Calcutta: Chirag United striker Joshimar is a distraught man these days. He has no money to buy a gas cylinder. “No money, no gas,” he was telling a Chirag official the other day. The man, known for his quicksilver opportunism inside the rival penalty box is facing a problem he never thought he would when he signed for the club last year.

Well, the burly Brazilian is not the only one who is in a complaining mood.

The players from the Big Four — East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting and Chirag — haven’t been paid their salaries. If Mohammedan Sporting have a backlog of three months, East Bengal are slightly better off.

They are paying in part. Mohun Bagan do not have any backlog but this month, till Tuesday, players had not received their cheques.

“Generally it comes by the sixth of every month,” a Bagan player told The Telegraph.

Mohammedan Sporting are the worst hit and the players’ grumbling can reach a crescendo any time. “We are trying our best to clear at least two months’ dues. With the second division I-League round the corner — it will be played in the last week of April in Bangalore — we cannot afford to keep the players’ purses empty. You never know when they may under-perform,” a senior Sporting official said.

“It’s really a messy situation. For the last three months, I haven’t been able to send any money back home. Every day we get assurances that the payments will be made in a day or two,” a senior Mohammedan Sporting player did not mince his words.

Sporting, in fact, a couple of seasons back, saw a revolt when the players led by senior pro Mike Okoro demanded immediate release of salaries. You never know, if the situation doesn’t improve, a similar thing can happen this time.

If Mohammedan Sporting have problems due to lack of sponsors, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have themselves to blame for this present fund crunch.

Both the teams, whose football squads survive on United Breweries largesse (around Rs 6 crores for each), have spent mindlessly in the beginning of the season and now find themselves out of funds. It has been learnt that starting this month, till the end of the season, Bagan will be paying on their own and hence the delay.

East Bengal though were lucky to garner over Rs 70 lakh from a membership drive and have been able to pay their players in part. “This is the election year. So we saw an unprecedented surge in the membership subscription. That has bailed us out,” a senior club official said.

The red and gold brigade, in fact, spent around Rs 1 crore in recruiting some false starters like Jan Berger, Ramez Dayoub, Sreko Mitrovic before the 2009-10 season started. “That was a big mistake,” the official conceded.

So why are Calcutta footballers facing this salary crunch? Chirag official Alokesh Kundu blames it on the way Calcutta clubs function.

“A Dempo or a Mahindra United player will be paid by the fifth of every month. These two clubs are corporate clubs and have their own funds. That’s not the case with us.

“But one thing I must say. During these troubled times, senior players are co-operating and we, at least at Chirag, somehow are able to disburse salaries to the junior and needy footballers.”