</font><br><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I don't think we are being realistic here about United Sikkim. This is not England where the relegated team is helped with almost £30,000,000 in parachute payments, this is India where the relegated team is left to fend for themselves.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">United Sikkim have a long road ahead of them if they don't want to fold. Currently the club is in disarray. They barely get any fans at games anymore, their team is full of youngsters who are no where near good enough for the 2nd Division and the foreigners are not good enough as well, the Paljor Stadium still looks in ruins more than a year after the earthquake hit Sikkim, they don't have proper funds, they don't have proper sponsors, the co-owners don't look to be helping at all, the club has been hit hard with inner corruption all season, and the club easily in a lot of debt if they can't even pay their players their wages.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">This is not something that can be fixed in one off-season and using Shillong Lajong as an example is not right at all. Shillong Lajong might be doing slightly better than last season (actually they are doing worse, they finished in 10th place at the end of the 2011-12 season with 28 points. They currently are in 10th place with 25 points. They have 1 game left this season against East Bengal... they did not improve.) but they are still not doing as well off the field. They get crowds which is good and they have signed a "star" in Edinho Junior but they are also a club that fail to pay the wages of many of their players on time.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Really if you look at the history of all the clubs in the I-League era who were relegated you would get this:</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Relegated teams: Viva Kerala, Salgaocar, Mohammedan, Vasco, Sporting Goa, Shillong Lajong, JCT, ONGC, HAL.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Out of the 9 clubs that have been relegated only 2 have actually come back even remotely healthy and that is Salgaocar and Sporting Goa. I credit their survival to the strength of Goan football and the fact that unlike many other area's of India they do have a competition that runs from October to April in the Goa Professional League. The rest though tell different stories.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Mohammedan have been battered with corruption themselves and messed up decisions. They may have support but no one can deny that they still live in the 1980s. Vasco are now in the 2nd Division of Goa. Viva Kerala and JCT Mills are no long existing. HAL and ONGC survived thanks to their corporates and the fact that the cost to run a football team in the I-League is still very cheap. </font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">So, no, United Sikkim will not be in I-League for a while. Unless something major happens I can not see them making it within the next 2-3 years. History says so.</font></div>
Comments
http://www.sportskeeda.com/2013/04/18/bangladesh-and-pakistan-friendlies-great-news-for-uk-expats-but-not-team-india/
http://www.sportskeeda.com/2013/04/22/i-league-the-contrasting-fortunes-of-mohammedan-sporting-and-united-sikkim/
</font><br><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I don't think we are being realistic here about United Sikkim. This is not England where the relegated team is helped with almost £30,000,000 in parachute payments, this is India where the relegated team is left to fend for themselves.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">United Sikkim have a long road ahead of them if they don't want to fold. Currently the club is in disarray. They barely get any fans at games anymore, their team is full of youngsters who are no where near good enough for the 2nd Division and the foreigners are not good enough as well, the Paljor Stadium still looks in ruins more than a year after the earthquake hit Sikkim, they don't have proper funds, they don't have proper sponsors, the co-owners don't look to be helping at all, the club has been hit hard with inner corruption all season, and the club easily in a lot of debt if they can't even pay their players their wages.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">This is not something that can be fixed in one off-season and using Shillong Lajong as an example is not right at all. Shillong Lajong might be doing slightly better than last season (actually they are doing worse, they finished in 10th place at the end of the 2011-12 season with 28 points. They currently are in 10th place with 25 points. They have 1 game left this season against East Bengal... they did not improve.) but they are still not doing as well off the field. They get crowds which is good and they have signed a "star" in Edinho Junior but they are also a club that fail to pay the wages of many of their players on time.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Really if you look at the history of all the clubs in the I-League era who were relegated you would get this:</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Relegated teams: Viva Kerala, Salgaocar, Mohammedan, Vasco, Sporting Goa, Shillong Lajong, JCT, ONGC, HAL.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Out of the 9 clubs that have been relegated only 2 have actually come back even remotely healthy and that is Salgaocar and Sporting Goa. I credit their survival to the strength of Goan football and the fact that unlike many other area's of India they do have a competition that runs from October to April in the Goa Professional League. The rest though tell different stories.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Mohammedan have been battered with corruption themselves and messed up decisions. They may have support but no one can deny that they still live in the 1980s. Vasco are now in the 2nd Division of Goa. Viva Kerala and JCT Mills are no long existing. HAL and ONGC survived thanks to their corporates and the fact that the cost to run a football team in the I-League is still very cheap. </font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">So, no, United Sikkim will not be in I-League for a while. Unless something major happens I can not see them making it within the next 2-3 years. History says so.</font></div>
http://arunfoot.blogspot.in/2013/04/tanumoy-basu-right-mix-of-height-and.html