Calcutta: Bengal's Santosh Trophy-winning coach Mridul Banerjee has been appointed coach of East Bengal for the remainder of the season.
Banerjee, who led Bengal to their 32nd national championship crown beating Goa 1-0 in the latter's own den, takes over the reins from Trevor Morgan, who resigned on Monday following a spate of poor performances.
The 56-year-old is expected to be in charge till the end of the Federation Cup, which starts in the first week of May.
The club's advisory committee, consisting of former India internationals Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Tushar Rakshit and Bhaskar Ganguly, took the decision to appoint Banerjee, who'd been in charge of Mohammedan Sporting earlier this season.
Commenting on Tuesday's development, Banerjee said: "It's a new challenge for me. My aim will be to stem the rot and make a turnaround.
"This team has the arsenal to do well and I will try my best. I know the morale of the team is down, but one win can change the scenario. We still have two matches left in the I-League".
Mridul said the players who did not get enough match-time under Morgan would be given special attention.
"This squad has so much talent. I will try to use the players who did not get much match time earlier."
At the press conference, Manoranjan said: "I know Mridul for a long time. We all want the club to do well and we will need a team work to rectify the mistakes that have been committed."