Kolkata : Former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia credited National Coach Stephen Constantine for the recent SAFF Cup victory . Bhaichung , considered to be the poster boy of Indian football feels Constantine should be given time before judging his performance . “ Look , he has done well in whatever opportunities he got so far . True , the team did not perform well in the WC qualifiers , but we cannot hold Stephen alone responsible . He did not get an opportunity to prepare the team well . ”
Bhaichung dismissed reports of him criticizing Constantine recently ,“ I have never criticized Stephen in recent times . What I meant to say was that for India to get recognized , the national team needed to perform constantly . I would say Constantine have done a brilliant job in jelling a young group to SAFF glory . Full credit should be given to him for guiding young footballers like Narayan Das , Bikash Jairu , Prannoy Halder in achieving the success in SAFF Cup .”
Bhutia , who is also the technical committee chairman of the AIFF came in for a lot of criticism in recent times . It was the technical committee that propsed the name of Stephen Constantine for the post of national coach . Bhaichung stood beside his decision to back the Briton for the post ,“ I still stick to my views on Constantine . I have never criticized him and have always backed him . Let him finish his term , then we can pass on a judgement . I want him to be given time .”
Bhutia who was inducted into Asian Football Hall of Fame last year for his contribution to the game , however agreed I League have failed to live up to it’s expectation . He said the League have failed to attract the crowd and the media, while the two season old ISL could do just that.
“Let’s be honest, I-League was not successful and that’s why ISL came. Football fans were not coming to watch I-League matches, the media do not want to cover them (I-League matches),” Bhutia said at an event in the city .
He however felt the standard of the I league have improved from the days when he was playing . But at the same time he is disappointed with the way the League have been marketed . He wants the Federation to look at ways to popularize the league with war footing .
Bhaichung congratulated the current Indian captain Sunil Chhetri for achieving the milestone of scoring 50 goals . Chhetri overtook Bhaichung’s record in achieving the milestone .
Bhutia was in the city to promote “Walk for a Cause” initiative for which he is the brand ambassador . It is an initiative to raise funds for spreading the awareness to control an increase in cancer patients in the North East . “ My father himself was a cancer patient . I could feel how difficult it is to control this life threatening disease . That’s the reason I have involved myself with this initiative.”