The Hindu : Sport / Football : I.M. Vijayan on the hunt again

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I.M. Vijayan on the hunt again

Stan Rayan

— Photo: Stan Rayan

I.M. Vijayan.

KOCHI: Almost three years after he bid goodbye to the big stage, I.M. Vijayan is on the hunt again.

This time the former Indian captain will be looking for talented youngsters, probably searching for the next Vijayan, and moulding them into fine young players. He has got his first big break as a coach.

“I have signed a year’s contract with Southern Samity, a team which has been promoted to the Kolkata Premier League, and will be leaving for Kolkata in March,” said Vijayan, one of India’s greatest players, on Tuesday afternoon.

”It’s nice to go back to Kolkata where it all started in a big way years ago.”

Vijayan recently underwent the Asian Football Confederation’s B-License course in Hosur conducted by the All India Football Federation’s Coaches Director Gabriel Joseph for C-License holders.

Fun

“It was fun, especially the practicals and since Jo Paul Ancheri and Raman Vijayan were also there, we enjoyed a lot,” said the three-time Indian ‘Player of the Year’. “Theory, however, was very tough but we could learn a lot of things.”

Vijayan, who has given some of the country’s golden moments in football, is now looking to climb the coaching ladder.

“God is great, I’ve been playing for so many years, things can happen,” he said when asked about his chances of coaching an I-League team in the near future. “My big hope is to be at least an assistant Indian coach by the time I finish.”

High-pressure job

Which is tougher, playing or coaching?

“Surely coaching…it is a high pressure job. As a player, you just need to play but this is very difficult, you have to look after so many things,” said Vijayan, who at 40, is still a big hit and a highly-paid player in sevens football in Kozhikode and Malappuram..

But why not take up something at home or closer home?

Good offer

“Well, I got a good offer from Kolkata. And I know Bengali, so language won’t be a problem.”

Vijayan started an academy of sorts in Thrissur a few years ago and coached young boys there but, “we had to close it, there were not many sponsors. But I am planning to revive it,” he said.

So, does he think he will spot another Vijayan some day? A player who will fill the absence of quality strikers in Indian football?

“I don’t know…that will be tough to answer … but I think we will find him one day.”

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