Rana Bose, Guest columnist, mohunbaganclub.com analyses performance of the teams of Indian Football.




Football is a young man’s game. There is no place for grandfathers taking the field donning our Club team colors. If the players of a team get outpaced on numerous occasions then serious questions are raised about the quality, effectiveness and the need to have these so-called stars in the team.

We were outclassed and shocked by the last placed team Sporting Goa on 20th Mar’10. Again the following Saturday (yesterday) we were totally annihilated by Lajong FC. Both teams came and challenged us in our den and came out victors and left us wounded.

Whatever I read and surmised from the two English dailies (Telegraph and ToI), the fit Meghalaya boys from Lajong beat us in every department of the game. They showed more speed, stamina, ball sense and character throughout.


It is useless to ponder as to the chances our team had of scoring. Bottom line is, if our players cannot guide the ball into the net it is to their own undoing. Surkumar Singh did everything correct and his pile-driver went in for the reducer. The others perhaps had left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Simply saying that luck and the referee were not in our side or that X, Y and Z of our team missed chances galore is poor solace and mental consolation and an attempt to run away from the naked truth.


The back-to-back defeats against the league laggards should serve as a wake-up call for the officials. Looking at the performance of the team in the recent matches the time has come to forget any hopes of performing well this year and start planning for a revamp. Superannuated players, who at best now qualify to rest on the easy chair, should be excluded from next year’s team building process and that includes, Barreto, Marcos, Seouka. Mediocre quality players like Lalramluaha, Ishfaq, Kulothungan, Mickey can also be left out from the list. Manju, Mohanraj, Masih, Surkumar, James Singh, Dipak etc., will in any case have to be released for national duties. In short no player should be selected to play for the Club whose quality is mediocre and is there to swell the numbers and expects a piggy-back ride on the others.

 

If we still continue to believe that Barreto is fit enough to contribute for our Club’s cause in the I-League then either we have gone bonkers or our expectation level has degraded to rock-bottom level. Rationality demanded that we had said good-bye to him a couple of years earlier.


Therefore, it is vital that starting next year we should pack the team with promising youngsters who have the ability to run for the whole of 90 minutes. Let the Club have a water-tight 3- year contract with each of these players. At least they will come cheaper than these so called stars.  Also, they will not consciously exhibit below-par performance as the so called star studded line-up has been doing of late.


Finally, the job of coaching should be entrusted to somebody who has enough character and experience in the big league. If we are to perform creditably at the national scenario then coaching cannot be left in the hands of incompetent apprentices. Babloo Bhattacharjee despite his big-mouth is the fittest local man available to take over the coaching responsibilities of this Club. Otherwise, if the officials are in the mood to entrust the job to a foreigner then the ex-Churchill Serbian coach Zoran who is now with the Bangladesh National team could be offered the job.


Foreigners (I believe the cap is still 3 in a team with 1 PIO and an Asian for the next year) should be selected judiciously. The three foreigners preferably should be from one country to maintain good relationship and team-work. This has been proved to be a success, Eduardu –  Joshimar – Edmilson for Chirag, Felix – Kalu- Odafa for Churchill.

 

Running a glamour club of Mohun Bagan’s stature is like running a corporate business house. Part-timers with no long term goals and vision are the worst choice that can befall to this Club.

 

Also, a very pertinent point that needs to be noted, and a worst-case scenario at that, is the continued non-performance by the two big clubs of Kolkata at the national level, This may prompt the UB Group to maintain their exposure to the bare minimum, if not NIL. Even if they do not quit, there will not be any increase in the annual budget. This may prompt promising players to sign for the various cash rich Goan clubs (which are an extension of the family business houses). MMB and KEB will consequently be left with the morsels to fight for and the gradual degradation may cause the following vicious cycle to set in, if not already….Football is a young man’s game. There is no place for grandfathers taking the field donning our Club team colors. If the players of a team get outpaced on numerous occasions then serious questions are raised about the quality, effectiveness and the need to have these so-called stars in the team.


We were outclassed and shocked by the last placed team Sporting Goa on 20th Mar’10. Again the following Saturday (yesterday) we were totally annihilated by Lajong FC. Both teams came and challenged us in our den and came out victors and left us wounded.


Whatever I read and surmised from the two English dailies (Telegraph and ToI), the fit Meghalaya boys from Lajong beat us in every department of the game. They showed more speed, stamina, ball sense and character throughout.


It is useless to ponder as to the chances our team had of scoring. Bottom line is, if our players cannot guide the ball into the net it is to their own undoing. Surkumar Singh did everything correct and his pile-driver went in for the reducer. The others perhaps had left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Simply saying that luck and the referee were not in our side or that X, Y and Z of our team missed chances galore is poor solace and mental consolation and an attempt to run away from the naked truth.


The back-to-back defeats against the league laggards should serve as a wake-up call for the officials. Looking at the performance of the team in the recent matches the time has come to forget any hopes of performing well this year and start planning for a revamp. Superannuated players, who at best now qualify to rest on the easy chair, should be excluded from next year’s team building process and that includes, Barreto, Marcos, Seouka. Mediocre quality players like Lalramluaha, Ishfaq, Kulothungan, Mickey can also be left out from the list. Manju, Mohanraj, Masih, Surkumar, James Singh, Dipak etc., will in any case have to be released for national duties. In short no player should be selected to play for the Club whose quality is mediocre and is there to swell the numbers and expects a piggy-back ride on the others.

 

If we still continue to believe that Barreto is fit enough to contribute for our Club’s cause in the I-League then either we have gone bonkers or our expectation level has degraded to rock-bottom level. Rationality demanded that we had said good-bye to him a couple of years earlier.


Therefore, it is vital that starting next year we should pack the team with promising youngsters who have the ability to run for the whole of 90 minutes. Let the Club have a water-tight 3- year contract with each of these players. At least they will come cheaper than these so called stars.  Also, they will not consciously exhibit below-par performance as the so called star studded line-up has been doing of late.


Finally, the job of coaching should be entrusted to somebody who has enough character and experience in the big league. If we are to perform creditably at the national scenario then coaching cannot be left in the hands of incompetent apprentices. Babloo Bhattacharjee despite his big-mouth is the fittest local man available to take over the coaching responsibilities of this Club. Otherwise, if the officials are in the mood to entrust the job to a foreigner then the ex-Churchill Serbian coach Zoran who is now with the Bangladesh National team could be offered the job.


Foreigners (I believe the cap is still 3 in a team with 1 PIO and an Asian for the next year) should be selected judiciously. The three foreigners preferably should be from one country to maintain good relationship and team-work. This has been proved to be a success, Eduardu –  Joshimar – Edmilson for Chirag, Felix – Kalu- Odafa for Churchill.

 

Running a glamour club of Mohun Bagan’s stature is like running a corporate business house. Part-timers with no long term goals and vision are the worst choice that can befall to this Club.

 

Also, a very pertinent point that needs to be noted, and a worst-case scenario at that, is the continued non-performance by the two big clubs of Kolkata at the national level, This may prompt the UB Group to maintain their exposure to the bare minimum, if not NIL. Even if they do not quit, there will not be any increase in the annual budget. This may prompt promising players to sign for the various cash rich Goan clubs (which are an extension of the family business houses). MMB and KEB will consequently be left with the morsels to fight for and the gradual degradation may cause the following vicious cycle to set in, if not already….

 

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