Subhas Bhowmick

Calcutta: The East Bengal club on Wednesday named Subhas Bhowmick their coach for the rest of the season. Bhowmick will replace Stanley Rozario.

“Subhas Bhowmick will be our coach,” club president Pranab Dasgupta told a news conference at the club tent on Wednesday evening.

This will be Bhowmick’s third stint as coach with the red and gold brigade.

Bhowmick, who coached Salgaocar recently, resigned from his post at the Goan club early this month.

According to Dasgupta, Bhowmick will be in charge for the upcoming IFA Shield and the remainder of the I-League.

“He (Subhas) will take charge immediately… Hope things will turn around in the rest of the season. He has agreed to take charge for the rest of the season… Starting from the IFA Shield till the end of the I-League… We had no discussion on whether he will continue after that … Let us see…,” Dasgupta said.

Asked about the fate of the support staff, the club president said: “It depends on him (Subhas)… We will leave it to him.”

Bhowmick took charge of the team for the first time during the 1999-2000 season and was again appointed in the middle of the 2001-02 national league. He continued with the club for the next four seasons but was forced to quit following a bribery scandal.

East Bengal under Bhowmick’s last tenure (for four seasons) bagged 12 trophies. They clinched the national league title twice besides winning the Premier Division four times and the IFA Shield once. They bagged the Durand Trophy twice and also were champions in the Independence Cup in 2002.

His biggest success came in July 2003 when the club won the Asean Club Cup. This was followed by the San Miguel International Cup in 2004.

“This is like homecoming for me,” Subhas Bhowmick told The Telegraph soon after the announcement was made.

“I have two feelings… One is a professional one and the other is emotional… Professionally speaking I see this as a challenge and emotionally I am excited to be back in my club… It’s my second home,” the veteran added.

Bhowmick sounded hopeful about East Bengal’s chances. “They have a very good team… I have seen a few matches,” he said.

Talking about his plans he said: “Look there are some very good players in the squad… Firstly I need to sit down and rectify the mistakes and then only I can chalk out plans for a better result… Surely they have a chance.”

Meanwhile, it was learnt that outgoing coach Stanley Rozario was yet to receive any official confirmation on his dismissal.

“I’m yet to get any official confirmation on this news... No club official has spoken to me... I’m still the EB coach contractually,” Stanley said when contacted.

Pranab Dasgupta however, informed that the club will sit down with Stanley in a couple of days and will strictly follow what was in the contract.

“We have nothing against Stanley… We won some matches but the loss against Mohun Bagan forced us to take this decision… We will sit with Stanley within a couple of days and will definitely fulfil what is in the contract,” Dasgupta said.

It was learnt that while goalkeeping coach Debasish Mukherjee has sent his resignation letter to the club, assistant coach Mridul Banerjee was yet to be contacted by the club. It was also learnt that Mridul is likely to lose his post.