Xtra Time Web Desk : Former Indian football team coach Stephen Constantine recently opened up on a lot of aspects related to Indian football, which he gathered from his experience at the helm of the team in his two stints in 2002-2005 & 2015-2019. From National League to Indian Super League, the Englishman has seen it all. And in an interview with News9, Constantine said it all. Here’s the interview below :
Q. Your first stint as India coach was from 2002-2005, second from 2015-2019. What similarities and differences did you notice when you returned after 10 years?
I saw football getting more respect when I returned in 2015. Back in the day (2002) Mohun Bagan and East Bengal matches drew a crowd of 1,00,000 and it showed that football was popular, but in my first stint it was not much publicised.
In my first stint, I did see that not many viewing football as a full-time job, parents preferring kids to become doctors and lawyers, where they make good money. That is the biggest difference between my two teams.
When I started, there wasn’t much publicity around the national team. We didn’t even have a kit sponsor.
The first time we got sponsored clothing was for the 2003 Afro-Asian Games. We were delivered 36 cartons of equipment. I will never forget that. I remember Bhaichung (Bhutia), IM Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri. IM (Vijayan) was close to tears. Vijayan said, ‘Coach,this never happened before in my life’. We were looking at boxes and shirts and we did quite well in the tournament (finished runners-up).
Q. How do you view your two stints in India?
In the first stint, we used to travel by train. I remember from Delhi to Jamshedpur was about 23 hours in non-AC coaches and 10 years later we were going by Air India.
There was also a difference in facilities. We stayed in guest houses. Mahesh Gawli picked up a disease while we stayed at a guest house in Delhi adjacent to which buffaloes and cows were housed. We lost him for the LG Cup.
So there is a big difference in that respect.
Q. Compare the 2002-2005 team with the 2015-2019 team?
Debjit Ghosh, Jo Paul Ancheri, Sameer Naik, Mahesh Gawli, Tomba Singh, Bhaichung, IM (Vijayan) all top players, all strong characters and leaders. I am sure I am forgetting a few.
In the 2019 team, we didn’t have that kind of leadership. Sunil (Chhetri) led on the field. But we didn’t have the person in the locker room that we had back in those days. It was a different time. But fantastic groups, both of them.
Q. Captain Sunil remains India’s best goal getter even at 37 and his career is seemingly coming to an end. Do you see that as a problem in the future for the national team?
It’s Sunil’s decision whether he stops or not. I think he should have stopped after the 2019 Asian Cup. You leave at the top. At 37, not many players are the same as they are in 27.
Obviously, it’s for him and his club (Bengaluru FC) to decide.
Because most clubs would bring two foreigners as strikers, it’s a problem. I was extremely vocal about it because it would affect the Indian national team.
We tried to produce alternatives. Jeje (Lalpekhlua) was good. Farukh (Choudhary), if he gets time to consistently play a striker can develop. Manvir (Singh) too, who when we took him from a scouting network, he wasn’t even playing for any top club in Punjab.
So we have the strikers but we have to make them, which brings us back to the coach education.
We have the players in India but we are not looking for them and we are not making them. This is the difference. We have to be a factory of producing players.
Now in 2022, there should be no difference between a 16-18-year-old Indian and a 16-18 year-old-English, Argentinian, Brazilian in terms of coaching at the younger ages. So if Indian players don’t have the foundation, there is a problem.
Q. Did you put across your viewpoints to the AIFF regarding the ISL. Were they receptive to your inputs?
What do you think? I don’t think the issue was with the AIFF. They don’t control the ISL and that’s fair enough. But you must think about the Indian players.
When you start out, you make mistakes. And then every year it gets better. Players are starting to come out of the ISL. If we go to a 12-team league with promotion and relegation, with top six teams fighting for the title and the bottom six trying to avoid relegation, we would get at least 32 games. It would also give more games to Indian players and lead to hopefully, better foreign players. In the end, it’s a win-win.
What are your observations regarding the way the ISL has been made the top tier league at the expense of I-League?
I-League had quite a number of issues even before the ISL came in. I-League was not in a position to use the big-name players the ISL did, to use the big stadiums the ISL did and publicise the game the ISL did. ISL brought in sponsors, greater TV coverage, agents, CEOs and it has to grow a little bit more.
Q. In the ISL era, Indian football has undoubtedly moved towards ‘corporatisation’, with the ISL only allowing franchises who are willing to pay Rs 15 crore as franchise fee. Is this money over merit approach the only way forward?
I understand why they did it, the way they did it, taking a page out of the Major League Soccer (MLS) book.
At this point in time, India needs at least 12 to 16 teams. Either a reduction of the fee or some way to include a club say of the stature of Mohammedan Sporting because three teams from Calcutta would be unbelievable.
I heard that maybe there will be promotion and relegation in 2024. But how will that happen? So if you are not a team in the ISL, you think of becoming first in the I-League and then win promotion and not pay the franchise fee. But teams in ISL could object, saying we have paid the money. So I don’t know how that works. It’s a problem.