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I-League: Praful Patel Suggested We Keep The Youngsters Together In The Form Of An I-League Club - Indian National Coach Bob Houghton
The new reign continues to back new plans...
29-Mar-2010 7:49:00 AM
By Rahul Bali
Ever since Praful Patel took the reins of Indian football as the acting president and later as the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) since November 2008, things have been on the upswing.
He came in at a troubled moment with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Bharti and the AIFF expired due to several reasons which can never really justified with the former being ready to invest more than Rs. 100 crores in a state-of-the-art academy.
The Indian sports ministry gave Rs. 10 crores for the India U-23 side preparing for the Asian Games while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were charitable enough to allocate Rs. 25 crores to the AIFF.
It was Patel, who in one of his very first meetings suggested that the national team players being kept together for a longer period to prepare for the Asian Cup.
Now the Civil Aviation Minister has come up with another masterstroke as it was his idea to have the boys who pass out from the U-19 team to be recruited and fielded in the I-League in the form of an AIFF club from the Indian capital with money being guaranteed.
“If you see amongst the boys who passed out from the TFA (Tata Football Academy) in its last batch, only two players have been getting chances. When I came to India and looked at the list of the U-19 players, I asked about the captain. No one knew where he was. And we are speaking of Gouramangi, who after getting his chance turned out to be a very good player.
“The U-19 boys from our camp would go the clubs and sit on the bench. I was explaining this to our president when he suggested as to why don’t we keep them together for a longer period. Thereafter, it was decided that we could field these boys from Delhi in the I-League,” explained Indian national coach Bob Houghton.
But the Englishman made a vital point stating that if the team were an AIFF club, it had to be impeccable on all fronts given that the Indian FA always demands the clubs to be run and adhere to certain basic rules. However, the minute details of the club is far from finalized with respect to who would coach the team, training ground, name of the club and much more.
“We would play the World Cup Qualifiers for 2018 World Cup around October 2014 and some of these boys could form the core team,” said the former coach of Uzbekistan.
Houghton was full of praise for Praful Patel for his dynamism and the determination to change the image and structure of Indian football.
“He is very proactive. I do believe that there can be massive improvements under him. The future is bright,” he added.
It’s certainly an interesting strategy to have their own team but it’s not new given that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) already have a similar programme where Singapore Young Lions comprised of the U-23 players participates in the S-League each year ever since 2003.
He came in at a troubled moment with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Bharti and the AIFF expired due to several reasons which can never really justified with the former being ready to invest more than Rs. 100 crores in a state-of-the-art academy.
The Indian sports ministry gave Rs. 10 crores for the India U-23 side preparing for the Asian Games while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were charitable enough to allocate Rs. 25 crores to the AIFF.
It was Patel, who in one of his very first meetings suggested that the national team players being kept together for a longer period to prepare for the Asian Cup.
Now the Civil Aviation Minister has come up with another masterstroke as it was his idea to have the boys who pass out from the U-19 team to be recruited and fielded in the I-League in the form of an AIFF club from the Indian capital with money being guaranteed.
“If you see amongst the boys who passed out from the TFA (Tata Football Academy) in its last batch, only two players have been getting chances. When I came to India and looked at the list of the U-19 players, I asked about the captain. No one knew where he was. And we are speaking of Gouramangi, who after getting his chance turned out to be a very good player.
“The U-19 boys from our camp would go the clubs and sit on the bench. I was explaining this to our president when he suggested as to why don’t we keep them together for a longer period. Thereafter, it was decided that we could field these boys from Delhi in the I-League,” explained Indian national coach Bob Houghton.
But the Englishman made a vital point stating that if the team were an AIFF club, it had to be impeccable on all fronts given that the Indian FA always demands the clubs to be run and adhere to certain basic rules. However, the minute details of the club is far from finalized with respect to who would coach the team, training ground, name of the club and much more.
“We would play the World Cup Qualifiers for 2018 World Cup around October 2014 and some of these boys could form the core team,” said the former coach of Uzbekistan.
Houghton was full of praise for Praful Patel for his dynamism and the determination to change the image and structure of Indian football.
“He is very proactive. I do believe that there can be massive improvements under him. The future is bright,” he added.
It’s certainly an interesting strategy to have their own team but it’s not new given that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) already have a similar programme where Singapore Young Lions comprised of the U-23 players participates in the S-League each year ever since 2003.
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