Hereford historian Ron Parrott has produced a pen-pic for the latest addition to the Hereford squad, Pa Sulay Njie.
Born Slough 2nd August 1992
Born of Gambian parents, Pa Sulay's first team in the UK was Pinley FC, a local junior team in Coventry. He was spotted by scouts from the now defunct Hinckley United and joined the Southern League Premier side's youth squad in the summer of 2004 at the age of 12. He went on to win the "Golden Boot" award for scoring 30 goals in his first full season in youth football and also won the Players' player-of-the-Year award. After a short stay with Hinckley, Pa Sulay next appeared when he turned up for training with Coventry City Youth in the summer of 2006 at the age of 14, he was taken on trial in their Academy and offered a deal after a successful trial. Sadly, he suffered a serious ankle injury and was out of action for 10 months and released at the end of the season.
Once recovered from his injury, Pa Sulay joined Nuneaton Town at the age of 15 in July 2007 on a three -year deal, initially on an Academy Scholarship. It's fair to say that he didn't set the world on fire and the highlight of his stay was scoring the winner for Nuneaton in the final of the Birmingham Senior Cup in a 1-0 victory over Birmingham City's youngsters. Pa Sulay was released at the end of his contract with Nuneaton in the summer of 2010. At this time, he started to play for the Gambian U-20s, known as the "Scorpions" and he made his international debut against Morocco. Returning to the UK, Pa Sulay had a trial with Stoke City's U-23s in 2012 but wasn't offered a contract and spent the rest of 2012/13 without a club. However, in the summer of 2013, Stoke invited him back for a second trial "to have a proper look at him" and this time, he was offered a one-year deal with the Potters' U-21s but he was not offered a contract at the end of his stay. Pa Sulay then spent the 2012/13 season with Kettering Town in the Southern League Premier but the club was in turmoil at the time and were relegated at the end of the season. After an unsuccessful two-week trial with Shrewsbury Town, he then joined Boston United in February 2014 until the summer of 2015. Pa Sulay then returned to Gambia and signed for Real de Banjul who plied their trade in the Gambian Premier League of which they were current champions. Pa Sulay played well and scored 13 times in 29 games during the two campaign he was with the club.
He was determined to play in the UK and in October 2016, he had a couple of weeks on trial with Cheltenham Town but unfortunately it didn't work out and Pa Sulay returned to Gambia to complete the 2016/17 season with Real de Banjul. Undeterred, he turned up at Worcester City in March 2017 and former Hereford player John Snape, now manager of Worcester City, was keen to sign him but had to await international clearance. He did eventually sign but he struggled for match fitness so after just three games, City secured a dual registration deal with Sutton Coldfield Town of the Northern Premier League. This arrangement continued until his release in March 2018, when Pa Sulay had a trial in the Swedish First Division with Mjällby AIF but this didn't lead anywhere so a week later, he crossed the border into Denmark and had a trial with AC Horsens, which was again unsuccessful.
Pa Sulay returned to Real de Banjul in
Gambia for the 2018/19 season and in July 2019, he was without a club
again until he joined Turkish Super League club Hatayspor and scored
nine times for them in nineteen starts but sadly, Pa Sulay suffered a
serious ankle injury before he left and it kept him out for a whole
year. He slowly worked his way back to fitness and started training
again with League Two Walsall in February 2020 but it wasn't until July
2021 that he was fit enough to look for a new club. He started off by
training with Swindon Town in July 2021 but it wasn't until that October
that he arrived at Edgar Street on non-contract terms. At 6'1", Pa
Sulay could either play as a striker or in midfield, he certainly
looked.the part. Time will tell.