East Bengal players limber up at the club ground on Wednesday. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta: Subhas Bhowmick regards him as one of the reasons behind his team’s success in the recently concluded ASEAN Club Championship. But fitness trainer Kevin Jackson doesn’t agree with the coach on the issue of the East Bengal players going out to play for foreign clubs mid-season.

While Bhowmick feels it is really a good idea for the players like Bhaichung Bhutia, Alvito D’Cunha or Surkumar Singh to have a stint abroad, Jackson feels it will hamper their progress on the fitness front.

“They are going through a programme which I have chalked out. Now if they get away from it, it’ll be tough for me to get them back into shape,” Jackson told The Telegraph.

“As it is they are playing too many games which does no good to their fitness. And now, things are made more difficult for me,” he said.

Jackson said he would inform the club officials soon about his misgivings.

He also added that the players should concentrate on delivering for East Bengal alone once they have signed for the club.

The South African also felt that there hasn’t been any dramatic improvement in the players’ fitness. “I have worked with them for only two weeks. You cannot expect everything to change in such a short span of time.”

He, however, gave his wards full credit for the show in Jakarta. “It is entirely the success of the boys. They did it on the field and I shouldn’t be taking the credit.

“Basically, my job in Jakarta was to keep the boys in a proper frame of mind. Nothing new could be done on the physical front,” he said.

The trainer will be going back home on leave on Saturday. “I’ll be back. But I haven’t yet finalised the date of my return,” he said.