Bengaluru FC staff delighted with I-League success; aim to do well in Asia

Sunil Chhetri, Ashley Westwood, CEO Parth Jindal and COO Mustafa Ghouse

Two days after they created history in Goa, Bengaluru FC conducted their first press conference in Bangalore on Wednesday. Captain Sunil Chhetri, Coach Ashely Westwood, and other staff present were in a jubilant mood after the historical league success.

Excerpts from the press conference:

Sunil Chhetri (Captain)

Criticism of not living up to potential at club level compared to national team

I hope not. I wish they still go on, they keep me motivated. Whenever I hear that I don’t play for the club like I do for the national team, it makes me more hungry to do well. Hence, I hope the tag doesn’t stop today. From the day I started playing football, I haven’t bothered much about what people say as at the end of the day, as long as I do what I can to the best of my abilities. It didn’t change when I wasn’t scoring, it won’t change when I’m scoring now. People can continue to talk, it just motivates me to do better.

Comparing training methods and professionalism from Sporting Lisbon and Sporting Kansas to BFC

As far as professionalism is considered, we are almost there. That is the only reason we are champions today. You know you can talk about a lot of things, but the most important thing is how we train. You can compare the methods here to the best clubs in the world.

Ashley Westwood (Coach)

Difference in tactics in India compared to England

Before I came here, I had spoken to everyone connected with the club and one of the questions they asked me was what would be the style of play. So, I had made my mind up that we wanted to be an attacking side. We wanted to be a whole-hearted and committed side, with emphasis on modern fitness and team shape.

We didn’t come here and say Indian players play this way or the English players play that way. We came in with our system, everyone adapted to that quite quickly and it was just a question of building on the foundation at the club. There is no difference would be my answer to how we’d approach things in England and India and that’s the reason we’ve been so successful. I’ve not done anything differently to what I was doing at Championship clubs, the lads have responded well and we’ve all seen the results.

Difference in training standards

I’ve trained the boys exactly how I would at a Championship club. The training sessions are no different (to the ones in England). It got us a while to get the players up on fitness but with 4-5 weeks under the belt, it was normal. Just like it would be at a Championship club.

Journey from September to now

Obviously, winning a league isn’t very easy. One has to face a lot of difficulties on the way, but there was not much pressure to win the league. Managing pressure and expectations were a little difficult. You know when you are top of the league; everyone tries that little extra to beat the league leaders. If you look at a team like Manchester United, everyone wants to beat them as they are a big team. So staying at the top after going there was our main difficulty.

His interest in the currently vacant Manchester United job

They can’t afford me (laughs).

Anticipated impact of Asian football next season on BFC

Obviously, the extra games will affect us and that’s where pre-season and off-season planning comes into play. We know that we are going play in such a competition, so it’s up to us to organise ourselves and make sure it doesn’t make a big impact. After winning the I-League, the next trophy is the AFC Cup and we’ll make sure that it doesn’t affect us too much.

Toughest opponent of the season

Well, if you look at the results, we lost three times to East Bengal. The first time we lost was in tricky conditions. Without putting excuses in place, the pitch caught us a little bit by surprise but – the other couple of games that we lost to them – could have been avoided. The losses were down to individual errors. Credit to East Bengal, but I feel we could have won the games if not for some little errors.

Parth Jindal (CEO)

New goals for next season considering BFC will be playing in Asia

It’s still sinking in that we won the I-League. When we started off the season, we fought very hard with AIFF to make sure we don’t get relegated. So, to come here as champions, is unexpected. One thing is for sure, we are not going let go of the title soon. But for that we will have to improve and reinforce our team. We want to be the first Indian team to qualify for the AFC Champions League.

Opinion on ISL

No comments. We cater to a different market. Good luck to them.

Rumours about Arsenal coming down for a friendly

I don’t think we can afford Arsenal. That would be amazing if it was true and I would be happy if it happens with someone else.

Nurturing homegrown talent

We launched BFC soccer schools a week ago and that is another opportunity for us to scout talent. Young players from there will be inducted into our youth academy. Our aim is to look for young talent in Bangalore and there is an abundance of that here. As we speak, a ground is being constructed at Vijaynagar. The academy will be used to train talent not only for players from Bangalore but the entire country. Obviously, the focus will be on Karnataka but it will be a pan-India academy.

Pradyum Reddy (Assistant Coach)

Playing second fiddle at BFC after having coached I-League clubs in the past

When you are a coach, you are learning every single day. I joined Shillong Lajong in 2010, got them promoted and kept them there. Things change in football and when the opportunity came up to work with Bengaluru FC, to work with new management (Ashley wasn’t in the picture then), it was wasn’t a tough choice. They had given me an opportunity to work with a Championship manager, only this time in Bangalore. So it is a dream job for me and I have learnt more here than I did in 14 years of coaching prior to that. I hope to continue to improve as a coach.

Improvements from players throughout the season

I have seen most of the players over the years and I think there isn’t a single player at the club who hasn’t improved. Whether it was young boys we brought in from Pailan (Arrows) to the most experienced ones, everyone adapted very well. With the system Ashley has put in place, every player has improved massively and that’s why we have won the league.