A MBC.com salute to the legend .. Barreto ! There are times when darkness looms large, there are times when you see no light at the end of the tunnel, there are times when you know not the way to live… these are the times when you wait for your messiah to hold your hand…
It was during these times, when Christianity looked up to Jesus, Hindus to Krishna or Rama, Muslims to Allah, a Child to his Father … Over the last decade or so, Mohun Bagan looked up to Jose Ramirez Barreto.

 There are sportsmen, great in their times and beyond, who have lifted their teams out of the darkest pits, have played with grit and flamboyance for whichever outfit they donned.

And there are men, who have gone a level further, who made the jersey their second skin and then … achieved immortality.

Mohun Bagan is privileged to be have been home to a few such golden immortals – Chuni Goswami, Subrata Bhattacharya, Satyajit Chatterjee to name a few . Barreto would be the first footballer from foreign shores to join that elite list of legendendary immortals – of being know as the Bagan Boy !

Barreto has been an inspiration to many individuals – to footballers and beyond. He has been the perfect example of a great footballer, a Captain who led from the front and perhaps more importantly – an inspirational human being.

 A devout follower of the Almighty, Barreto always used to say that it was Jesus who pulled him out of dark days and gloom when he was lost in Brazil and it was Him who gave Jose Barreto a second chance in life to redeem himself and sent him to India. The rest as we all know, is history…

MBC.com, on behalf of all the Mohun Bagan fans all over the world, would like to thank Jose Ramirez Barreto for all that he has been and … for all that he will be – for us, for Mohun Bagan, for football and for humanity.

Thank you Barreto, you shall remain in our hearts forever and we are sure that we will remain somewhere in some corner of your heart as well…

We will proudly tell our grandchildren that we were lucky to have lived in the times to watch the Brazilian magician Jose Ramirez Barreto play!

Tridip Sheet & Rajat Subhra Banerjee – Mohun Baganis since birth, and with MBC.com since its birth, have tried to list out all the goals scored by Barreto while donning the Bagan colors. We request our friends and fellow Bagan supporters to please point out if we have missed a goal or two … Do tell us if you find a goal too many as well ! Oh, and since we scored not a single one out of these goals, we hold no copyright whatsover ! So, please feel free to share..

 

Mohun Bagan ended the second consecutive year without a single trophy in Football. Members of the prestigious club ponder the reason behind.

Almost all successful football teams all over the world have one major thing in common: a coach (or manager or technical director, whatever you may call him) is appointed first, and then this person is allowed to build his own team, of course with the help of the club management. Obviously, the manager does not always get ALL the players that he wants, owing to financial and other reasons, but he still gets his own team. As he is responsible (and accountable) for the success or failure of his team, he tries to get a balanced team according to his plans. 



In Mohun Bagan, this procedure is not followed. Every season a handful of club officials, who have hardly played any competitive football, get together and recruit a bunch of players. The result is for all to see – year after year there are a few "stars" here and there, but we still end up with a team that lacks any balance. There are promises galore, and for arguments’ sake I accept that the officials mean well, but they must understand that an amateur cannot do the job of a professional. The simple logic of having competent players in each position, along with suitable "bench strength" to allow for injuries and illnesses, is never followed.



This year, too, we seem to have formed a team that lack skilled players in certain key positions. Thus, in spite of the presence of a few excellent players, especially in attack, we are likely to face yet another doubtful season. (I sincerely hope I am wrong.) And while the team is slowly taking shape, in whatever format, nobody yet knows for certain who is going to be the coach (or TD)! As ever, it seems that the coach (whoever is appointed) will be given a team and asked to deliver!



As long as this pathetic process of assembling a varied set of players by non-technical people, and then handing over the team to some coach continues, "team building", in the real sense of the phrase, will take a back seat, and the overall performance will suffer. One wonders when the club management would realise this simple fact.



PS. Last year, with much fanfare, a "Technical Committee" was appointed. I wonder what happened to the committee!

(From the desk of Rajat Subhra Banerjee, member, Mohun Bagan AC)

Mohun Bagan lost to Prayag United 0-2 today to end the Kolkata Premiere league at the second position. In another game East Bengal won against Mohammedan Sporting by 6-0 to retain the title. Poor team selection, poor midfield , poor finish and poor match reading cost Bagan the game.

Tolgay Özbey has joined Mohun Bagan. In a Press Conference today the Club president , Swapan Sadhan Bose handed over the Mohun Bagan jersey to Tolgay Özbey. His jersey number will be 10.

Mohun Bagan will play a friendly game against Nepal Police on 12th May at the Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu. The match is being organised by Anfa in partnership with United Spirits Pvt Ltd, the authorised distributor of the brand in Nepal, in a bid to popularize football in Nepal. The tickets for the box-office match have been priced at Rs 250 and Rs 500 and will be played under the floodlights at 6pm local time. Though there are political tensions in Nepal, the weather is in favour of a good football. Bagan team is undergoing a practice session this afternoon as we write this article. People have gathered to have a look into Sunil Chettry’s practice.

The relegation of Blackburn Rovers (which was confirmed yesterday) has clearly indicated how bad management can destroy a good football team. Blackburn, who are one of only 4 clubs to have won the English Premier League (Manchester City might become a fifth this year), will now battle it out in the second tier next season, whereas Venky’s were talking of a “Champions League” place when they took over!

When Sam Allardyce was sacked in December 2010, Blackburn had one of the most well-organised defences in the league, with international players like Michel Salgado (ESP), Chris Samba (CGO), Ryan Nelsen (NZL), Gael Givet (FRA) and Martin Olsson (SWE), augmented by the exciting young Phil Jones and Grant Hanley, and backed by Paul Robinson in goal. Within months Allardyce’s successor Steve Kean managed to convert that defence to one of the league’s weakest. Salgado, Samba, Nelsen and Jones were all allowed to leave, for one reason or another, to be replaced by players like Scott Dann and Bradley Orr, who were not really premier league material. Paucity of funds provided by Venky’s was one prime reason for this, but the real reason was lack of vision.

Week after week Steve Kean, fully backed for some strange reasons by Venky’s, put out teams including near veterans who were rejected by other top clubs. (Bradley Orr, for instance, was rejected by QPR after they gained promotion – so how did he fit into Blackburn’s "Champion League" ambitions????) Kean’s team sheets also included a few untested youngsters, who understandably floundered in the highly competitive Premier League. Does this not remind us of one club closer home, where near veterans, rejected by other top division clubs, and some untested youngsters find places in the squad?

For Blackburn, the whole exercise was a disaster. A team that was supposed to fight for European places has now been relegated. One hopes that the Mohun Bagan team management learn some lessons from Blackburn’s disaster. What are these lessons, one might ask. Here are my two bits:

1. Some men are not fit to coach top flight teams while some others are. If Allardyce was retained, Blackburn might not have qualified for Europe, for you need a pool of top players to do that, but it is unlikely that they would have been relegated. (Allardyce in fact is doing very well with West Ham and might guide them back into the Premier League next season.) So it is important to identify a proper coach who is capable of handling top flight pressures and stick with him for a reasonable period of time. Subrata Bhattacharjee and Prashanta Banerjee have done a fair job in 2011-12, and they should be given a good run next season too. A new coaching team may not settle down before mid-season, and then it might be too late.

2. A mixture of youth and experience is essential for any team to be successful in a team sport. For the experienced players, fitness has to be the bottom line, while for the youngsters, talent has to be the bottom line. There is no point in filling the team with talented veterans and near veterans like Barreto, Pradip, Bungo, Chhetri, etc., if they are not fit. Similarly there is no point in filling the team with fit youngsters like Masih, Mohun Raj, Jagtar etc., if they are not talented.

3. The club administration must not meddle directly into football matters like team building, playing strategy and tactics etc., and leave all that to the experts. The job of the administration is to see that the players and the coaching staff are all comfortable and the facilities are in place so that the playing staff can perform at their best week in and week out. Venky’s meddling with team issues led to their clash with Allardyce, who, as an old school football manager, simply refused to listen to his bosses regarding team building and strategy, and was subsequently removed. The outcome is apparent.

Of course, Blackburn were unfortunate that they did not have the magic of Mohun Bagan, the magic that has drawn millions of us to this veritable temple of ours, where our collective prayers and/or will-power has so far prevented (and hopefully will keep on preventing) the ultimate disaster of relegation. However, for an institution like Mohun Bagan, not being the very top football club in the country for ten years is a disaster in itself.

In a Press conference in the Club Tent ,Jose Ramirez Barreto bid adieu to the members and fans of Mohun Bagan. The Brazilian striker who had more than 100 goals in iLeague / National Football League and was instrumental in Bagan winning National League, Federation Cup, Kolkata League had shared some of his thoughts on Mohun Bagan today. Incidentally 6th May’s Pune FC game will be his last iLeague game for Mohun Bagan,

At the beginning of the Press conference 3 sub-junior players, selected from GOALZ project were honoured with Mohun Bagan jerseys.

Anjan Mitra announced that 6th May will be the last day for Barreto donning the Green-and-Maroon outfit. The tickets will be complimentary – and members can enter into the gallery from Gate Number 2. Others can get the tickets free of cost. However, the tickets for the VIP gallery will be chargable. Officials are planning to take Barreto for a car ride inside the ground on 6th May. There will be cut-outs of Barreto in and outside the stadium.

 

Excerpts from the Press Conference –

Asked about the most memorable moments Barreto said that the first day in Mohun Bagan and first goal for Bagan were memorable for him. Asked about his future plan  he exclaimed that he does not have any future plan – but his mind and his heart are with Mohun Bagan. Asked if he is going to stay in Kolkata he agreed. Asked about Subrata Bhattacharya, he said Subrata had been a great coach – and he enjoyed his time with Subrata.

Barreto mentioned the Darby match that Bagan won in presence of FIFA president Sepp Blatter as the most memorable Darby game for him.

Anjan Mitra hoped Barreto takes Indian citizenship (if you recall 8 years back Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi requested Barreto to take Indian Citizenship)

Debasish Dutta declared that the 6th May Pune FC game will be treated as the farewell game for Barreto. The tickets excepting VIP gallery will be complimentary.