On Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice, Bengaluru FC coach benched Sunil Chhetri
on a pleasant evening on a typical summer day in Bangalore, Ashley Westwood sat in his room, scribbling notes in his writing pad. He faced a dilemma. His young acquisition at Bengaluru FC, winger Malemnganba Meitei, had been one of the best performers during the pre-season. But his marquee player and India captain Sunil Chhetri was to arrive, which would mean Meitei would have to make way for him. After much haggling, he arrived at a decision. Reputations would count for nothing. If Chhetri wanted a place in the playing XI, he would have to earn it by out-performing Meitei. To make sure he had made the right decision, he called up former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. Westwood, a product of United’s academy, was guided by Ferguson during his youth days and needed the Scot’s advice in the early days of his managerial career. He explained his predicament to the legendary coach. Ferguson heard him patiently and assured him that he had taken the right decision. But Westwood would first have to explain to Chhetri why he was dropped. Relieved, the Englishman sought a meeting with his star player first up the following morning. Never before had any coach dared to tell Chhetri that he won’t be a part of the playing eleven. He had played for nearly a dozen teams in India. Everywhere, he had won admirers. “He can walk into any team,” the coaches said of him. But not Westwood. Chhetri remembers the conversation word-for-word. “He called me to the room and said, ‘you’re not going to play the first two games.’ I was zapped. He told me exactly why – because Malemnganba was playing really well and it wouldn’t have been fair to tell him that our captain has come back and he should play. Ashley told me, ‘show me something good while training and I’ll put you there,'” the India captain recalls. The initial reaction was of shock. But he would realise later that this club was unlike others he had played for and Westwood was unlike the other coaches he had played under. Chhetri grit his teeth, put in the extra yards at training and, as promised, was drafted into the team two matches later. Since then, the 29-year-old has hardly missed a tie for Bengaluru, leading them to I-League title in their first season. And on Sunday, Chhetri starred yet again in Bengaluru’s Federation Cup triumph, scoring the opening goal in Bengaluru’s 2-1 win over his former club Dempo. Like their I-League campaign, this too was unprecedented. A League-Cup double in a little more than a year of existence is unheard of in football, let alone Indian football.
Just out of curiosity, I looked at the Bengaluru FC website and I saw a shirt I would like to purchase but how would I go about getting it sent to the US?
I know I should probably contact someone from BFC but I wanted to check here first.
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On Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice, Bengaluru FC coach benched Sunil Chhetri
on a pleasant evening on a typical summer day in Bangalore, Ashley Westwood sat in his room, scribbling notes in his writing pad. He faced a dilemma. His young acquisition at Bengaluru FC, winger Malemnganba Meitei, had been one of the best performers during the pre-season. But his marquee player and India captain Sunil Chhetri was to arrive, which would mean Meitei would have to make way for him. After much haggling, he arrived at a decision. Reputations would count for nothing.
If Chhetri wanted a place in the playing XI, he would have to earn it by out-performing Meitei.
To make sure he had made the right decision, he called up former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. Westwood, a product of United’s academy, was guided by Ferguson during his youth days and needed the Scot’s advice in the early days of his managerial career. He explained his predicament to the legendary coach.
Ferguson heard him patiently and assured him that he had taken the right decision. But Westwood would first have to explain to Chhetri why he was dropped. Relieved, the Englishman sought a meeting with his star player first up the following morning. Never before had any coach dared to tell Chhetri that he won’t be a part of the playing eleven. He had played for nearly a dozen teams in India. Everywhere, he had won admirers. “He can walk into any team,” the coaches said of him.
But not Westwood. Chhetri remembers the conversation word-for-word. “He called me to the room and said, ‘you’re not going to play the first two games.’ I was zapped. He told me exactly why – because Malemnganba was playing really well and it wouldn’t have been fair to tell him that our captain has come back and he should play. Ashley told me, ‘show me something good while training and I’ll put you there,'” the India captain recalls.
The initial reaction was of shock. But he would realise later that this club was unlike others he had played for and Westwood was unlike the other coaches he had played under. Chhetri grit his teeth, put in the extra yards at training and, as promised, was drafted into the team two matches later.
Since then, the 29-year-old has hardly missed a tie for Bengaluru, leading them to I-League title in their first season. And on Sunday, Chhetri starred yet again in Bengaluru’s Federation Cup triumph, scoring the opening goal in Bengaluru’s 2-1 win over his former club Dempo. Like their I-League campaign, this too was unprecedented. A League-Cup double in a little more than a year of existence is unheard of in football, let alone Indian football.
http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/on-sir-alexs-advice-bengaluru-fc-coach-benched-chhetri/