Today a letter has been sent from Mohun Bagan club to AFC regarding an article which was published yesterday in the official website of AFC, www.the-afc.com.

 

Dated: 26th May 2009

Mr. Alex Soosay,
Acting General Secretary,
Asian Football Confederation,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dear Sir,

We have just come across a new article on your Official Website under the title “Bhutia blues for storied Bagan” and though the article mentions at the end states that “the views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of AFC” but the fact that the article is on the Official Website of AFC has upset many of our members and millions of supporters spread all over the world.

I would like to clarify under what circumstances the Club was forced to show cause our captain Bhaichung Bhutia; which was no less painful for us than it was for the player.

• Bhaichung missed vital practice sessions of our Team during the ONGC I-League. He joined the Team for the last ONGC I-League match at New Delhi without attending the venue practice before this match.
• He played the Super Cup match at Gurgaon (match to ascertain the Champion Club of India) without attending the venue practice and arrived at 1:30 am in the morning of the match day.
• He refused to play the AFC Cup away match against Kuwait SC citing injury but later we found out that he had gone to Mumbai to participate in a dance reality show and showed no signs of injury when the program was telecast later on TV
• He did not attend practice sessions of the Team at Amman, Jordan for the away match earlier this month against Al Wehdat in the AFC Cup and reached Amman at 1 am in the morning on the day of the match. Consequently his performance was not upto the mark
• A charity match for Football Development was organized outstation by our Club. Bhaichung did not turn up at the Airport and his Boarding Card had to be cancelled at the very last minute. He did not participate in this match and the spectators were angry. Neither was there any reason for his absence nor did he inform any Official of the Club.
• Bhaichung was more focused on the dance reality show and Football had become his secondary interest. Inspite of his absence and misconduct he has received all his payments due to him for the 2008-2009 football season.

Bhaichung was made Captain of our Team and so he had a vital role to motivate his team mates and behave like a leader and to inspire the youngsters. We leave it to your good judgment as a Senior Football Administrator to ascertain whether the manner in which Bhaichung behaved is exemplary of a leader? The other Team Members were slowly being affected by this indiscipline behavior of their Captain and it would have been unfair to let someone get away with gross misconduct only on the ground that he is an “Icon in Indian Football.” Were Football Greats like Maradona and Zidane not booked by Referees for their fouls committed or should Referees chose to look away just because of their popularity and contribution for the game? In fact an Icon is meant to be more professional on and off the field.   

Furthermore, the article mentions that our Club had a “Poor Start” but we wish to clarify that the Club started the 2008-2009 season with a bang winning the Premier Division of the Calcutta Football League involving four of the ONGC I- League teams and the Federation Cup. The season was rounded off with a thumping win over Churchill Brothers (National League Champions) in the Super Cup match thereby becoming Champion of Champions for the 2008-2009 season. Performance-wise it has been a very memorable season for our Club since we have won three out of the four major tournaments in which we participated thereby becoming the most successful Club of India this season.

We request you to please post our views in this regard on the AFC Official Website and oblige.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
Anjan Kumar Mitra
Hony. General Secretary
Mohun Bagan A.C.

COURTESY: www.mohunbaganac.com (official website of Mohun Bagan club)

 

Mohun Bagan lost their last AFC Cup match 4-0 to Al Karamah.Mohun Bagan did not get any point from their AFC Cup matches. Practice is expected to start from approximately July 15. Coach Karim will be going to Singapur tomorrow for AFC A license course. Team management will likely announce team for next year within a week’s time.

We have made an analysis of performance of junior players in Kolkata league last year.
This has been done after a bengal daily yesterday reported that Mohun Bagan won the Kolkata league mainly because of junior players and that coach afterwards did not use their service. We do not agree with this report and has tried to put out some points.

APPEARANCE OF PLAYERS IN KOLKATA LEAGUE:

[Starting XI + sub (goals)]

01 Sangram MUKHERJEE – 14 + 0 (0)
02 Naveen KUMAR – 1 + 4 (0)
03 Shivananju MANJU – 4 + 1 (1)
04 Dipak MONDAL – 4 + 1 (0)
05 Habibur R MONDAL – 12 + 1 (2)
06 S Henry GANGTE – 0 + 1 (0)
07 Lalkamal BHOWMIK – 9 + 2 (0)
08 Tapan MAITI – 1 + 3 (0)
09 PC LALAWMPUIA – 13 + 0 (8)
10 Jose BARRETO – 12 + 1 (7)
11 Ishfaq AHMED – 3 + 2 (0)
12 Branco CARDOZO – 0 + 5 (1)
13 Raju EKKA
14 Peter ODAFE – 12 + 0 (1)
15 Bhaichung BHUTIA – 0 + 2 (0)
16 L James SINGH – 7 + 2 (0)
17 Rahul KUMAR – 2 + 2 (0)
18 Karan ATWAL
19 Sailo MALSAWMTLUANGA – 11 + 1 (4)
20 Rakesh MASIH – 8 + 1 (0)
21 Chirodeep CHATTERJEE
22 Kartik KISKU -2 + 3 (0)
23 LALRAMLUAHA – 8 + 4 (0)
24 Rino ANTO – 2 + 2 (0)
25 S James SINGH – 9 + 1 (0)
27 Nallapan MOHANRAJ – 7 + 0 (0)
29 Joseph ANANDAVASAN – 9 + 0 (0)
31 Shilton PAUL
33 Suman BOSE – 2 + 1 (0)
35 Sanjoy BORO – 2 + 1 (0)

So, amongst the "juniors" who contributed significantly in the local league, Lalawmpuia (with 8 goals in 13 games) leads the pack. Lalram and S James Singh had alsp played a major part in the Kolkata league, at least if one goes my number of appearances.

Now to the I-League. Lalawm started 3 of the 22 games, and made 9 brief appearances as sub, and scored 3 goals. Not bad. However, after his off-the-field antics, which I shall not mention here, I don’t think he has much too complain about.

Lalram made 8 appearances in the I League (2 + 6), where his performances (or lack of those) do not leave much scope for complaint from his side! Perhaps only S James Singh has some genuine grounds for complaint, having been given just 1 start and 2 more games as sub in the I League – though arguably, the advent of Marcos (in the I League – do remember that only 2 "foreigners played per game in the KFL) might have made mid-field places more difficult to get for the juniors.

I’m leaving Lalkamal out of this discussion – he’s been given enough opportunities, in my humble opinion. As for Shilton, well, only 1 goalkeeper can play in a match, and as Sangram was performing rather well, he, too should not have too many complaints. (If one looks at the EPL, for instance – several international goalkeepers have to be satisfied with a handful of games each season owing to the presence of better keepers!)

So, I find that in general, the youngsters do not really have much grounds for grouse. (And in that perspective, the report in a Bengali daily is most astonishing! ) Having said that, I must also state that I find this (hankering for places in the 1st eleven) a healthy sign – it just shows that each of these juniors have an appetite for the game. Such players should be persuaded to stay, if possible.

REPORT: RAJAT SUBHRA BANERJEE