Manager Pradip Chowdhury leaves Team India

Things aren't turning out the way we would like it to be before Team India's biggest assignment in close to three decades, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Matters reached their negative climax yesterday when manager Pradip Chowdhury left the camp after differences of opinion with national coach Bob Houghton. The manager cited personal and health reasons for the problems, but it is publically known that there was a difference of opinion between Bob and Pradipda.

The AIFF meanwhile has not reacted officially only mentioning on their website "Manager may have to return home due to some urgent personal and health issues." with the 'may' becoming a 'certainty' by now and not mentioning the problems within the team management. The AIFF will have to name a new manager as soon as possible as it looks rather unlikely that Pradip Chowdhury will return to the team ahead of the Asian Cup. And normally a manager is a key element within the team.

This incidence came at the worst possible moment with the tournament just a couple of weeks away and things not looking good. And this episode has left a bad taste amongst the players who aren't at all happy about the incidence, especially the timing of all this as some say the manager was leaving a sinking ship.

The players reacted through the "Football Players Association of India" website. And there were different reactions, some quite honest one's from them.

Captain Baichung Bhutia was quite diplomatic in his statement, "I spoke to Pradip Chowdhury immediately after I came to know that he gave up his position as manager of the national football team. He mentioned to me about his ill health and piled up personal work. That may have been the reason he gave but we strongly feel that he could have stayed back and those were only alibis. At a time where the team needed all the support it could get, its manager left the team. This is something we did not really require when we needed to stick to together as a family. I am very disappointed at his decision to leave us at such a difficult phase."

Striker Sunil Chhetri reacted by saying, "This news was quite shocking to us and left us in a very sad mood. This is obviously a very tough time for us, given the fact we have been struggling with injuries and finding it difficult to win games. This is a very big jump for us and we need all the support possible to cope up with such tough tests. Only with the support of people can we overcome hurdles. Pradip Chowdhury leaving us will not help matters at all. In fact it will create an atmosphere which everyone can do without. He should have remained behind and we should have stuck together like a family than bringing up petty, personal issues. This is completely unexpected from a man of his stature.”

Arjuna Awardee Deepak Kumar Mondal was quite critical, "Well, what more can I say. He really did not do much at work. We were not really happy with his work as he never gave the adequate time which the job required. I am really disappointed as he has left everything in disarray just before the start of the biggest tournament of our careers."

And fellow defender Mahesh Gawli was quite harsh in his reactions, "I did not interact with him much. But we saw very little of him. Most of the time he was away on personal agenda. To me his absence really does not make much of a difference. He was part of the football family when we won trophies and during the happier times. He should have had the courage to stay back and face the music during the tougher times like now. I feel him leaving was a very wrong decision and his excuses are baseless."