Jamshedpur head coach Cesar Ferrando is confused by the spending of clubs in the Indian Super League (ISL) and feels other clubs in the league have not followed the budget set by the ISL.
The Men of Steel were held by Chennaiyin to a 0-0 draw on Saturday at the Marina Arena, thereby ending their hopes of qualification to the playoffs this season. After the game, the coach was asked of the lack of firepower up front and he was vocal in his response.
"The problem here is that I was told all teams start with the same budget and we signed players like Tim Cahill and our budget was full. Then we had Cahill injured. But I see a lot of teams sign new foreign players and cheap Indian players. With a set budget, this is impossible. Our budget is full. You have to tell me how the other teams could sign so many players," Ferrando said.
"At this moment, We have to think about the players and the coaches. I think a lot of players injured and we face such results. We wanted to win the match. There will be moments to analyse the sides. I'm happy with both Indian and international players. Every manager likes to say I signed a player when he does well and then keeps quiet when he does not. I do not want to do that. I'm happy with all of my players."
Other than Tim Cahill's injury, Carlos Calvo had been suspended for three games and the duo's absence had an impact in the team's second half of the season.
"We had a striker endure a ban. Then you have to try to win with the rest of the players. We have to play with what we have. We wanted to stay alive and get to the last minute of the match and to nick a goal but I think we did very well. The next match is against Bengaluru and I hope we can win in front of our home crowd."
Jamshedpur were denied a penalty for a handball in the game but Ferrando refused to criticise the referee for the error.
"The freekick (Carlos Calvo) hit Isaac's hand but probably the linesman would have seen it. Sometimes in football, the linesman raised the flag and the referee gives the decision. Sometimes the referee asks the linesman before making the decision. Maybe if the linesman raised his flag, we would have got the penalty. But it is football. It happens.
"We have been working very hard despite having a lot of players injured and suspended. But there are times we have played from the back. We have never played long balls. Long balls are easy to defend. I wanted them to play short and play wide. We wanted to win the match and now I have to recover my players. This is football. It is important to work and try to win the next games."