Lajong deserved to be relegated. They insulted the top league of the country by fielding an incompetent and uncompetitive side, in the process became the worst side in NFL/I-League era in terms of goals conceded.
P.S. Is it true both Nestor and Manzi are on 4 yellow cards and will miss the last match? Fucking commentators say nothing during matches.
This report says that Nestor is on 4 yellow cards and will miss the last match due to suspension. It does not say anything about Manzi, he will probably be playing. Slovakian midfielder Jozef Kaplan will play in Nestor's place
The former of those was confirmed on Monday when a 1-4 reverse to Aizawl FC ensured Lajong could finish no higher than eleventh in the league.
IT seemed inevitable right from the start of the season when Shillong Lajong announced that they would be fielding their academy players in the I-League and would not be signing any foreigners. How was a team of boys, with an average age of around 19, going to go up against grizzled veterans and expensive foreigners? A bottom-place finish and relegation seemed the only plausible outcome for the Meghalaya team.
The former of those was confirmed on Monday when a 1-4 reverse to Aizawl FC ensured Lajong could finish no higher than eleventh in the league. They are now six points adrift of both Gokulam Kerala and Minerva Punjab with only one game — against Mohun Bagan at home — left to play.
Relegation though is a different matter. Over the last three years, only one team has been relegated from the I-League due to their league position. Aizawl FC finished bottom of the pile (second-bottom if you count in DSK Shivajians who were immune from relegation) but still found a place in next year’s tournament, memorably going on to lift the title.
Last year, Churchill went home with the wooden spoon yet were so sure of being reinstated that they started a preparatory camp months before the decision to restore them came. Mumbai FC in 2016-17 were the only non-exception to the rule.
As such, it is perhaps too early to mourn Lajong’s demise as an I-League club. “The rules state that the team that finishes last in the league gets relegated. That’s all I can say right now,” I-League CEO Sunando Dhar said.
If it is curtains though, this is not the goodbye that Lajong deserve. They have had their moments of joy in the league this year, but they have more or less been hopelessly outmatched. Fourteen losses from 19 games, a whopping 53 goals conceded (nearly three goals per match) and a goal difference of minus 32 is hardly the way to go out for a club who has been one of the most respectable outfits of the I-League era. In a period of Indian football characterised by a state of constant flux, Lajong has been a constant in the top flight for eight straight years.
Apart from them, only East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have managed an uninterrupted stint in the I-League during this period. And in that period, they have shown the way for others multiple times. They were the first club from the Northeast to qualify for the I-League. At a time when the concept of kit deals was unheard of in Indian football, they brought Adidas on board. And during a period when clubs thought only of the short-term, Lajong always placed an emphasis on promoting youngsters with their average age never spilling out of the early twenties.Perhaps it is only fitting that their lowest point comes during a season talked about as the I-League’s last as India’s top flight.
Not feeling sorry for Lajong (one of my favourite clubs), but for I-league itself.
If the top league becomes a closely held private league, the emergence of such clubs will be permanently blocked. Someone seating in a Mumbai office has determined with confidence that one umbrella club in place of Lajong FC, NEROCA FC, Aizawl FC, Chhinga Veng FC, Green Valley FC and Royal Wahingdoh FC is good for the league and truly representative of the huge land mass and the varied cultures which we call the North East, even as numerous North Eastern players crowd the league winning clubs. Not feeing sorry for Lajong, because this move will put paid to spontaneously grown clubs like Real Kashmir FC, Fateh Hyderabad FC or Chennai City FC as well.
Because someone has decided that a club from Pune is worth backing than clubs assiduously growing up in the areas where the game of football is appreciated.
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P.S. Is it true both Nestor and Manzi are on 4 yellow cards and will miss the last match? Fucking commentators say nothing during matches.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/i-league/no-nestor-gordillo-for-chennai-in-decider/articleshow/68250182.cms
From I-League pathbreakers to wooden-spooners
The former of those was confirmed on Monday when a 1-4 reverse to Aizawl FC ensured Lajong could finish no higher than eleventh in the league.
IT seemed inevitable right from the start of the season when Shillong Lajong announced that they would be fielding their academy players in the I-League and would not be signing any foreigners. How was a team of boys, with an average age of around 19, going to go up against grizzled veterans and expensive foreigners? A bottom-place finish and relegation seemed the only plausible outcome for the Meghalaya team.
The former of those was confirmed on Monday when a 1-4 reverse to Aizawl FC ensured Lajong could finish no higher than eleventh in the league. They are now six points adrift of both Gokulam Kerala and Minerva Punjab with only one game — against Mohun Bagan at home — left to play.
Relegation though is a different matter. Over the last three years, only one team has been relegated from the I-League due to their league position. Aizawl FC finished bottom of the pile (second-bottom if you count in DSK Shivajians who were immune from relegation) but still found a place in next year’s tournament, memorably going on to lift the title.
As such, it is perhaps too early to mourn Lajong’s demise as an I-League club. “The rules state that the team that finishes last in the league gets relegated. That’s all I can say right now,” I-League CEO Sunando Dhar said.
Apart from them, only East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have managed an uninterrupted stint in the I-League during this period. And in that period, they have shown the way for others multiple times. They were the first club from the Northeast to qualify for the I-League. At a time when the concept of kit deals was unheard of in Indian football, they brought Adidas on board. And during a period when clubs thought only of the short-term, Lajong always placed an emphasis on promoting youngsters with their average age never spilling out of the early twenties.Perhaps it is only fitting that their lowest point comes during a season talked about as the I-League’s last as India’s top flight.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/football/2019/mar/05/from-i-league-pathbreakers-to-wooden-spooners-1946866.html
If the top league becomes a closely held private league, the emergence of such clubs will be permanently blocked. Someone seating in a Mumbai office has determined with confidence that one umbrella club in place of Lajong FC, NEROCA FC, Aizawl FC, Chhinga Veng FC, Green Valley FC and Royal Wahingdoh FC is good for the league and truly representative of the huge land mass and the varied cultures which we call the North East, even as numerous North Eastern players crowd the league winning clubs. Not feeing sorry for Lajong, because this move will put paid to spontaneously grown clubs like Real Kashmir FC, Fateh Hyderabad FC or Chennai City FC as well.
Because someone has decided that a club from Pune is worth backing than clubs assiduously growing up in the areas where the game of football is appreciated.