I-League: Nine years and counting – Kolkata’s wait for the topmost prize continues

Kolkata boasts of the three most supported clubs in Indian football and in terms of football history and culture, no region comes close. Yet, the football-crazy city has never produced an I-League (since 2007) champion and no Kolkata club has won the national domestic league since 2004.

That agonizing wait officially got extended by another year on Saturday following East Bengal’s 2-2 draw with Dempo. The red-and-gold brigade were runners-up in the last two seasons and have fallen short this time too, and could even miss out on second spot.

In eight of the last nine seasons, Kolkata clubs have finished second on four occasions with Mohun Bagan perhaps coming the closest in the 2008-09 season as they headed into the last day of the campaign level on points with league leaders Churchill Brothers but behind on goal difference. The green-and-maroon brigade eventually finished second as they were beaten 2-1 by Mahindra United, while Churchill thumped Mohammedan Sporting 6-2 to secure their first-ever league title.

East Bengal were the last Kolkata club to win the topmost prize in Indian club football nine years ago and at one point their coach Subhash Bhowmick had tagged Goan clubs as ‘chokers’, because back then in terms of league titles, it was 6-1 in favour of Kolkata.

It’s 8-6 to Goa now and they will extend their lead if Churchill get a point against Mohun Bagan on Tuesday. Goan clubs have finished first in eight of the last nine seasons while the teams from Kolkata have buckled under pressure despite leading the table for major portions of the campaign. But the inability to handle pressure at the business end of the season has not been the only reason behind Kolkata’s failure to win the Indian league.

Goan clubs have been dominant in recent times
(Photo Credit: AIFF Media)

Mohammedan Sporting are one of the traditional ‘Big Three’ of Kolkata but they have not even been in the top flight for the last four years. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have always had the top two budgets in the I-League until the emergence of United Sports Club who, this season, had one of the most expensive squads thanks to sponsors ‘Prayag’.

While United Sports Club are still rookies, arch-rivals East Bengal and Mohun cannot be forgiven for ignoring the importance of having a proper youth structure. Every season they seem to assemble a squad filled with stars but the team often lacks balance while the coaches don’t enjoy complete freedom to do their work.

In some cases, lack of stability in the squad and coaching staff has cost the Kolkata clubs. For example, during the first spell of Karim Bencherifa at Mohun Bagan, the Moroccan was removed midway through his second season despite coming close to winning the I-League in his first.

Current East Bengal boss Trevor Morgan, against all odds, somehow managed to retain almost the same group of players for three seasons and unsurprisingly that made the Kolkata club one of the most consistent teams of the country, while they have also impressed at the continental level by reaching the round of 16 of the AFC Cup after an unbeaten group stage campaign.

Morgan has made East Bengal one of the best club teams in South-East Asia but the I-League has eluded him

So what went wrong for them in the competition that matters the most to the fans and club officials? In his first season, Morgan’s East Bengal led the table for most of the campaign but didn’t have the strength in depth in all departments and thus lost their way in the second half of the season.

In Morgan’s second season, East Bengal were a bit inconsistent at the start but at the midway point were very much in contention. But one local league game summed up the problems in Kolkata football. Morgan fielded a second-string team against Aryan and saw his team get thrashed 4-1 at the club ground despite the introduction of some first team players in the second half.

There were some angry reactions at full time with the fans locking the whole team inside the stadium and one of them also allegedly spitting at Morgan. This day highlighted the obsession of fans in Kolkata with seeing their team win every competition and that too in style. And let’s not forget the pressure on players of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan to emerge victorious in the derby. Winning the derby is often seen as a success even if a club ends the season trophy-less.

Fans’ obsession of winning every trophy and beating the ENEMY at any cost also doesn’t help Kolkata clubs

And it’s not just the fans. Even the club officials want to win every single trophy and they keep interfering in the player recruitments. Morgan had decided to leave at the end of last season before taking a U-turn following assurances from club officials that they would do everything to bring the players that the Englishman wishes for.

But that too didn’t happen as goalkeeper Sandip Nandy wasn’t retained despite Morgan wishing for the same and the veteran custodian is set to win the I-League with Churchill Brothers, having kept the most clean sheets this season. Morgan was given the luxury of a fourth foreigner only in the second half of the season whereas Churchill Brothers have had four foreigners throughout the campaign, and even recruited Indian captain Sunil Chhetri on loan from Sporting Lisbon ‘B’ in the winter transfer window.

The deciding factor, however, was fatigue; due to pressure from fans and officials and the scenes of that Aryan defeat in particular, Morgan has been forced to play his best team in almost every competition. Barring the eight games in the group phase of the local league, a group of 16-18 players have been largely used by East Bengal in all competitions, and that amounts to 46 games!

In contrast, Churchill Brothers have only used their first team for around 30 matches because they have played juniors and fringe players throughout their local league campaign and even fielded second-string teams in the AFC Cup.

Churchill, like previous Goan I-League champions of the past, prioritised the national domestic league while East Bengal failed to buck the trend among Kolkata clubs and once again wasted a lot of their energies on the local league and the IFA Shield.

Churchill Brothers TD Subhash Bhowmick has had the freedom to prioritise the I-League
(Photo Credit: AIFF Media)

The players and coach have to share the blame of course, as five straight draws is by no means championship-winning form. But things could have been a lot different if Morgan was allowed the freedom to prioritise on the I-League.

The approach of fans and officials in Kolkata and other regions will always be different but they have to be realistic and accept that Indian teams can’t do well in every competition, because in truth a club can only have at best 16-18 quality players even if the squad comprises of 30.

It remains to be seen how much the ongoing chit-fund scam in West Bengal affects the Kolkata clubs’ spending but even if they overcome that and build a team of stars, the I-League won’t be a guarantee, just like the last nine seasons. A change in attitude is a must or else the wait could get longer than expected. Just ask Arsenal fans.