New Indian Football Coaching Duo Want To Work Closely With Local Coaches: Former Mohun Bagan Man

Former Mohun Bagan coach Sanjay Sen said that the new Indian football coach Igor Stimac and Technical Dierctor Isac Doru want to work closely with Indian coaches as the duo want more usage of them in Indian football. Speakaing to IANS, Sen mentioned that the duo want the help of local coaches, who have much more knowledge about country’s football, to promote the quality of football in India.

According to Sen, Doru is of the opinion that Indian coaches should be appointed to help foreign coach get the desired results. I had a meeting with our new TD Doru and I am very happy that he is also in favour of appointing local coaches, which is also my view. If you look at the recent past, I-Leagues were won by Aizwal FC and Minerva Punjab FC. They were coached by Indian coaches Khalid Jamil and Khogen Singh respectively. In ISL, there is no scope for the Indian coaches to prove their worth as ISL clubs are supposed to appoint foreign coaches only,” he rued.

On being asked if their foreign counterparts are superior than them, the I-League winning coach said that was the matter of a debate and could only be proved if they are given equal opportunities. He also said that the authorities should examine carefully whether the foreign coaches that are coming to India are qualified enough. “Most of them do not have a job at hand and hence are coming here whether it is I-League or ISL. Their backgrounds needs to be checked, where all they have coached, how successful they are. Most of these coaches have coached age-group teams. What they have is a pro-license and have a foreign coach stamp. Only if a level playing field is given then only we can know how superior they are technically,” he explained. But that is not the case, as the Football authorities are focused majorly on ISL and I-League getting a step-motherly treatment.

Reportedly, the coaching duo met the ATK officials today and are supposed to meet the officials of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. The duo are also of the opinion that the local coaches should be given more opportunities because many educated and licensed coaches are jobless here. Earlier, in their first media session, the new Indian football coach Igor Stimac and Technical Director Isac Doru said the I-League and Indian Super League should be brought closer to each other and must be be seen as two pools from where fresh talents can be picked.

(With inputs from IANS)