The Hindu : Sport / Football : Rozario quits as Bagan coach

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Rozario quits as Bagan coach

Principal Correspondent

KOLKATA: Stanly Rozario became the first casualty of the intense competition in the I-League as he stepped down as the Mohun Bagan coach on Monday “in the greater interest of the club.”

Rozario, who assumed charge of the team at the beginning of the season, had to quit after the team lost to Churchill Brothers in Goa on Sunday. With the premier club football league of the country hardly three rounds old, Rozario apparently came under severe pressure from the club management as the team lost for the second time in three matches. The other match, the opener against Pune FC, ended in a 1-1 draw.

Rozario's resignation became imminent after senior club officials held an emergency meeting in Goa, where the team lost to Churchill, to discuss the future course of action while keeping the coach out of it, informed a club official.

“Since Mohun Bagan is a formidable club and top contenders in Indian football, I want the team to bounce back and bring back the winning attitude.

In club's interest

“So, in the greater interest of the club and the team, I would like to step down from my job as chief coach,” Rozario wrote in his resignation letter e-mailed to the club secretary Anjan Mitra.

Mohun Bagan, which parted ways with Moroccan Karim Bencherifa before having Biswajit Bhattacharya as interim coach last season, had brought in Rozario for the new season.

Rozario, who boasted of an AFC ‘A' coaching license as mandated by the new provisions of the tournament, said that the rising number of “injuries to vital players affected the team's performance.”

The call for the coach's scalp became louder as Bagan kept losing against its tradition rival East Bengal to finish runner-up in the three tournaments — the Federation Cup, Calcutta Football League and the Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup – that it has played so far in the season.

Bagan officials, who are said to be in talks with former East Bengal coach Belgian Philippe de Ridder, are yet to decide on a replacement.

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