Most of the I League coaches have welcomed Federation’s move to withdraw it’s marquee rule for the clubs . Most coaches are of the view that it will release the burden on the club financially and also help them look for quality foreigners at a much less price compared to the marquee footballers .
I League winning Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen has welcomed AIFF’s decision to scrap the marquee player rule.
“It is definitely a welcome move for the clubs who have been burdened with a huge football budget start of the season . More so apart from a few footballers most of the marquee footballer have passed their prime and are not of the same class as compared to the other foreign footballers playing in the I League . He also added, “Earlier the clubs needed to spend a large sum of money to recruit a marquee footballer but from now on the clubs can concentrate on getting quality foreign players at a much less price .”
The I League champions have already signed Cornell Glenn as their marque player much before the announcement from I League committee .
Kingfisher East Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattacharjee also agreed with his rival coach .According to Biswajit ,“Signing a marquee player have definitely over burdened the clubs from financial point of view ”
Derek Pereira,coach of I League debutants DSK Shivajians feels ,“ Introducing marquee was not a bad idea but in the last season we have noticed except for a few players most of them were not up to the mark.More so the economic conditions of the clubs are also sound , so overall it’s a good decision by the AIFF.”
Apart from withdrawing the marquee rule , I League committee yesterday in their meeting revived the Federation Cup in the football calendar . Currently the I-league comprises of only nine teams with each team playing only 16 matches.
Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen appreciated AIFF’s idea of bringing back the Federation Cup.
“I was feeling bad after the Federation Cup was scrapped as it was one of India’s most prestigious tournaments.But its good to see some good sense prevail by AIFF officials .The new format sounds interesting as it will help the clubs engaging themselves in a much stiffer competition.”
The Red and Gold coach also appreciated Federation’s idea of reviving the Fed Cup.
“It’s good that the Fed cup is coming back but it would have been ideal to have the I-league stretched a little longer . The clubs would have got more matches in the league but with two lesser teams that would not be possible.”
Dereik Pereira also welcomed AIFF’s idea of reviving the Federation Cup in a new format as it could be a very competitive tournament.