I think Pune FC and Mumbai FC, if maintained steadily for next few years with whatever limited investment coming in, should be promising. Pune FC was doing well but received a jolt with Abhra Mondal's shin bone getting broken and Subrata Paul yet to return back in form. On top of that, Jeje is also out for a few months due to injury. All of these are quality players for Pune FC and the team needs them at any cost.
Mumbai FC has a few good players in Kuttymani, one winger (I think his name is Nicholas Rodrigues, if I remember correctly). Abishek Yadav is too one dimensional. Their african midfielder sokore is also pretty good, definitely not a relegation team. HAL should be relegated and justifiably so, a team which still plays R C Prakash should go back to the drawing board and work on building academies for youth development. Chirag Kerala has quality, god knows why things are not falling in place, they had their share of tough luck too, for e.g. in the MMB match, two red cards. What can you do if you have referees like Rowan who are so bookish that they don't mind finishing off a game by flashing cards. Such refs lack personality to keep players under control. They should learn from the Uzbek referee who officiated the calcutta league derby, no player was trying any thing rough or funny and the referee was always in the TV picture frame a few yards from the ball. We should have a separate thread to discuss indian referees, such cartoons they are.
In my opinion Mumbai FC are being held back. I remember reading that they are the ones helping WIFA with the Cooperage and they were the ones to pay for the temporary matches at the Balewadi for both Air India and Mumbai. They had little money to spend on players. They need to, over the summer, get Essel Group, TEN Sports to get involved in players and they should also try and convince Mahindra and Mahindra to get back into football. Mumbai FC is a viable team which with proper marketing in Mumbai can be a success. There was a time when the Cooperage would have 30,000 people somehow. Who says it cant happen again.
o yes, those were the good ol' days of Rovers Cup. I cannot believe that Mumbai FC is having to pay for the Cooperage, if so, will that be their own ground then and they won't have to share with Air India. Also in Mumbai suburban region they need to create awareness for football. The reason why there is so much following for football is not the sophisticated neighborhoods of Calcutta (Ballygunge, Salt Lake and the like) but the districts where football reigns supreme, even the women are interested in football, so it's more of a grassroot level sport in Bengal as opposed to cricket which is followed by the wealthy and the sophisticated class. It's very difficult, almost impossible to get as much following in Football as it is for cricket in India. First it will still take a while for the national team to do well beyond the SAFF region. I am already concerned about the AFC cup prospects, if Sabeeth does not fire alongside Chetri, there's no one to score. I don't see any good upcoming strikers except Jeje, he is still years to go to fully mature. If I have to believe that Pailan Arrows is the next upcoming bunch of players who will take India forward, then our lack of creativity, innovation and accuracy in midfield and upfront is not going to take us far. I think the standard of football played by I league clubs is better than the national team. Whenever confronted with a slightly superior football nation, the national team is left to defending all 90 minutes and that way you cannot even draw games, forget about winning. Therefore, at the international level, cricket and hockey will look more successful compared to football given that almost every country in the world is interested in and considers football as its primary sport while hockey and cricket is played well enough by a select group of nations. Most Indians who are waiting for the national team to fire and therefore has no interest whatsoever in the I league are missing a lot in terms of some fairly decent football played by sons of our soil. At the national level, after all football is far more successful and popular compared to cricket. Who goes to watch Ranji trophy or Bordoloi trophy ?
Savio should have chosen Subhash Singh or one of the upcoming Lajong strikers like Lyngdoh etc. I don't trust Abranches and Sushil Singh enough to even hold and pass the ball with accuracy in international games, forget hitting the back of the net. Sushil Singh does such funny things, man runs around aimlessly, he doesn't even have the IQ of a striker although he can spot jump and reasonably strong.
Abranches might be a tad better but nothing significant, not Jeje standard.
There's a rumor doing rounds these days: No teams will be relegated frm I-League this year. Attempt being made to accommodate 2 more teams from the next season. In all probability there will be 16 teams playing from next year.
There's a rumor doing rounds these days: No teams will be relegated frm I-League this year. Attempt being made to accommodate 2 more teams from the next season. In all probability there will be 16 teams playing from next year.
that will be good news but what about the privatization of clubs like HAL and air india??i doubt their fulfilling all criterias..
There's a rumor doing rounds these days: No teams will be relegated frm I-League this year. Attempt being made to accommodate 2 more teams from the next season. In all probability there will be 16 teams playing from next year.
that will be good news but what about the privatization of clubs like HAL and air india??i doubt their fulfilling all criterias..
Ya. I think we are rushing here. Why 16 teams? There is a reason leagues like the A-League still have 10-11 clubs. A lot more money would be needed in order to accommodate more clubs.
Also like Shankar said, what about HAL and Chirag. We were all happy about there departure from the league but now they be staying. I am sorry but the AIFF have shown again there lack of football business mind. They have no idea how to run a league. This will come to bite us in the ass.
Mumbai alone has a population as large as Australia so we can't compare the two. I don't see I league getting more popular any time soon, that's why Aiff and IMG are planning another league with wider representation until then lets develop a bigger pool of players <!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: -->
Mumbai alone has a population as large as Australia so we can't compare the two. I don't see I league getting more popular any time soon, that's why Aiff and IMG are planning another league with wider representation until then lets develop a bigger pool of players <!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: -->
I kinda understand what happened in 2010 because of the star power of Lajong and the marketing willing Sporting but still have no idea about ONGC and HAL
This year though is just fucked up. They want 16 teams and by doing that they are thinking of promoting two teams and relegating 0, which will obviously be HAL and Chirag. How will that work. Like the secretary of Fiddels World said (co-owners of United Sikkim), "Someone must be losing money" buts its not one, its the team. How can you survive in a league in which you have to fly far distances and you get 1000 people in the crowd. That is not viable. I am almost certain that if HAL somehow dont disband they will definitely next season. Same with Chirag who are only interested in getting there product out there. How about instead of doing that you take some initiative and market your team properly.
The I-League is not ready for 16 teams. If the A-League, which is financially and skill wise better than us by a long way, is not ready to get even 12 teams in there league than how is I-League. The AIFF should go back to 10 teams in the league and expel the financially and corrupt teams and force promote better clubs in there place.
Teams like Dempo, Sporting Goa, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Shillong Lajong, United Sikkim, Royal Wahingdoh, Mumbai FC, Pune FC and a team in Lucknow or Jhakarland are needed.
As the league financially grows then you can add teams. For now we should be slow, not fast. No league can go from 10 teams to 16 teams in 5 years. Stuff like that take time and its high time AIFF realize that.
Comments
Mumbai FC has a few good players in Kuttymani, one winger (I think his name is Nicholas Rodrigues, if I remember correctly). Abishek Yadav is too one dimensional. Their african midfielder sokore is also pretty good, definitely not a relegation team. HAL should be relegated and justifiably so, a team which still plays R C Prakash should go back to the drawing board and work on building academies for youth development. Chirag Kerala has quality, god knows why things are not falling in place, they had their share of tough luck too, for e.g. in the MMB match, two red cards. What can you do if you have referees like Rowan who are so bookish that they don't mind finishing off a game by flashing cards. Such refs lack personality to keep players under control. They should learn from the Uzbek referee who officiated the calcutta league derby, no player was trying any thing rough or funny and the referee was always in the TV picture frame a few yards from the ball. We should have a separate thread to discuss indian referees, such cartoons they are.
Abranches might be a tad better but nothing significant, not Jeje standard.
Ya. I think we are rushing here. Why 16 teams? There is a reason leagues like the A-League still have 10-11 clubs. A lot more money would be needed in order to accommodate more clubs.
Also like Shankar said, what about HAL and Chirag. We were all happy about there departure from the league but now they be staying. I am sorry but the AIFF have shown again there lack of football business mind. They have no idea how to run a league. This will come to bite us in the ass.
I league was supposed to be 16 teams this season but AIFF kept it at 14 teams because of money and logistics problems (Reliance and IMG will solve some of those problems), More teams in I league with more players playing at a higher level than I league 2 or state leagues for 6months or more means bigger group of players to pick from for NT
Mumbai alone has a population as large as Australia so we can't compare the two. I don't see I league getting more popular any time soon, that's why Aiff and IMG are planning another league with wider representation until then lets develop a bigger pool of players <!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: -->
I kinda understand what happened in 2010 because of the star power of Lajong and the marketing willing Sporting but still have no idea about ONGC and HAL
This year though is just fucked up. They want 16 teams and by doing that they are thinking of promoting two teams and relegating 0, which will obviously be HAL and Chirag. How will that work. Like the secretary of Fiddels World said (co-owners of United Sikkim), "Someone must be losing money" buts its not one, its the team. How can you survive in a league in which you have to fly far distances and you get 1000 people in the crowd. That is not viable. I am almost certain that if HAL somehow dont disband they will definitely next season. Same with Chirag who are only interested in getting there product out there. How about instead of doing that you take some initiative and market your team properly.
The I-League is not ready for 16 teams. If the A-League, which is financially and skill wise better than us by a long way, is not ready to get even 12 teams in there league than how is I-League. The AIFF should go back to 10 teams in the league and expel the financially and corrupt teams and force promote better clubs in there place.
Teams like Dempo, Sporting Goa, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Shillong Lajong, United Sikkim, Royal Wahingdoh, Mumbai FC, Pune FC and a team in Lucknow or Jhakarland are needed.
As the league financially grows then you can add teams. For now we should be slow, not fast. No league can go from 10 teams to 16 teams in 5 years. Stuff like that take time and its high time AIFF realize that.