Mohun Bagan’s early departure from Federation Cup has raised some serious questions. The first question that was raised was against the attitudes of the Bagan officials – which, fans and members of Mohun Bagan Club feel to be totally unprofessional. It is surprising that no senior member of the management was present in Pune during the Federation Cup. They could have played important roles in motivating the players – but alas they preferred to stay away from the team. Mohun Bagan fans and members are unhappy for the early departure from the Federation Cup – particularly when arch-rivals East Bengal move into the semi-final (even if they continues getting favours from the referees like the previous year’s Federation Cup) – but this does not answer the queries fans and members are having in their minds. Moreover they have decided not to participate in Durand Cup – which is a very poor decision. This means less match practice for Bagan – leading to poor preparation in iLeague!
Some of the questions that keep haunting fans and followers are as follows –
a) There is a question about Simon Storey – what is his condition ? Once Subrata Bhattacharya told that foreign players come to Indian particularly when they are nursing injuries- hence a proper fitness test should have been performed. This was not done and now there is a big question about Storey. Is he fit? Is he worth being our defender? We are yet to come out of the debacle we had last year for recruitment of "Diamondstar" – is Storey worst than him?
b) Was coach happy with Hudson Lima? mohunbaganclub.com has learnt that coach was not in favour of recruiting him – however Lima was a recruit suggested by Jose Barreto – and hence Bagan had to recruit him. We have no doubts in Barreto’s abilities and commitments- but is Lima’s recruitment worth ?
c) Shilton Pal is our number one goalkeeper for last few seasons – particularly after Sangram has lost his touch. But when will Shilton gain the football sense of when to step out and when not to ? He has made serious mistakes in last 4-5 years – that includes gallery shows that led to conceding goals! He conceded a goal in the first minute of a match (in the second half) against East Bengal – just because he was not in his right position. Once he concedes a goal – he loses his focus and ends up conceding more goals.How many matches did he win for Bagan in last 4-5 years ? We are still relying on him while good goalkeepers were not given chances. This is simply because our goalkeeping coach does not rectify Shilton – and still remains our goalkeeping coach simply because he brings in "co-sponsors!"
A renowned Sport Journalist – a chief sports Editor of Bengal’s leading vernacular newspaper, and a person who covered at least 5 world cups, and a known Mohun Bagan supporter – has always criticised Mohun Bagan’s selection of the defenders. Officials have tried to stop his journalists entering into the club tent – but instead had they listened to his suggestions – Bagan could have got more trophies – and played AFC!
Mohun Bagan officials must reconsider their decisions and should participate in Durand Cup if they want the team to run for the iLeague title – as it is very much clear that the team requires more first class competitive matches to settle down.