money if that is where they can have biggest pay check . A lot of Americans are gaining interest in “Soccer” as they call it here .
    I agree with you about the soccer players career development. The problem with soccer players in The Gambia is that they are not well paid and managed . We need to start training our young players at very early age so that they can master the game and love it .

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