East Bengal Club: 15 wins and counting

The way Kolkata giants East Bengal Club have played and won their matches this season has been a revelation. So far the club has played 15 official league and cup matches (10 matches in the Calcutta Premier Division & five in the Federation Cup) and the red-and-gold have won all their games so far. A rare feat for any football club and often their wins have been in style scoring 44 goals and only conceding six in those 15 matches.

The club is clearly leading the Calcutta Football League and has the Federation Cup title to their name. If it had been four, five wins in a row then we could have termed it as a fluke or luck or whatever, but when you start the season with 15 wins in a row, then there is something more to it. So what has been behind the revival of East Bengal Club, who have been struggling over the last few years.

First of all the appointment of Englishman Trevor James Morgan as the clubs chief coach. The 54 year old former Hull City Development Coach has worked wonders at the Maidan giants, who many after last season thought are untrainable with former successful coaches Subhas Bhowmick and Philippe de Ridder both failing. But Morgan has been working hard, focusing on strengths and weaknesses of his team, looking at the players available and has moulded the team in his style.

Then there is the good selection of players. The recruiters at the club have done an excellent job in having looked at positions rather then names while signing players, a mistake done over the last few years as the club rather signed names, sometimes having four/five players to a position and none for others. Now even without the India players the team has a reliable bench strength which can cover for injuries and suspensions. Be it Churchill Brothers duo Thokchom Naoba Singh and Reisangmi Vashum, Susanth Mathew from Mahindra United plus youngsters Robin Singh from the Tata Football Academy, Ravinder Singh from Air India or Bikash Narzary from Eastern Railway SC. They have all played their part in this young season so far.

And then the bringing in of quality foreigners. This has also been an issue at East Bengal over the last few years as the foreigners often flopped. Only reliable defender Uga Okpara had been retained plus midfielder Penn Ikechukwu Orji brought in from JCT and striker Eneke Ikenwa from Salgaocar SC, who last season proved their worth in Indian football. These signings have paid off and the club on top of it signed under the Asian quota Tolgay Ozbey from Blacktown City FC, Australia who has also been an instant success.

It seems whatever the club has been doing wrong over the last few years, they seem to be doing right this season. They seem to also have learned from their own mistakes and have finally taken a professional approach. It is about the team and the club and not individual talent.

But the big task remains ahead of the team with the I-League set to kick-off on November 26. East Bengal last time won the old National Football League title in 2003-04 and if they can bring back the coveted I-League title to Kolkata after seven long years, when Goan clubs have been dominating the league, will have to be seen. Still the signs are good, but the I-League is a different ball game altogether and the six month league with cris-crossing the country will be the real test.