Bob Houghton
I am the one who someday wrote an article on the topic Bob Houghton the savior of Indian Football. It is quite terrible that today I have to again right something which says Bob Houghton to be sacked by AIFF. This man is undoubtedly one of the most successful Indian coaches of all time. He was not just a coach he was a true visionary who just not thought about the current situation of the country but he planned out things so that Indian football can be developed from grass root level. He aimed it for future and he was on his way to achieve it.
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Bob Houghton joined the Indian National team in June 2006 replacing Syed Nayeemuddin who was booted out after a series of poor results. Since his arrival in Indian scenario he has made serious efforts for the development of Indian football. In his regime India has won two Nehru cups and one AFC Challenge cup. The victory in AFC Challenge cup led them to qualify for the Asia Cup after 27 years. This statistics are enough for me to prove the statement right that he is one of the most successful Indian coaches. It is true that India lost all the 3 matches but the fact is that they were placed next to the top three teams of Asia. They conceded 13 goals in three matches and managed to score 3. The stats must seem to be terrible but the performance if noticed can’t be said as one of the worst performances as even the oppositions teams where in all praise for the players.
In his period many of the players received attraction from foreign clubs, especially Sunil Chhetri who was signed by USA’S Kansas City and many other players like Subrata Paul and Gourmangi Singh also received some foreign interest. This is one of those coaches who did one thing that many of the others failed to do i.e. Globalizing Indian football to some extend among western countries.
In what basis he is sacked; “the executive committee expressed its concern over the performance of the national team and also expressed its unhappiness regarding the conduct and derogatory remarks made by Mr. Bob Houghton. The executive committee has unanimously decided to seek legal opinion regarding its course of action,” said the official website of the AIFF. Did India really performed poorly in Asia Cup? Well the answer is no, I would rather say no other coach could have helped India to defeat Australia, Bahrain and South Korea. Rather they did well and at least earned a fair bit of respect.
The other allegation against him was that he disrespected AIFF; or rather I think he just said some known fact in front of the world. The things he said was like no proper training facilities and Infrastructure, no proper league structure, and poor organization. Is there anything wrong in this well I would say AIFF reaction gives justice to the statement that ‘Truth is always bitter.’
In the end to add cherry on the cake he was framed as a racist on the basis of the allegations which say’s he said one the Indian referee as ‘b****** Indian referees’. This makes it very much clear that AIFF will try their level to terminate his contract before time and use this asa proof to seek legal actions to cancel his contract.
Well every Individual who loves this beautiful game in the country must have seen a ray of hope after the Asia cup and all those developments he made but all those hopes went in vain with the decision of sacking him. I wish Bob Houghton a great success and thank him for his wonderful contribution for the game.
Tags: AIFF, Bob Houghton, Coach, Football, Indian Football, Indian Sports, Sports, Sports India
