Category: Notice and Updates

Satyajit is the new coach

Satyajit Chatterjee is the new Head Coach for Mohun Bagan. This was announced by the club officials today. He will be coaching the team for next 4 months.

Satyajit Chatterjee joined  team Mohun Bagan as a midfielder in 1986-87. He retired from Mohun Bagan in 2000-01.  He later joined as Assistant Coach for the team including 2008-09 under Karim Bencharifa. He donned the national jersey as well. Popularly known as "Ghorer chele" – Satyajit has a good track record as a player and an assistant coach of Mohun Bagan.

Who is next?

Enough of Karim, at last. It was on the cards, fans were divided – some of them still behind him but some of them are strongly against. But most importantly it seems that officials are not with Karim anymore. The drama will be at 4PM today in club tent where officials and coach will address the journalists together and most common rumor around is that Karim will resign there and officials will declare the new coach. Now lets try to think what we got and what we didn’t in last 1.5 years with our beloved “Karim Chacha”.

Positive: 
Convincing victory in Fed Cup, CFL, Super cup last year
Runner up in I League (Not sure thought its positive or negative as being runner up is topping the list of losers)
Pretty good team spirit last year
Trust shown on some young players like Sagaram Mandi, Manish Mathani, and Rakesh Mashi
5 goals against our arch-rivals
 
Negative: 
Karim’s recent attitude that he is bigger than the institution
Worst dressing room atmosphere in last 2-3 years (reminds of 2002-03)
No trophy yet this year and I don’t think we will win anything other than CFL now (hope I am wrong and we win I League)
Rude behavior with Jr players
The killer blow was the ultra defensive performance against a depleted Dempo side
 
 
Now the big question is who is next? There are names flying around: 
 
Subhash Bhowmick: NO PLS. No discussion, just NO.  
 
Amal Dutta: NO again. Not as strong a NO as Mr Bhowmick. But we had enough bad history with him.  
Satyajit Chatterjee: Possibly the choice that will be accepted by all. He is a 120% Mohun Bagani. He is well behaved and understands the passion of the crores of Mohun Bagan fans. 
 
Barreto: He is always welcome. The kind of commitment he has shown, I am a very small person to comment anything against him. And I am sure that if he is given the responsibility he will do well. 
 
SO friends, lets wait for some more time and we will know what’s going to happen. Till then just pray that whatever happens is for good for our beloved MOHUN BAGAN. 
 
From the desk of Suryasish Banerjee, Marietta, GA, USA

An Open Letter from a fan from USA

Its more than 10 months since Mohun Bagan won the last trophy. Karim Bencharifa is working overtime with the team. But the morale of the team seems to be down – at least the way the team played against Dempo SC today.

Karim Bencharifa is one of the very capable managers the country has today. But as the Head Coach of Mohun Bagan – he is not having best of the time I must say.
 
I am afraid we will end the year without anything. Dempo with 6 men from 1st 11 out, played the entire match in MB half, and MB with almost a full team (minus Deepak and Chidi) defended with 10 men!! This is not the way Karim Bencharifa coaches! 
 
Barreto was always alone in Dempo defense looking for something, which he never got. Marcos was playing as a stopper beside Azim and Mandi to foil an attack comprised of Chetri and Joakim. Snehashish was non-existing in the field but was never replaced. Mr Head coach – please remember there are 3 substitutions are allowed in a game!
 
Mohun Bagan should NEVER play with the defensive mindset that they have shown today. I am afraid but at moments it seemed as if Dempo is not playing with Bagan (remindes me "Kumartuli" – a name used by one of our ex-coaches)
 
Sir, please understand we can tolerate losses until and unless Mohun Bagan is playing like Mohun Bagan. But we can’t watch Mohun Bagan playing like a 4th division club and losing a match. 
 
 
I might be rude here but believe me, its coming straight out of hearts. I still don’t believe that we can’t win I League. But we need to call a spade a spade. The coach and the officials must understand the sentiments of the fans. I would suggest taking necessary steps so that we get back to the ground as a team! Then we can see what happens in 2nd phase. I still believe that officials built the best team of the country this year and we deserve to win the I League. 
 
I know if this article is published, I will be getting hate mails from all over but dear friends, pls ask yourselves if I am right or wrong!
 
Suryasish Banerjee @ USA