Changing coaches, a sign of Yes Man culture in football clubs?

Much like the hot seat in the popular TV show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, the coaches' seat in the three famous football clubs of Kolkata, McDowell Mohun Bagan, Kingfisher East Bengal and EMTA Mohammedan Sporting, has turned hotter but for an entirely different reason.

The role of a coach is well pronounced in world football. Known as the Manager of the Club, National and International teams the world over, he has the last word in all matters concerning the game, on and off the field.

He is a man of great repute and knowledge and superstars like Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, to name a few, followed their instructions to the dot.

Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal are the two names that readily come to the mind for their contribution over a long period of time in shaping the two famous English clubs' success chart.

In India too we have two celebrated coaches in Armando Colaco of Dempo Sports Club and Sukhwinder Singh of JCT Mills, the first winner of National Football League. Colaco should stand head and shoulder above all coaches in India for his ability to handle one of the most successful teams in Indian soccer firmament. He was lucky indeed to work for Dempo with great honour and dedication and without any interference from any quarter.

His counterparts in Kolkata, be it an Indian or a foreigner, are not as lucky.

Mohammedan Sporting Club has slipped out of the top bracket a few years back. The club's supporters are only able to cheer the team in Kolkata Football League and other tournaments. The club's decline may be to an extent due to changing coaches mid-stream.

In the past decade, both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal seem to follow almost the same pattern. The coaches' seat has become a sort of a musical chair contest. Pressures from fans for success, domineering officials and critical media have proved too much in most cases.

Since the days of P.K. Banerjee and Amal Dutta to Trevor Morgan and Subrata Bhattacharya now, a number of reputed coaches have come and gone from the roster of the two clubs.

East Bengal coach English-born Aussie Trevor Morgan is a case in point. He is serving his second term. He has brought stability to the side and produced results as well. Yet, there is a talk that the club might replace him next season. Take the case of Karim Bencherifa of Morocco. He developed such a reputation with Mohun Bagan that even he had to quit in 2010, that too after handing arch rival East Bengal a 5-3 defeat, a result the club supporters will cherish for life.

Satyajit Chatterjee, Biswajit Bhattacharya, Stanly Rozario, Subhas Bhowmick and Englishman Steve Darby all faced the same fate before Subrata Bhattacharya, took over again, to stabilise the crashing fortunes. Now the football circle is abuzz with the news that the coach's days are numbered.

Similar is the story of East Bengal. Alok Mukherjee, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, who gave the team its first NFL title in 2000-01, Subhas Bhowmick, who gave the club the Asean Cup and two successive NFL crowns, Bikash Panji, Philippe de Ridder, Carlos Pereira, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Stanly Rozario, Subhas Bhowmick and now Morgan took turns to stay on the hot seat only to vacate in different circumstances, not necessarily performance based.

It is high time those associated with the clubs realise the need to make the coach independent and accountable. In a professional setup there is no place for “Yes Man” culture. All the three Big Clubs of Kolkata seem to suffer from this attitude.

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