Agree with everyone. Corporate clubs was the right idea but the execution was complete rubbish. Fine, bring in Bharat FC and DSK Shivajians as direct-entry clubs with no relegation but then they should be expected to bring something other teams don't but so far the only thing we have is DSK's academy with Liverpool but that is not enough!
I-league is already 9 teams this season. Aizwal should not be relegated. One promoted club from 2nd division will make it a balanced 10 team affair.
Hell, Promote 3 clubs from second division to make it 12 clubs in the top tier. We might get new venues like kashmir, hyderabad, imphal in addition to saving aizwal as a fresh venue to make it more pan indian league
Pune doesn't deserve an Ileague club at present. Kolhapur or Nagpur would have drawn big crowds.
Lets see if dsk remains committed to its word of building its own stadium. And anyways 6 month is a short time frame to judge a team. Besides their partnership with liverpool have already brought out chhangte. I hope it wasn't just a one off thing to happen and more quality players would churn out of their academy
The more the time passes, the more it feels like corporate team will not work in I-league. BFC was a lucky aberration. With AW now almost out of the door, it will be interesting to see what will happen if BFC performance also takes a dip over next few years. Will BFC still exist? I am not convinced it will beyond couple of years.
If BFC has a couple of unsuccessful seasons, then it will be interesting to see how their management deals the situation. Till now they are very very successful as far as silver wares are concerned...so far so good. But a dip in performance is bound to come, then the real professionalism will come to light.
Successful ... in terms of silverware. How about financially? OK, nobody is asking them to be profit-making in three years, but surely there would be a road-map. For all their misplanning and goofing ups, the big two flaunt some kind of shirt sponsorship (well in case of MB, there are some dispute) and they are quite substantial in the context of the chaos that is I-league. And they are not too little even if compared to ISL clubs. But for BFC, it's JSW on the shirts. Which means CSR. Which again means limited growth -- in the lines of ITI, Air India or JCT.
A couple of failures in the coming years (coupled with tough times in steel industry), flight of 'fan's, and a quiet folding up: because nobody would demand explanations from the promoters. That's the way I see them, though difficult to imagine this in today's brouhaha. Reminds me of the times when Mahindra United won the league ... and folded.
And I would be only too glad if this is proven wrong.
Comments
Hell, Promote 3 clubs from second division to make it 12 clubs in the top tier.
We might get new venues like kashmir, hyderabad, imphal in addition to saving aizwal as a fresh venue to make it more pan indian league
No fans... no improvement in Balewadi...( nothing that FCPC didn't already do )
No bright young talent unearthed...
Signing players with an avg age older than most teams...
Not sure who is to blame...
Impossible to copy paste BFC model...as the Pune clubs just didn't get the right personnel
Lets see if dsk remains committed to its word of building its own stadium. And anyways 6 month is a short time frame to judge a team. Besides their partnership with liverpool have already brought out chhangte. I hope it wasn't just a one off thing to happen and more quality players would churn out of their academy
@sanvedjadgav, it beats me why none of the Maha (Pune) franchisees are considering Nagpur.
A couple of failures in the coming years (coupled with tough times in steel industry), flight of 'fan's, and a quiet folding up: because nobody would demand explanations from the promoters. That's the way I see them, though difficult to imagine this in today's brouhaha. Reminds me of the times when Mahindra United won the league ... and folded.
And I would be only too glad if this is proven wrong.