Team India: What kind of coach should replace Bob Houghton?

The All India Football Federation is on the lookout for a new national coach following Bob Houghton's departure after nearly five years in charge. The search is on for the next coach and it needs to be a properly thought through decision as whoever comes in will have to work to take Indian football to the next level and also look at strengthening the national team system from under-14 upwards until the senior national team.

The AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das has been quoted by the media as saying that whoever comes in would have to be able to let his team play 'possession football'. I think it would be nice to have a coach who knows about possession football and allows his teams to play so, but more important once again will be the results he will be able to produce. You bring in a coach who plays lovely football but we lose 10-0, he's gone sooner then we know.

Also the coach should not only have to have a good profile and pedigree, but also a concept on what he would like to do in the coming years with the national team, the ultimate aim being the qualification for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. That also needs to be the duration of the contract with possibilities of terminating it after a certain periods.

Is the new coaches nationality an issue? If I was asked I would say yes, then I would like to see someone from Europe continue after Bob Houghton though it looks unlikely to be another Englishman. I know the AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das has said he would like someone Spanish or from South America, but there is a major issue here in the coach speaking perfect English, so our players can all understand him and he is able to get across what he is trying to teach and coach them.

There I would surely say someone from Germany, the Netherlands, France or Spain would be good; but knowing the changes that have happened here in Germany over the last decade and what changes it has meant in coaching and the approach to the game, I'd love to see a German coach for Team India.

But we might also have some I-League coaches as options, but it looks unlikely that an Indian coach will get the job, so Dempo's Armando Colaco or any other Indian coach seems out of the race; but we have quality foreign coaches like Karim Bencharifa or Trevor Morgan, who might be in the running for the job top.

But the process has only started, the AIFF needs to decide first if they are looking for a coach quickly ahead of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the United Arab Emirates in July or maybe appoint someone interim and get the new coach in later this year.