New Delhi: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was left in an embarrassing position recently, after it was revealed that the assistant coach of the senior national team had failed to clear the theory paper of the Licence C examination.

Licence C is considered the lowest form of degree among the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) coaching courses. In India, most of the coaches associated with clubs and various national teams, are holders of B, A or pro-licence degrees.

According to AIFF sources, former India captain S. Venkatesh, who was appointed as assistant coach after Stephen Constantine became the head coach, appeared for the Licence C examination in Mumbai recently.

"In the theoritical test, the national assistant coach could hardly write anything and submitted a blank paper. He is now considered pro-pass in C Licence as he has only cleared the practical examination. Venkatesh would have to write the examination again to receive a full-fledged Licence C degree," the official said.

The incident has certainly left the federation red faced since it has been vigorously promoting the cause of licence-holding coaches for the past few years. While a Licence A degree is a must for all coaches in the I-League, the state associations have also been told to employ only licensed coaches even for the under-14 and under-16 national championships.

The ruling has left a large number coaches, including Subhas Bhowmick, Subrata Bhattacharya, Bimal Ghosh and Sukhwinder Singh, jobless on the soccer circuit.

The AIFF is now planning to remove Venkatesh as the assistant coach and appoint him the manager of the team.

"Yes, Venkatesh now can be the manager since we have appointed Lee Johnson as the assistant coach," said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das.

Though Das said it was an administrative decision, AIFF insiders felt it was done under pressure from the head coach. After all, Venkatesh replaced Savio Medeira as the assistant coach immediately after Constantine took over.

Das said that apart from his job of being the assistant coach of the national team, Johnson would also hold the additional responsibility as the chief coach of the under-23 team.