In my opinion two teams relegation and promotion should proceed. So, in that way we will most probably get rid of HAL and CUK and ofcourse we ll get two teams from 2nd div in their place. Yet we can manage 16 teams by adding 2 more franchisee teams from 2 diff parts of india. If AIFF and IMG-RIL genuinely wanna have 16 teams from next yr then probably this is the best possible way
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.
We dont have to fulfill everything on the list. A-League was only 30 games, K-League was 30 games, the UAE Pro League had 22 GAMES! Yet they have 4 teams.
Also I know 16 is the target and it is a good target but like I said (and this is my opinion) we are going to fast. Also promotion/relegation wont work anymore. I think this season we can keep it so Chirag and HAL leave and United Sikkim and hopefully Royal Wahingdoh take there place but then from there we cancel it.
Remember after watching the 2009-10 I-League and seeing that Shillong Lajong FC (who averaged 30,000 a game) and Sporting Goa (best marketers in Goa at the time) get relegated and seeing ONGC FC and HAL SC replacing them. Ya, so far that has helped out SO WELL.
Like I said, we should just have 10 clubs in the league, these 10 clubs will be the teams which are already marketing themselves and who are actually trying to connect with fans (with some exceptions) and in my eyes that is...
Dempo SC, Sporting Goa, Pune FC, East Bengal FC, Mohun Bagan AC, Shillong Lajong FC, United Sikkim FC, Royal Wahingdoh FC, Eagles FC, and (place club of your choice here).
Honestly that is bad. The fact I can only name 9 teams which can make the league marketable and pan-india is a sign 14-16 teams are not right. 6 of the 9 came from I-League, even worse.
Also look at all the leagues in the 2012 AFC Champions League...
Qatar (12 clubs), UAE (12 clubs), Saudi Arabia (14 clubs), Uzbekistan (14 clubs), Iran (18 clubs), Japan (18 clubs), Korea (16 clubs), China (16 clubs), Australia (10 clubs), Thailand (18 clubs), Indonesia (12 clubs)
Australia stands out because they are the only franchise league in there. They tried expansion before and so far 4 clubs were selected for expansion in the 6 year history and only 3 have survived. That club that failed was North Queensland FC. The reason they failed was because the FAA did not make sure that owner Bill Buckley had the financial muscle and commitment to run a football club which he did not and in the end Buckley had to do what Indian clubs do today and that is ask the fans to donate there money to the club and obviously it did not work out. After that A-League decided to be smarter and do expansion slower and the next season brought in Melbourne Heart who so far have been a success. Then now they are starting there new domestic cup called the FAA Cup which (unlike the Fed Cup) spans all of Australia and pits them against the A-League teams. This is supposed to increase the amount of interested clubs in becoming an A-League team (How? You are a semi-pro team and an A-League team comes over, the crowd in your stadium is 30,000, owner sees that and starts bidding them for A-League)
Honestly I like the A-League style. Its financially sound and if a club cant get there financies in order (or cant even send there financies to the league) then that club is immediately expelled from the league. This insures stability and order. Of course there are some flaws as well but minor ones and if they AIFF decides this way than I am confident we will do well.
i too feel that i-league is not yet ready to expand given that we still have clubs like hal, air india who are yet to privatize; chirag united kerala, prayag united, salgaokar and cb and dempo to a bit who are yet to start thinking about commercializing their team(left mumbai fc for the fact that they hadn't played in their home for last 2 seasons so cant predict that)...with already established teams not looking good to be called professional and look to attract fans i doubt the advantage it would have for the league to be expanded to 16...may be i would say 12 or 14 would be perfect number
i too feel that i-league is not yet ready to expand given that we still have clubs like hal, air india who are yet to privatize; chirag united kerala, prayag united, salgaokar and cb and dempo to a bit who are yet to start thinking about commercializing their team(left mumbai fc for the fact that they hadn't played in their home for last 2 seasons so cant predict that)...with already established teams not looking good to be called professional and look to attract fans i doubt the advantage it would have for the league to be expanded to 16...may be i would say 12 or 14 would be perfect number
12 at the most. I mean lets look at this from the off-field stats...
Mohun Bagan: Gets an average of 40,000-60,000 a game (more 40,000 though) so they are a gem to us. Imagine what would happen if they could market and organize better.
East Bengal: Same as Mohun Bagan
Prayag United: Lucky to get 10,000 people to a game. Heck lucky to get 5,000 people. Prayag and Kolkata just dont make sense and when you have to play at Salt Lake Stadium it just makes things worse.
Pailan Arrows: Same thing.
Dempo SC: They are getting better organized which I am liking. Also they managed 18,000 in bright daylight at Fatorda which is away from Panjim. If they can get that stadium in Panjim and make it 30,000 I bet they can fill it up easy. Also it needs floodlights.
Churchill Brothers: Rebranded but no difference. I thought they would start marketing but they gave up. They even promised a website but nothing yet.
Salgaocar: All they do is complain about an AFC Champions League spot they would have never won. They are so unorganized and they try to disguise it. Also did you see the Salgaocar - Prayag game. It was empty. Need better support or you wont do well but Salgaocar wont get that because they dont market and that is sad for the reigning champions.
Sporting Goa: They are trying to market with dancers and a mascot but that is nothing. They need hardcore marketing. They should look to move to the Tilak next season as that is an area which Salgaocar is not taken advantage of the area and Vasco are not doing anything.
Pune FC: They try so hard to get a crowd and it is working. Last season on PFC TV 90 minute games you would not see anyone in camera but now this season they do. I predict in the next 5 years if they continue doing what they do they will get full stadiums but they need all the other teams to follow there example.
Mumbai FC: To early to tell. Only 1 season at the Cooperage but with the way Cooperage was you cant really make guesses today. They did launch a website and a youtube channel even before Pune FC and it was good but I think with all the stadium movements they focused on that which could explain some lack of signings.
Air India FC: Sadly, same thing as Mumbai.
HAL: They only get 1,500 a game in a 15,000 seater. They have a great untapped fanbased and great stadium but they are not taking advantage of. Bangalore has so much potential to be a great football place but it needs proper marketing.
Chirag: Same as HAL.
So really all the current teams look bleak when you look at crowds and how much they market there team. Shillong Lajong FC is probably the biggest light right now for Indian Football and hopefully United Sikkim and Royal Wahingdoh can help
I-League: Sukhwinder Singh resigns from Pailan Arrows
Sukhwinder Singh has resigned from the post of the technical director of Pailan Arrows due to personal reasons.
The Arrows are lying 13th on the table having failed to register a single win and have been arguably the most hapless side in the I-League this season.
“I had to come back to Punjab earlier on two occasions when my mother and brother had expired. As a result, I missed a few matches. I also have a family function (daughter’s marriage) for which I had to once again quit the team,” said Sukhwinder.
“Pailan have been very cordial with us and I want to thank the AIFF for giving me this opportunity,” he added.
However it is reliably learnt that the primary reason which drove him to call it quits from the project was due to the signing of some average players at the start of the season by some inexperienced coaches.
As a result no matter how much training and coaching was imparted to them, the team continued to be the most boring side in the top division of Indian football.
Also given that the management of Pailan Arrows was partly managed by Pailan and the AIFF, there was confusion over whom to approach for day-to-day issues with several ego issues cropping up which didn’t help the matters either.
This is honestly good for Pailan. Credit to Sukki who went through some personal issues and dealt with the unprofessional management. Hopefully he will return but with a I-League 2nd Division club. I-League is to much for him now.
As for Pailan I expect Colim Toal to take over for now till the end of the season.
I don’t mind Sukhi’s exit from Arrows. They need a foreign coach who is much more conversant in modern football.
In fact, I don’t like to see Arrows in the I-league in the first place. Instead of playing mediocre Indian teams ON lousy Indian turfs, they – and 2/3 more teams like them -- should continually play against European and higher placed Asian teams. And those team roasters should be filled up from the (mostly non-existent) academies of the I-league teams, until the AIFF academies come up.
Playing in the I-league, they are not developing themselves as desired and are diluting the professionalism of the league as well. But, AIFF prefers short cuts.
Oh, and we should not disturb Toal from what he is doing. He should be in the academies.
Its funny how quickly the mass opinion can change! Sukhi is held as one of the best coaches in India, not for nothing. He is a great admirer of talent. And that is why he had so much achievements with JCT. He selected young players from the JCT academy wisely to make a formidable team which played in the top league for more than a decade with glory. Remember JCT always had a top table finish with a win until last season.
He was the one who led the U21 India team to SAFF Championship victory. But unfortunately for him, he is an Indian and not a foreigner.
Pailan Arrows is a bunch of shitty players we all know. That is the reason I have ZERO feeling for them! there's a saying in Bengali which roughly translates to
'You can thrash a horse to make it a donkey . But you can never thrash a donkey to make it a horse'
That is the reason of his frustration as clearly mentioned. He is a great coach and will make a huge comeback soon.
Its funny how quickly the mass opinion can change! Sukhi is held as one of the best coaches in India, not for nothing. He is a great admirer of talent. And that is why he had so much achievements with JCT. He selected young players from the JCT academy wisely to make a formidable team which played in the top league for more than a decade with glory. Remember JCT always had a top table finish with a win until last season.
He was the one who led the U21 India team to SAFF Championship victory. But unfortunately for him, he is an Indian and not a foreigner.
Pailan Arrows is a bunch of shitty players we all know. That is the reason I have ZERO feeling for them! there's a saying in Bengali which roughly translates to
'You can thrash a horse to make it a donkey . But you can never thrash a donkey to make it a horse'
That is the reason of his frustration as clearly mentioned. He is a great coach and will make a huge comeback soon.
Precisely.
To quote PK Banerjee - You cannot cook biryani with masala of a bland dish.
Sukhi didn't have the most talented bunch of youngsters in his hand. Did he? It was down to his organizational and discipline training that Arrows managed to earn so many draws when they could have lost. I feel bad for him at times. Things were out of his hand in JCT last season when they lost so many good players...again this season he got a team which was not his own choosing.
Sukhi is not the most attacking coach and his teams dont play eye-catching football. But he is someone who drills the fundamentals of football into his players perfectly. The PA project is looking very pointless to me right now.
Comments
Well I'm not aware about Finances and all but According to AFC a top division club needs to play minimum of 33 matches in League Season as per AFC Champions League Regulations for 2013 season(<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.the-afc.com/uploads/Documents/regulation/clubcriteria.pdf"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.the-afc.com/uploads/Document ... iteria.pdf</a><!-- m -->).
So AIFF has to do it anyway,also when I-League expansion was decided 16 was the target as Teji mentioned.
Also I know 16 is the target and it is a good target but like I said (and this is my opinion) we are going to fast. Also promotion/relegation wont work anymore. I think this season we can keep it so Chirag and HAL leave and United Sikkim and hopefully Royal Wahingdoh take there place but then from there we cancel it.
Remember after watching the 2009-10 I-League and seeing that Shillong Lajong FC (who averaged 30,000 a game) and Sporting Goa (best marketers in Goa at the time) get relegated and seeing ONGC FC and HAL SC replacing them. Ya, so far that has helped out SO WELL.
Like I said, we should just have 10 clubs in the league, these 10 clubs will be the teams which are already marketing themselves and who are actually trying to connect with fans (with some exceptions) and in my eyes that is...
Dempo SC, Sporting Goa, Pune FC, East Bengal FC, Mohun Bagan AC, Shillong Lajong FC, United Sikkim FC, Royal Wahingdoh FC, Eagles FC, and (place club of your choice here).
Honestly that is bad. The fact I can only name 9 teams which can make the league marketable and pan-india is a sign 14-16 teams are not right. 6 of the 9 came from I-League, even worse.
Also look at all the leagues in the 2012 AFC Champions League...
Qatar (12 clubs), UAE (12 clubs), Saudi Arabia (14 clubs), Uzbekistan (14 clubs), Iran (18 clubs), Japan (18 clubs), Korea (16 clubs), China (16 clubs), Australia (10 clubs), Thailand (18 clubs), Indonesia (12 clubs)
Australia stands out because they are the only franchise league in there. They tried expansion before and so far 4 clubs were selected for expansion in the 6 year history and only 3 have survived. That club that failed was North Queensland FC. The reason they failed was because the FAA did not make sure that owner Bill Buckley had the financial muscle and commitment to run a football club which he did not and in the end Buckley had to do what Indian clubs do today and that is ask the fans to donate there money to the club and obviously it did not work out. After that A-League decided to be smarter and do expansion slower and the next season brought in Melbourne Heart who so far have been a success. Then now they are starting there new domestic cup called the FAA Cup which (unlike the Fed Cup) spans all of Australia and pits them against the A-League teams. This is supposed to increase the amount of interested clubs in becoming an A-League team (How? You are a semi-pro team and an A-League team comes over, the crowd in your stadium is 30,000, owner sees that and starts bidding them for A-League)
Honestly I like the A-League style. Its financially sound and if a club cant get there financies in order (or cant even send there financies to the league) then that club is immediately expelled from the league. This insures stability and order. Of course there are some flaws as well but minor ones and if they AIFF decides this way than I am confident we will do well.
12 at the most. I mean lets look at this from the off-field stats...
Mohun Bagan: Gets an average of 40,000-60,000 a game (more 40,000 though) so they are a gem to us. Imagine what would happen if they could market and organize better.
East Bengal: Same as Mohun Bagan
Prayag United: Lucky to get 10,000 people to a game. Heck lucky to get 5,000 people. Prayag and Kolkata just dont make sense and when you have to play at Salt Lake Stadium it just makes things worse.
Pailan Arrows: Same thing.
Dempo SC: They are getting better organized which I am liking. Also they managed 18,000 in bright daylight at Fatorda which is away from Panjim. If they can get that stadium in Panjim and make it 30,000 I bet they can fill it up easy. Also it needs floodlights.
Churchill Brothers: Rebranded but no difference. I thought they would start marketing but they gave up. They even promised a website but nothing yet.
Salgaocar: All they do is complain about an AFC Champions League spot they would have never won. They are so unorganized and they try to disguise it. Also did you see the Salgaocar - Prayag game. It was empty. Need better support or you wont do well but Salgaocar wont get that because they dont market and that is sad for the reigning champions.
Sporting Goa: They are trying to market with dancers and a mascot but that is nothing. They need hardcore marketing. They should look to move to the Tilak next season as that is an area which Salgaocar is not taken advantage of the area and Vasco are not doing anything.
Pune FC: They try so hard to get a crowd and it is working. Last season on PFC TV 90 minute games you would not see anyone in camera but now this season they do. I predict in the next 5 years if they continue doing what they do they will get full stadiums but they need all the other teams to follow there example.
Mumbai FC: To early to tell. Only 1 season at the Cooperage but with the way Cooperage was you cant really make guesses today. They did launch a website and a youtube channel even before Pune FC and it was good but I think with all the stadium movements they focused on that which could explain some lack of signings.
Air India FC: Sadly, same thing as Mumbai.
HAL: They only get 1,500 a game in a 15,000 seater. They have a great untapped fanbased and great stadium but they are not taking advantage of. Bangalore has so much potential to be a great football place but it needs proper marketing.
Chirag: Same as HAL.
So really all the current teams look bleak when you look at crowds and how much they market there team. Shillong Lajong FC is probably the biggest light right now for Indian Football and hopefully United Sikkim and Royal Wahingdoh can help
Sukhwinder Singh has resigned from the post of the technical director of Pailan Arrows due to personal reasons.
The Arrows are lying 13th on the table having failed to register a single win and have been arguably the most hapless side in the I-League this season.
“I had to come back to Punjab earlier on two occasions when my mother and brother had expired. As a result, I missed a few matches. I also have a family function (daughter’s marriage) for which I had to once again quit the team,” said Sukhwinder.
“Pailan have been very cordial with us and I want to thank the AIFF for giving me this opportunity,” he added.
However it is reliably learnt that the primary reason which drove him to call it quits from the project was due to the signing of some average players at the start of the season by some inexperienced coaches.
As a result no matter how much training and coaching was imparted to them, the team continued to be the most boring side in the top division of Indian football.
Also given that the management of Pailan Arrows was partly managed by Pailan and the AIFF, there was confusion over whom to approach for day-to-day issues with several ego issues cropping up which didn’t help the matters either.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is honestly good for Pailan. Credit to Sukki who went through some personal issues and dealt with the unprofessional management. Hopefully he will return but with a I-League 2nd Division club. I-League is to much for him now.
As for Pailan I expect Colim Toal to take over for now till the end of the season.
In fact, I don’t like to see Arrows in the I-league in the first place. Instead of playing mediocre Indian teams ON lousy Indian turfs, they – and 2/3 more teams like them -- should continually play against European and higher placed Asian teams. And those team roasters should be filled up from the (mostly non-existent) academies of the I-league teams, until the AIFF academies come up.
Playing in the I-league, they are not developing themselves as desired and are diluting the professionalism of the league as well. But, AIFF prefers short cuts.
Oh, and we should not disturb Toal from what he is doing. He should be in the academies.
He was the one who led the U21 India team to SAFF Championship victory. But unfortunately for him, he is an Indian and not a foreigner.
Pailan Arrows is a bunch of shitty players we all know. That is the reason I have ZERO feeling for them! there's a saying in Bengali which roughly translates to
'You can thrash a horse to make it a donkey . But you can never thrash a donkey to make it a horse'
That is the reason of his frustration as clearly mentioned. He is a great coach and will make a huge comeback soon.
Precisely.
To quote PK Banerjee - You cannot cook biryani with masala of a bland dish.
Sukhi didn't have the most talented bunch of youngsters in his hand. Did he? It was down to his organizational and discipline training that Arrows managed to earn so many draws when they could have lost. I feel bad for him at times. Things were out of his hand in JCT last season when they lost so many good players...again this season he got a team which was not his own choosing.
Sukhi is not the most attacking coach and his teams dont play eye-catching football. But he is someone who drills the fundamentals of football into his players perfectly. The PA project is looking very pointless to me right now.