Shama Deadman is about to complete his first season as Basel manager… but will it be one to celebrate?
In the previous chapter, he began his tenure by giving ‘Die Bebbi’ a slender lead at the halfway stage of the Swiss Super League. They are also still competing in the Swiss Cup, but have dropped into the Europa Conference League after finishing 3rd in their Europa League group.
Today’s chapter will take us through the second half of the 2029/2030 campaign. Can Basel bring an end to Young Boys’ dominance of Swiss football? And after nearly 10 years in management, can Shama finally deliver some silverware?
WINTER TRANSFER WINDOW
Much like in Hungary, Switzerland’s winter transfer window doesn’t align perfectly with the rest of Europe – opening from mid-January to mid-February. Anyway, here’s what I did to try and consolidate Basel’s Super League lead:
Firstly, we sold our star right-winger Pierfrancesco Landi to AZ for £10million. Yes, he’s quick, but his crossing and decision-making aren’t all that great. More worryingly, Landi has already missed four months’ worth of action this season with seven different injuries – basically, he’s the Swiss Darren Anderton!
Landi’s exit will mean a more prominent role for 21-year-old Matteo Santarsiero, who has actually impressed me this term – with one goal and six assists in 12 league games. Granted, Matteo’s coach report says he “could have real problems with injuries” too, but his injury record isn’t quite as bad as Landi’s.
Also leaving us was midfielder Simon Sohm, who headed to Beijing for £6.5million after struggling to carve out a clear role in my team. Several other players received big offers from China, but our finances were so healthy that I wasn’t desperate to sell. I even rejected a £47million bid for 30-year-old left-winger Sead Hakšabanović, who had been our outstanding performer this term!
Lastly, some more of our youngsters went out on loan. These included the Brazilian box-to-box midfielder Matheus, who returned to Servette after spending most of last season there.
I brought in six new players, all aged 20 or under. Greek inside-forward Theofanis Fortounis and Danish striker Louis Engell are particularly exciting prospects for the future, as is the wonderfully-named defender Gozie Spice, who we snatched on a free transfer – from Woking!
In terms of first-team players, my biggest investment was Sanel Ibric – who might just be the out-and-out goalscorer we’ve been crying out for. Sanel didn’t come cheap, costing us £18.25million from Hajduk Split in Croatia…
…but just look at all those green attributes! He’s quick, flamboyant, clinical, and has gorgeous technique. His average natural fitness is my only real concern about this 20-year-old Bosnian wonderkid, who looks like an elite goalscorer in the making!
He was soon joined by a couple of cheap Swedes. We beat Milan to the signing of the versatile and unpredictable Jesper Sjögren. The skilful 19-year-old from Kalmar can play as an attacking midfielder, a right-winger, or even up front as a deep-lying forward.
A few days later, his compatriot Ulf Ericsson (also 19) arrived on a free transfer, having left Östers in November. I took a punt on this guy before getting a full scout report, as he seemed to have some very high key attributes for a deep-lying playmaker. Aside from his limited positional awareness, I think the gamble’s worked out pretty well!
FEBRUARY & MARCH 2030
You remember when I said that I’d settled on a 4-4-2 after chopping and changing throughout the first half of the season? It didn’t last. We barely won our first game back after Luzern‘s goalkeeper put in the performance of his life, making FOURTEEN saves and restricting us to just two goals (including a penalty) from 3.54 xG.
An even worse result came at home to Sion, where we had 2.36 xG, didn’t score at all – and lost to an 86th-minute free-kick. Winger Jean-Pierre Bodin then gave us a lead in Zürich, who left it until the 94th minute before equalising – also from a free-kick.
After those games, I switched back to a 4-2-3-1 – and our new signings duly trounced Servette 3-0. Ericsson headed in a free-kick from Sjögren before Ibric signalled his arrival with a couple of well-taken strikes. We followed that up with a 2-0 win over Neuchâtel Xamax, before a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Young Boys, who just about kept themselves top.
Then came a crazy match at 3rd-placed St Gallen. ‘Die Espen’ twice took the lead after their star striker dribbled through our defence, but equalisers from Ibric and centre-half Jan Bamert kept us in the game at half-time. As our opponents wore themselves out, we struck twice in the closing stages to win 4-2 – and retake top spot from a YB team who’d surprisingly lost at home to Lausanne!
Though Lausanne later held us to a 0-0 draw, we bounced back with successive home wins over Wil and Luzern. They weren’t easy, mind – Wil’s rock-bottom, leaky defence kept us goalless for 71 minutes before Dennis Zaugg came off the bench and bagged a seven-minute hat-trick!
While March had gone pretty smoothly for us, the same couldn’t be said of our league rivals. Young Boys had fallen six points behind after a couple more poor home results, while St Gallen had lost FOUR in a row and were now 11 points adrift! With two months to go, the Super League title was Basel’s to lose!
Meanwhile, we kicked off the Europa Conference League knockout rounds with a 0-0 home draw against CSKA Moscow. Vice-captain Salifou Diarrassouba then grabbed an early opener in Moscow, but CSKA took the game to us in the second half, pulling one goal back before having a second disallowed for offside. After that massive scare, Santarsiero finally killed them off with this 89th-minute winner!
That sent us through to the Round of 16, where we faced Russian opposition again. A couple of Ibric goals secured a 2-0 home win over Krasnodar, who couldn’t breach a stubborn Basel defence in the return leg at their place. We had battled into the Quarter Finals – but with Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Valencia next up, surely our dream run would soon be over?
Our defence of the Swiss Cup wasn’t over yet, though. Because of our European exploits, our Quarter Final with Sion was delayed several times and was eventually played during the March international break. Despite being without several senior players, a youthful Basel team still managed to win 2-0 and set up a Semi Final against Zürich.
My first Basel youth intake was very exciting, with at least three players who look like potential stars. A couple of Greek-Germans lead the way – Antonios Iliadis is a commanding goalkeeper who’s adept with his hands and both feet, while Stefanos Arsenidis is an aggressive but selfless defensive midfielder who can also play at right-back. It’s also worth keeping tabs on the brave Srđan Petrović at left-back.
APRIL 2030
A crucial April started brightly, as we made it four straight league wins with a couple of clinical displays against Zürich and Sion. To make things even better, Young Boys dropped a couple more points, which meant that the champions were now EIGHT points behind with six games to play!
Of course, long-time readers will remember that my Győr team led the Hungarian league by seven points last season and still had to settle for 2nd! This was no time for us to get complacent or let the wheels fall off… but that was exactly what happened.
Firstly, 4th-placed Servette held us to a 1-1 draw in Genéve. A clever corner routine with Hakšabanović saw Sjögren score our first shot on target, but then the ‘Grenet’ responded by scoring from their first. A second-half slog ended with the points shared, and YB cutting our lead down to six points as we headed into a title showdown.
You couldn’t downplay the importance of our second visit to the Wankdorf this season. Victory would move us nine points clear, and with such a theoretically easy run-in, the title would surely be ours. But if Young Boys prevailed and moved within three points, the pressure would really be on.
It wasn’t even close in the end. While we were too focussed on playing not to lose, YB were determined to win – and they dominated the first period to take a 3-0 lead at half-time! We put up more of a fight after the break, but Ibric’s 89th-minute consolation goal was too little, too late.
We were throwing the Super League away – just like we had thrown away the Swiss Cup four days earlier. Ibric kicked off our Semi Final by breaching the Zürich defence after just three minutes, but had a second goal ruled out for offside.
The hosts then scored a couple of free-kick goals before half-time to take a 2-1 lead, which a wasteful Basel attack couldn’t turn around in the second period. Our Cup defence was over, and Zürich advanced to the Final, where they would beat Lausanne on penalties.
Our Europa Conference League exploits also ended, at the Quarter Finals. Our defence somehow restricted Valencia to just one goal in a one-sided contest at St Jakob-Park. When it came to the second leg at the Nuevo Mestalla, Valencia’s class shone right through – after 73 minutes, they were leading 3-1 on the night, and 4-1 on aggregate.
With barely a quarter-hour left to score three goals, we threw everything we had left at ‘Los Che’. Santasiero and Ertan Yalçın each scored in the 86th minute to make it 3-3 on the night. Midfielder Alexandre Jankewitz even blazed over a last-minute chance that would’ve sent us through on away goals, but we still went out with our heads held high.
MAY 2030
Our run-in continued with three straight home games – the first of which was against Neuchâtel Xamax. A fortunate own goal from Yalçın’s right-wing cross put us 1-0 up after just five minutes, but we then missed several chances to build a clear lead. And when Xamax had their first shot early in the second half – a 25-yard drive that hit BOTH posts before going in – I thought, “Here we go again…”
With Ibric struggling to put his shots away, I desperately threw Zaugg on up front. ‘Dennis The Menace’ had become a forgotten man since Sanel’s arrival, but his strike from Santarsiero’s 70th-minute through-ball turned things right around. Veteran midfielder Nicolas Janvier also came off the bench to score as he completed a 3-1 win, and there was better news to come…
…because St Gallen had snatched a last-gasp winner over Young Boys! With three games left, our six-point lead was restored!
It was just as well, as we fired blanks in our next game – against St Gallen. The visiting goalkeeper was almost unbeatable, in fairness, but Ertan went off the boil and we never looked confident of finding the net. Fortunately, our defence recorded a first clean sheet in eight attempts, so we still came away with a draw.
YB recovered from a poor start at Lausanne to win their game, which left them four points behind us – with six left to play for. However, they now knew that a home defeat against Wil would hand us the title before our next game? Could the already-relegated bottom-dwellers somehow dethrone the champions?
Oh my word, they almost did! YB were literally seconds away from losing the title when midfielder Sajmir Berisha banged in a screamer from the edge of the box!
Ah well. That just meant we still had to get a result against 8th-placed Lausanne – and even a draw would suffice. Things were looking good in the 27th minute, when a through-ball from newly-capped Switzerland midfielder Raul Quevedo set up this potentially crucial goal for Hakšabanović:
Incredibly, that was our only goal of the game – despite dominating the match stats with 21 shots (2.64 xG), 8 shots on target, 58% possession, and 90% pass completion. Meanwhile, our defence limited Lausanne to one shot on target. Guess how the match finished?
We WON, which meant WE WON THE SUPER LEAGUE! After 10 years, I’ve finally lifted my first trophy as a manager! [Unfortunately, I didn’t get a trophy presentation in-game.]
With Basel back on top for the first time since 2026, we could take things easy in our final game, away to Wil. We raced into a 5-0 half-time lead (with Ibric scoring twice from left-wing), and then I threw on some kids in a goalless second period.
And there we have it! Basel have broken Young Boys’ stranglehold on the Swiss Super League, finishing nine points clear of the former champions.
As first seasons go, this is what Die Bebbi’s most famous fan Roger Federer would call an “ace”. I should be absolutely delighted, right?
Actually… I’m more relieved. Considering how dominant we were in many of our league matches, it was frustrating that we still managed to make life difficult for ourselves. I was more pleasantly surprised to see YB have similar problems against weaker opponents, which eventually helped us to race clear of them.
Honestly, we could’ve wrapped up the title long before the penultimate weekend. When things got tight, some of our defensive players tended to crumble under pressure. I even dropped José Emiliano Cruz and Stéphane Bahi for our final few matches, with 19-year-old Javier Murillo replacing Cruz as our starting left-back and 17-year-old David Bröker getting some chances on the right. They both seem to be developing pretty nicely…
If Basel want to defend their title more convincingly next season (and go deep in either the Champions League or the Europa League), we will need to tighten up that defence and add some more midfield creativity. But should I be the man to carry out that rebound…
…or is this a case of ‘one and done’? Having finally proven myself as a champion, I am now free to pursue a job back in England. Has the time come for me to have a crack at the Premier League… or any of the other ‘Big Five’ European leagues?
Decisions, decisions…
What do you reckon, folks? Should Shama stay at Basel and build on a successful first season in Switzerland? Should he now try his luck in the elite leagues, and maybe even return to Britain? Feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me @Fuller_FM.
In a change from my normal schedule, the next chapter will drop on Thursday evening. There, we will review the 2029/2030 season in more detail – and we’ll also see what the wider footballing world looks like in 2030!
Thanks for reading!
Fuller FM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.