Kolkata: Sanjoy Sen resigned as the head coach of Mohun Bagan after his team lost to Chennai City FC at their home ground. The club got their first ever I-League in 2014-15 season under his coaching. Bagan also got Federation Cup under his tenure. Some exciting young players like Azharuddin Mallick, Debjit Majumder and Prabir Das got the jersey of Mohun Bagan as he recommended them and also performed well. But, what he received yesterday was shameful as some of the supporters spited at him and some threw stones at Sen While he was announcing his retirement. Just the day after his retirement Sanjoy Sen spoke to xtratime.in journalist Suman Chakravorty. Here goes the conversation:
XT: You have seen the peak of success. You are the only coach for whom thousands of people came with your face mask in the field. Did you deserve this kind of farewell?
Sanjoy: Nobody asked me to resign. I am not in the state of mind to manage the team anymore so I stepped down. I had the pride that as a Mohun Bagan coach; I have never lost at home for the last three years. I also tried to inspire my players with this record. If we ended up as the winners on Tuesday then I would have continued my job but, after losing my first ever home match I decided to quit. I grew up at Calcutta. I have seen this kind of incidents over and over again. So I stood aside. I have no regrets about this and those who say ‘go back’ may say in frustration. I did not have any problem.
XT: you took your son with you for the very first time. Is there any reason behind it?
Sanjoy: This is a reality. I have seen many farewells of the coaches not only in Kolkata but also in every part of the world as also Mourinho had to resign. We have to learn to win and also have to accept the defeat as well. He had seen my success now he should accept my defeat.
XT: Every Bengali coach dreamt of coaching East Bengal or Mohun Bagan. If East Bengal officials will propose you to work for them will you accept?
Sanjoy: I will definitely accept the proposal and why not. I never played for Kolkata giants but I did coaching for Mohammedan Sporting then Mohun Bagan for three years. I told it to the East Bengal officials also, if they can give me the proper respect then I am ready to do the job.
XT: Do you think that Mohun Bagan isn’t hungry enough to win?
Sanjoy: It’s a bad phase for the club. If the shots didn’t come off the crossbar the results could have been different. A lot of good teams go down relegated for that. If the injured footballers become fit, Mohun Bagan will be back in producing the results. It’s temporary. Personally, I felt that I should resign if we lose at home and I did that.
XT: You missed your regular players in this season as you got a set team in last three years. What do you think about the difference in class?
Sanjoy: Of course. I feel like I missed Jeje and Balwant. But I did not blame footballers for that. I tried to motivate them to play the game but, unfortunately it didn’t come off.