The team has the quality to do well in Federation Cup, says Mridul
Kolkata: Bengal’s Santosh Trophy-winning coach Mridul Banerjee was appointed as East Bengal’s interim coach on Tuesday morning. After four consecutive losses Trevor Morgan had stepped down on Monday. An Advisory Committee consisting of the club greats like Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Tushar Rakshit and Bhaskar Ganguly has also been formed.
The AFC-A license-holder was preferred over five time I-League winning coach Armando Colaco, who was all set to return to the red and gold camp last evening. The 56-year-old Mridul recently coached Bengal to a record 32nd title in the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship stunning Goa in Goa.
“Mridul is our choice and has been appointed coach. He has been given a contract till the Federation Cup,” East Bengal General Secretary Kalyan Majumdar said. In a press conference, East Bengal’s new advisory committee member Manoranjan Bhattacharya said, “I know Mridul for a long time. I advised his name for Bengal team as well for the Santosh Trophy and he justified the choice by winning the Santosh Trophy. We all want the club to do well and it will be a team work to rectify the mistakes.” On the flip side, new interim coach Mridul Banerjee said, “This team has the quality to do well in the Federation Cup and my intention will be to help the team as much as possible. There are still a couple of games left in the league and we will try to do well in those.” He didn’t wanted to disclose the loopholes he found in the team and said, “There were certainly some problems, but I don’t want to look back to the past.”
East Bengal are now third on the I-League table with 27 points from 16 fixtures, below title-contenders Aizawl FC and Mohun Bagan. East Bengal’s hopes for the elusive I-League title went up in smoke after their 0-1 loss on April 16 to DSK Shivajians — their fourth on the trot. East Bengal’s string of losses began with Churchill Brothers. They went on to be beaten by Chennai City FC. The derby defeat was enough for the fans, who laid siege at the club last week demanding “Morgan go back”.
Mridul will start his work from tomorrow morning and his first match will be against Minerva.