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.