Calcutta: Former Mohun Bagan coach Steve Darby, who resigned last Saturday, has accused the club officials of living in the stone age and asked the club sponsor UB Group to come forward and take the “unprofessional” club to the next level.

“I was repeatedly told Bagan was a big club, a powerhouse in Asia. But I remember on the first day, cleaning cow waste off the pitch. Trying to scrape the mould and rust off the gym equipment in a flooded gymnasium,” Darby was at his sarcastic best in a media release.

Darby wrote the club stabbed him on his back by leaking confidential reports to the media. “They used to send messages via the media. The same media I was told not to trust!”

Darby felt the last straw was setting up of an “overseeing committee”, who had never played or coached outside India. “A technical committee member, on his first visit to the training ground, decided the players were not fit. Was it a very valued and objective statement? Was it based on scientific measures? No! It was just an opinion to get his name in public at the expense of players,” he lamented.

Darby said he believed “you either die on your feet or live on your knees. So there was no choice for me but to resign. Professional ethics and the way you live your life are more important than money.”

Darby felt the club had great potential especially if the sponsor, UB Group, is allowed to modernise the administration and bring in the right systems and structures. “At the moment there is no press officer or a marketing manager and no club shop. UB are a top class professional organisation, they have the ability to take the club to the next level and indeed make it a big club.

“The administration of the game has to be modern, not stone age at club and state level.”