Mohun Bagan’s newly-appointed technical director Subrata Bhattacharya (top) and coach Prasanta Banerjee

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan, on Tuesday, appointed Subrata Bhattacharya as the football team’s technical director and Prasanta Banerjee as the coach.

The announcements came after a meeting between the club’s top officials and UB Group representative.

It was also announced that Pradip Chowdhury will replace Prasanta as a member of the technical committee. Chuni Goswami and Satyajit Chatterjee are the other two members.

For the record, Steve Darby quit as coach last Saturday following serious differences with the Bagan officials.

Subrata, as Bagan coach, has won the National League twice and the club officials felt that a man of his stature would be the right person for the TD’s job.

“It won’t be easy to bring the team back on track. I have a difficult job at hand and I will try my best to achieve the best results for the team,” said Subrata on Tuesday.

Subrata said that the team boasts of big names and look good on papers. However, he can only comment on the composition after he assesses the players at the practice sessions.

“I did not have the chance to interact with any of the Bagan players this season. But we have a good team and I can only comment on the team composition after spending some time with the guys,” said Subrata.

Both Subrata and Prasanta agreed that they have a big responsibility as only four days are left before Bagan start their I-League campaign against Arrows.

Prasanta, however, said he does not want to dwell in the past. “The players have gone through a lot in the past few weeks. But from Wednesday, it will be a new beginning,” said the former India international.

Prasanta, who had earlier taken Bengal to Santosh Trophy final four years ago, said, “No doubt the morale of the team is low. I want to concentrate on building a good team spirit and understanding between the players.”

The coach also felt that the team’s first match is really important. “Success does not come easy. We will take one match at a time. If we win our first match against Arrows, it will surely boost the players’ morale,” said Prasanta.

Bagan officials apparently wanted an indigenous coach while UB wanted a foreigner in the meeting. “We argued that a foreign coach will take time to settle down, where as an India coach will get into the groove straightaway, a Bagan official said.

The Jose Ramirez Barretos will have their first practice session under Subrata and Prasanta, on Wednesday.

Now, it remains to be seen whether the green and maroon brigade can revive their fortunes.