Kolkata (West Bengal): Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia was recently inducted into the technical committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) after unceremoniously shunting out another former India and East Bengal skipper Manoranjan Bhattacharya.
It seems a poetic justice as three years ago, Bhaichung Bhutia himself vacated his position as the East Bengal selector and named two club legends — Bhattacharya and Tarun Dey — as his successor for the post.
Three winters down the line, Bhutia replaced Bhattacharya in the technical committee headed by another Indian legend IM Vijayan. Though came as a surprise, as he was not consulted before being bestowed the role, Bhutia was more than happy to work with the parent body of the Indian football.
"I had no clue that my name was announced in place of Manoranjan Da (Manoranjan Bhattacharya). However, I am privileged to be on the same panel with someone like IM Vijayan, who has been a long-time friend and colleague," Bhutia told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interaction over the phone.
Bhutia clearly said that he wasn't aware of the role he was given, but assured that he would try his best to do justice to the role and spelt out the roadmap for Indian football at this juncture.
"I am here to help in any way the chairman wants me to. We have a very good chairman as IM Vijayan. Since I have no idea how it works, I won't be able to throw light on my actual role as a member of the panel," the Sikkimese sniper said without much ado.
On being part of the progression of Indian football, Bhutia could not have a better choice than Vijayan to team up with. His respect for the Keralite gamemaker was palpable.
"The new body was formed and a new committee has been in place with Vijayan at the helm of affairs. We have together played for the country for a long time and we will again combine to have a roadmap for Indian football. You cannot have a better chairman than him," Bhutia didn't mince his words.
Bhutia gave Vijayan the credit for whatever performance India made in the recent past.
"Vijayan has done well as a chairman as we could all see the result after he extended (Igor) Stimach's contract as coach. We have fared well under Stimach in the recent past," he added.
On how Indian football can progress, Bhutia stressed on the improvement of the grassroots level to have better results in the senior category.
"For progression, we need to look at the grassroots level coaches and experts and of course long-term planning which the federation (AIFF) has been doing. The parent body has set a goal of 2047 and if we can implement that well, then we can achieve the goal," Bhutia spelt out the recipe for success.
As preparation, he has gone through the report submitted by the head coach Stimach. "Stimach's report said that India should start qualifying for the Asian Cup. For that, we need to qualify in the U-17, U-19, and U-21 at least to start. This is very very true. Forget the World Cup, if we cannot qualify and get good results in the Asian Cup, then it would be difficult for us to do well as a team. I have put forward my points in the last executive committee meeting where our president Kalyan Chaubey was also there....Will take it forward from there," the former Bury FC footballer signed off.
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