United Sikkim FC

ashindia · December 2012

That Sandesh is great Asset for future.I think we should really give credits to AIFF for the YDP they executed in 2007 all these players right from 1991- are of next generation.

ashindia · December 2012

Looking to the future

Making his club debut at 16, Bhaichung Bhutia blossomed to become the face of Indian football. Initially under the shadow of the great IM Vijayan, Bhaichung became the premier striker in the country once the Kerala forward retired and bore the leader's mantle in the national team right until his retirement from the international scene last year. Keen to give something back to the game, Bhutia is focused on developing his club United Sikkim FC. He talks to Abhishek Purohit

His heydays on the field are part of Indian football's folklore. But now, Bhaichung Bhutia is not living in the past and is completely focusing on giving something back to the game to a larger extend that bestowed him with so much fame and adulation.

Bhutia co-owns a club United Sikkim which plays in the I-League and is now dedicating his heart towards it. To give an example of it, in the last four matches of the club he filled in as the coach of the team after the club fired Phillipe de Rider as his team suffered a setback of 0-10 at the hands of Prayag United.

“My biggest challenge at the moment is corporate sponsorship for my club United Sikkim. That's a biggest challenge for me. Sikkim is a very small state and we don't have big corporate houses there,” Bhutia, who was here in the Capital on Wednesday to inaugurate the exclusive Nike Football House in the Ambience mall in Vasant Kunj, said.

Asked about how the club dealt with post the unlucky night when they were mauled at the hands of Prayag, he said, “It's been quite difficult but we have recovered from it. We drew last three away matches, but, I still feel that we should have won those matches. I think we are unfortunate because the 50-50 decisions did not go in our favour. Somewhere I felt that we did not get any single decision in our favour.” Lot of players after packing their kits, become administrators or coaches. But, Bhutia is not eying a post of administrator in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) or as the coach of the Indian team.

ashindia · December 2012

“I am not eyeing any post in the AIFF at the moment. I am just concentrating on my club United Sikkim FC. I want my club to be one of the best clubs in India but you need a lot of support to make that happen. And on coaching, I am not ready yet. December 8 is going to be my last match as a coach with the club. We already have a coach — Nathan Hall from Australia — to start work with the boys very soon,” he said.

Recently, a lot of talk is going on about the future of I-League, the premier domestic tournament of the country. Many critics have put the question mark on it having a successful journey. Bhutia though, believes it is here to stay but organizers need to come up with fresh ideas to take it to the next level. “It needs to be reworked. I-league has to be there but in terms of marketing, packaging, concepts and ideas, things will have to change. We have a lot of corporate teams which is not a necessity in India. We need to have teams based out of the city. We need more people who are willing to invest in football. “Same goes for our junior football. We need to do much more. We still need to work on a good development system. We need to have good competitions for the teams. We still need to work on infrastructure. “The biggest thing is that the interest level has gone up at the junior level. The efforts are there and things have started picking up and things have started falling in place. There are people who are interested in investing in it. But, we need to channelise and package it in a proper manner," Bhutia explained. Since the former Indian skipper hung his boots, much water has flown down the river and now Indian team bears a new look under a new coach and plays a new style of football — short passing game — made famous by the Spanish team.

Bhutia, who has guided many senior members of the current squad, including current captain Sunil Chettri, feels that Indian football is going in right the direction under the new coach Wim Koevermans from Holland.

"Wim is doing a great job. In such a short time, the team has given some very good performances. And about the short-passing game, we can adjust but it will take some time," Bhutia signed off, hoping that his club United Sikkim will produce many more brilliant players who will ultimately lift the standard of India in the world of football.

Joyptan · December 2012

Australian Nathan Hall officially takes over as the head coach of United Sikkim

http://www.kickoffindia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=522:nathan-hall-officially-takes-over-as-united-sikkim-coach&catid=42:rokstories

Arsenalkid700 · December 2012

Good signing for United Sikkim F.C. A proper coach is what they needed.

Here is his newly made wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hall_(football_coach)

From what I gathered he seems to be highly rated in Australia for his potential. He is unproven as a top coach but, like Papas, he has a great football coaching education. I would not expect much however from him. He is coming into De Ridder's team. This is the team that De Ridder has built and I bet he will want to make some changes. However will he have the money to do so. Early days.