A tale of two football coaches

History has a strange knack of reuniting long lost friends, or reigniting old rivalries. The surprise announcement that David Booth would replace Karim Bencherifa as coach of Salgaocar FC will in the long season ahead kick off an absorbing personal managerial battle between two redoubtable tacticians, who reputedly have no love lost for each other, but also have tremendous respect for each other’s footballing credentials.

In a twist of delicious irony, the Moroccan landed the most lucrative albeit highly stressful job of guiding Mohun Bagan for the rest of the season after the Mariners had sacked Santosh Kashyap for his cumulative failures in the Federation Cup and the first two matches of the I-League. This denouement came incidentally after the Englishman and former Mohun Bagan marksman Igor Shvkirin were mentioned in the media as frontrunners for the Kolkata job.

The amazing script completed a full circle when Booth was named to step into Bencherifa’s shoes at Salgaocar, the Goan football powerhouse based in the port town of Vasco. Last week, it seemed that the Thailand-based coach had called up a former Mumbai colleague and told him that he was soon coming to a place close to him. And as it turned out that place was Goa!

Both Booth and Bencherifa are highly successful coaches, having won a fair clutch of honours in India, the former with Mahindra United and Mumbai FC and the latter during his stints at Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan and lastly Salgaocar. Both have also won the Football Players Association of India (FPAI) awards for the best coach, the former for 2008 and the latter for his spectacular I-League triumph with Salgaocar two seasons ago. This last achievement gives the Moroccan the edge in bragging rights based on the silverware in the trophy cabinet.

But it was Booth’s nomination for the FPAI award a few years ago which sparked off a heated confrontation between the two coaches after a Mahindra United vs Mohun Bagan I-League clash at the Cooperage, which the visitors had won 1-2 after Marcos Pereira had scored the equalizer and Ryuiji Seouka had bundled in the match-winner. Booth confronted the Moroccan in front of the departing players, fans and media, this writer included, and let fly a volley of recriminations while a composed Bencherifa tried his best to calm him down.

“He has been going around telling my players that he was the more deserving coach. If he really wants it (the award), I can give it to him,” Booth was quoted in the media as saying. Bencherifa on his part diplomatically tried to defuse the incident by saying, “I can understand his frustration. This was a home game and he wanted to win it badly.”

Both coaches however moved on after the incident, and when Mohun Bagan later axed Bencherifa after their title hopes had withered in 2010-11, it was Booth among the few coaches who spoke out in his favour.

“Karim’s results speak for themselves. I mean, there can’t be any footballing logic behind the decision to remove him. Obviously, there is plenty of petty club politics behind this disgraceful decision. It’s unfortunate, but it is true that we (coaches) are puppets in the hands of people who know very little about football,” Booth had told ToI from Mumbai.

“After what Bagan have done to Karim, I am sure not many coaches will be queuing up to join them in future,” Booth had added.

The Briton would have hardly imagined that not only would Bencherifa rejoin the maroon & green brigade in what would be a record deal for football coaches in India, but he would ironically be the person who would step into the Moroccan’s shoes at the club he left behind. Such is football, and such is life!