Never thought I would play in India, will never forget I played in India: Iain Hume
Iain Hume described his early days in Kerala Blasters and remembered what made him switch to the uncharted waters of Indian football in an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu of Sportskeeda.
Talking about his first season in Indian football, he said, "I landed with Kerala Blasters and the Manjapadda, it was an incredible fit with the passion I have for the game and the passion they have for the game, it was a match made in heaven."
He continued, "I was so fortunate with the first two clubs I played for. I fell into football in the right states. The fan base was phenomenal, they will always remember me and it's vice versa. Playing in front of Manjapadda and playing in front of the fans at the Salt Lake Stadium."
"I never ever thought in a million years, that I will be playing in India but I never ever will forget in a million years that I played in India. It was possibly the most enjoyable years of my career", it's something I look back with great pride, exclaimed the Indian Super League legend.
"The Kerala team was the same as me, you had Mehtab, you had Pearson, you had Barisic you had Chopra. Players like Sandesh, Saumik Dey, Nirmal Chhetri, Hengbart, you had these players who would run through a brick wall for each other and that is why we were successful."
Iain Hume's famous switch to Indian football
Talking about his introduction to Indian football, the former Leicester City striker said, "It came out of nowhere. Funny enough, it was Leicester. They were promoted to the Premier League and they had a guy who was doing interviews for a Canadian company regarding Leicester City and rethought, what better than to take the interview of the only Canadian who has played for the club, " Iain Hume remembered,
He continued, "At the end of the conversation, he asked me whether I have heard of this new Indian league starting. And I had never heard of the I-League, nothing about Indian football except Bhaichung (Bhutia) because he came over to England in the late 1990," Iain Hume said.
"And at that time, I was out of a contract since 1999 until 2015, so it was uncharted territory for me and I thought I am frustrated with the English football politics, so I called up this guy in Reliance. He said "They would love to have you, they don't have any Canadian player in the books, national team player, played in the Championship for Leicester," Iain Hume added.