Calcutta: On a day when Steve Darby slammed Mohan Bagan of un-professionalism, the British coach, surprisingly, got support from club’s ace striker Sunil Chetri.

According to Chetri, Darby’s resignation from the post of Bagan coach was most unfortunate.

“It’s unfortunate… Personally, I don’t support the idea of changing coaches in the middle of a season… He is a good coach and, I think, all he needed was some time,” Chetri said after the team’s practice session at the club ground, on Thursday.

And while the newly-appointed Bagan technical committee, comprising of Chuni Goswami, Pradip Chowdhury and Satyajit Chatterjee, believes that fitness is a concern for the team, Chetri begs to differ. “I don’t think our team has any fitness issues… This season, we haven’t played much yet. I would say, give us a little time and we will perform to our reputation,” he said.

Praising the team physio Jonathan Corner, who has come under scanner of late, he said: “He is, indeed, a quality physio and we are shaping up well under his guidance.” Chetri, who has played under Subrata Bhattacharya last season in United SC, is eager to start a new season under him.

“His record speaks volumes of his calibre… He is always confident, and that’s quite infectious. I hope we will perform well under him. In fact, every coach has his own style of coaching and a players’ job is to adapt to it,” he said.

When asked about his partnership with Odafe, he said: “We all know what he is capable of… He is a goal machine. But we were not aware of was his ability to supply passes… He is simply brilliant. He is a pleasure as a colleague.”