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)