Former East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan supports IPL-style football tournament

Trevor Morgan (second from left)

Former East Bengal Club coach Trevor James Morgan is back in India a little over two months after leaving the Red-and-Gold to coach the IMG-Reliance registered players for a one-month training camp in Mumbai.

The Englishman, who was open and direct during his time in Kolkata, has come out in support for the IPL-style format.

In an interview with news agency PTI, Trevor Morgan said, “The IPL has taken Indian cricket to another level and that has gone down right through the system. If (this) league has half that effect on the game of football in India then it would be great.”

“You can’t run a programme down even before the season has started. The plans that IMG have are fantastic, the people (players) they want to try to bring in and to spread the game right across India. To get a chance to see players we only saw on television would be a great opportunity for all football fans across India,” he said.

And if the IMG-R tournament would affect the I-League, Morgan said,”Nobody is going to know that until it actually happens. It could be the best thing that could happen to the I-League, it may not (also), who knows. But it (IMG-Reliance tournament) certainly is a great concept and it is fantastic. Only time will tell if it is going to be successful.”

Morgan has been contracted by IMG-Reliance to work on the fitness of the contracted players.

“I am here just to help the players with their fitness. It’s not my team. I need to help players when they go to their clubs and the relevant places that they go, that they are up to the level of fitness that the other players would be. I am just going to be working on their fitness,” he said.

The tournament is scheduled to start in January 2014 and on the long pre-season ahead, he said, “It’s going to be a long season ahead for them and this is just a step on the road to the season.

“It is in regards to the tournament the boys are going to be playing in January, but I believe they might be going on loan to the I -League clubs before that tournament. They need to bring themselves to a level of fitness that they can compete at, when they play in that league,” Morgan added.