There are Indian magnates buying clubs in England, Spain et al. Still in India, top sides like JCT, Mahindra are winding up due to lack of financial backing. What is it that the Indian businessmen are not seeing in the I-League?
There are a lot of corporates interested in investing in Indian football. It is the system that pushes them away. What the Major League Soccer (MLS) in US has and the J-League (Japan) had initially, is a no relegation system. If a businessman wants to invest a huge amount to have an I-League club in say, Chennai, then give him direct entry into the league and scrap relegation. In the current structure, there is far too much of a risk on investment. What if you spend huge amounts of money and your team doesn't qualify from the second division?
But will the current clubs agree to this?
There has to be some criteria in place. If the person is willing to invest in an academy, develop a stadium, have teams at different age groups and so on, is there any harm in letting them straight into the league? As for the current clubs, does a Dempo, Churchill and Salgaocar need the I-League or the I-League need them more? The IPL has no relegation and look how it has attracted the top Indian businessmen. And even the World Series Hockey. If, through the investment of top corporates, we can ensure Television coverage of every I-League match like WSH has, then the money that will come from that will pacify any complaints the current clubs have.
Direct entry into the league maybe, but no relegation?
When I say no relegation, it is important that we take in at least one team for the next six or seven years to form a 20-strong league. What scrapping relegation will do is allow teams to plan for the future. Kolkata coaches measure themselves by the amount of trophies they win. In the quest for titles, we pay exorbitant amounts to top Indian players like Jeje Lalpekhlua, Lalrindika Ralte and so on. They will never earn that money abroad because they are not worth it. The same is the case with foreigners. But the problem in India is, because of relegation and the quest for winning, if one team does not pay the money, someone else will, even if the player is not worth it. If there is no relegation, we can plan for three-four years ahead and spend that money on the youth system and academies.
The MLS is a relatively new league which has been very successful. What can we learn from them that will enable us to streamline the I-League?
In this season's I-League, we have four clubs in Kolkata and Goa, three playing in Pune, and two in South India. So when we, being the only team from the North East, travels to Goa, why can't we play at least two games there before getting back? If the AIFF structured the schedule better, they could save about 4-5 lakhs on our flight tickets per match. That is 40 lakhs over a season on just one club. Currently, the I-League is run like a government organization and lots of valuable money can be saved if the organization is better. Also, all the American leagues have a salary cap. If an Indian player feels he is better than the salary cap, let him go abroad and prove it. It will only help Indian football.
MLS, Middle-East and now China has succeeded in attracting big name footballers. Should we do that and why are we unable to?
We definitely should bring in caliber foreigners who our players can learn from unlike now. We signed former Liberian captain John Menyongar this year, someone who has played with the likes of George Weah. The youngsters go up to him and learn a lot from him and it is players like that who we need to target. But the big name stars like even Nicolas Anelka who's gone to China will not come here. They will take one look at the facilities and go back.