One week has gone by, and Emami East Bengal coach Oscar Bruzon is still showered with love and accolades by the fans. And why not? The Spaniard masterminded East Bengal's maiden ISL triumph and the men's team's first national-level title after 2004.
"Slowly, it's coming back to normality, too much excitement around the team, a week of celebrations. I think we all deserve this after a very, very tough, complicated and truncated season. So, right now, we are trying to understand the milestone we have achieved. I'm very happy for all the people who worked day and night for the success," Bruzon, 48, told The Telegraph on the way to the Calcutta airport for a flight to Vigo, Spain, on Wednesday.
He turns 49 on Friday and will celebrate his birthday in Vigo with his family. He has a two-year-old daughter, Uma, one of the many names of Maa Durga. Having spent a long time in India and Bangladesh, the Spaniard had a liking for this name.
To think of it in March, Bruzon was subjected to barracking by some fans after the 1-1 draw against Kerala Blasters at the Salt Lake Stadium. East Bengal, leading 1-0, had conceded a late equaliser from a set-piece. "Go back, Oscar," the disgruntled elements had shouted. And a little more than two months later, the same fans were pleading, "Stay back, Oscar!"
The Spaniard had, on May 3, dramatically announced he would be leaving East Bengal after the season ended. Now there is endless speculation over whether Bruzon would have a change of mind.
"This question is not for me. I said very clearly in every news conference that there will be a discussion (between the club and me), only if there is a long-term vision. As soon as the club plans for next season, I will be listening to the plan, as I'm the coach. So if I stay here, it has to be to become a champion, to win and to retain the title. So for that, I need to know about the plan. Given the uncertainty, this question isn't for me. It's for the club," Bruzon said.
"To tell you directly, I am exactly on the same page as May 3. I announced it with enough time, knowing that the season was coming to an end, knowing that the contracts of all of us were about to finish. We have four to five days left, and the situation is the same. No planning, no future, no long-term vision. So I understand that the club management needs to think first about what will happen next season before starting to talk. So nothing has changed since my last announcement (on May 3)," Bruzon was to the point.
Bruzon attributed the ISL-12 success to the Emami management and the club officials. That he included the club officials was a bit surprising, since time and again during the pre-match as well as post-match news conferences, he had taken a swipe at club officials and former players who he alleged were acting against the interest of the team.
"I think Emami and our club officials together, they made the difference. They were not giving a feeling that it was a truncated season. We have been training for 11 months continuously. They were taking care of all the dues, obligations, and payments. There was no problem from the club side. And I think that this is one of the factors for the success. The total backing from our management," the former coach of the Dhaka-based Bashundhara Kings said.
When Bruzon took over from compatriot Carles Cuadrat in October 2024, things were not going in favour of East Bengal. Yes, Cuadrat had given East Bengal the Super Cup in January that year, ending their long trophy drought at the national level, but early struggles in ISL-11 had called for a change in the dug-out.
"It was gloomy all around when I first came. The team was broken, divided, emotionally affected, not having a good run of results. Everybody was feeling that the last season was wasted. But soon (October-November) we played the AFC Challenge League qualifiers in Bhutan. We earned a berth to the final stage. That was a turning point. We felt that this project could grow.
"We had a good ISL 2024-25. Even though we did not have the final success, we were fighting for the top-six slot. So, the improvement of 2024-25 continued to this season. We re-planned the team, tried to understand the problems of last year, and corrected those. And this season, we built a very competitive unit. So, we were upbeat about the fact that East Bengal this year could fight with the best of the ISL teams. But if you ask me, the seeds were sown in that AFC Challenge Shield in late 2024."
For someone who has seen Indian football from 2012 (he was the coach of Sporting Clube de Goa), Bruzon felt that the game in the country has improved in the last 14 years.
"People may get surprised but it's a fact. When I first came, it was all about Calcutta teams, a few from NorthEast and Goa. With the start of the ISL, football is now more pan-India. ISL also brought top professionals from around the world to India. It's true that in the last two years, the national team has not done well, especially in this World Cup cycle and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. But the reality is that football in India in the last 14 years has evolved."