Well i was wondering if we had a year long ISL as India's main league, would we see such big signings?? Imagine spending 9 crores a season on a Marquee player!! Would that be feasible..Also added costs of accomodation etc (Most players would come with their families if it was a year long business)
Indian people are talking about it as hype is being created on lies-Beckham is coming, Messi is coming, Neymar is coming. Once people will know that big stars are not coming and those coming are also old, unfit, retired, over the hill players-all this talking will vanish. Such festival games will help-in creating hype yes but what about standard of football. At the end of the day, Indian players will have to improve their football with regular players, not hype of retired players or film star. Players retire because of a reason-they are unfit to play regular football.
@munna219777 : bro no one told mess I is coming or neymar is coming to play isl. Afterall all of us want to see good indian football. Atleast until now the foreigners signed by Isl are better than what we have currently in I league. So keep faith. Give it a try.
@footydip u mast have not read the news articles about messi and backham Coming to ISL and isl will have hype but 100% it will not improve Indian football and we will not qualify for 2018 WC as some people say how can Indian football improve if only 4 Indian players play with 7 unfeet 35+ foreign players.
By the way we are not going to make it to 2018 WC. No reputed media told about mess and neymar. If some joker is writing something in some bullshit newspaper or news website we should ignore it. No good mainstream media reported anything like that.
@munna219777 To be fair though, the retired marquees signed so far seem to be around 36 years of age and coming off seasons at pretty decent leagues. It is not as if they have retired for years.
Also the other foreign players are not retired... just happen to be over 30 so far. Nothing wrong with that as long as they have the quality.
Going back to the concerns of people, I thought I might remind people that sports history is filled with leagues that merge or split. Merges are pretty commin (NFL with AFC to form the NFL, NBA with ABA to form NBA, and the United Soccer Association merging with the NPSL to form the NASL) while spliting is more common world-wide (Premier League being created as a split from the old Football League) so ISL merging with I-League is not so surprising.
I just want to know how it would happen. Again, clubs like Pune, Mumbai, the Shillong clubs, and Goan clubs will not have a choice really and won't be missed. Bengaluru FC might have a case... especially if the current Bangalore ISL team moves to Chennai.
The main question will be East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Now, going back to sports history, it is not uncommon to see big clubs fall (New York Cosmos, Seattle Supersonics, Blackburn Olympic etc.) but they do have a pretty loyal fanbase. It is hard to see where this will go.
Why all this talk that ISL wont improve Indian football or indian players..The I-League hasn't done either despite being there for years..And no one ever said ISL will make India qualify for WC..And also the 20+ Nigerians we have in I-League aren't exactly super fit..I am sure the 30+ ISL foreigners would be better...I also have my apprehensions about ISL..But it's not as bad as it is made out to be
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At the end of the day, Indian players will have to improve their football with regular players, not hype of retired players or film star. Players retire because of a reason-they are unfit to play regular football.