PLS: Foreign Players & Coaches left in the dark

At the 2012 Soccerex European Forum in Manchester with India being on the agenda, one topic which I and other attendees from India got asked again and again is what is the latest on the Premier League Soccer.

With no one from the Indian Football Association (West Bengal) nor Celebrity Management Group present it was difficult to answer with more and more questions raised about the PLS and its future. Some European journalist have actually written that the PLS will never see the day of light. Tough judgement, but as I would suggest to wait and watch.

These developments has foreign marquee players and coaches worried. Some had actually left good contracts to join the PLS and they are in trouble. In Manchester I bumped into Peter Reid and John Barnes, who both currently not know if they will shift to West Bengal to coach in the PLS.

Former Liverpool star John Barnes actually asked me rather then me him what I think about the current situation then I gathered from our conversation that he is feeling sceptical about the situation though still very much interested to come to India.

"First it was to start in February, then March, then April and now they are saying maybe as late as November," said a worried John Barnes. "I don't know what will happen."

The other thing that both coaches said, which Robbie Fowler had tweeted about is that the foreign coaches and players are not kept updated and informed on what is happening with the PLS, if anything at all.

This all is surely not something the organising IFA and CMG will like to hear, but they need to keep their star attractions better informed or otherwise if the delayed PLS kicks-off might have to play without them.

The media abroad who had written a lot of positive things about the PLS earlier in the year have been alerted about the continued problems and once they start writing about it, the PLS and Indian football has a problem.

PLS kick-off to be further delayed

The inaugural season of the Premier League Soccer in West Bengal is set for its third postponement with the organising Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and the Celebrity Management Group facing problems with the Government of West Bengal regarding the six venues and as they cannot get hold of these they also cannot carry out necessary up-gradation work to make the stadia ready for the PLS to start.

The original plan had been to start the PLS, the IPL-style football league, in the last week of February, then the third week of March had been envisaged for the start of the new franchise-based league, but then it got further pushed back to April. Now even the start next month has been ruled out by the IFA and CMG as fundamental issues still remain to be cleared.

The organisers have not given a new kick-off date for the PLS, but it is clear that it now will start in the second half of the year. Surely it will not happen in May, June or July due to the summer heat. The earliest start as per statements from the organisers could be late-August once the next international transfer period is ongoing.

But as I stated in the The Hindu - Business Line on Thursday, I personally feel that the PLS can most likely not start before November then in August/September the rainy season is active across Bengal and then comes the festive season with Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Diwali.

How this delay will effect the PLS, the franchises and their foreign players will have to be seen. Maybe a new auction of foreign players and coaches would have to be carried out if those auctioned in January pull out, but first the PLS needs to find suitable dates and freeze those. Otherwise the reputation of the league will go down the drains and the hype around it will be die down with no ball kicked.

PLS Season One not in danger of cancellation

The inaugural season of the Premier League Soccer in West Bengal is not in danger of being cancelled and postponed to 2013. That is one of the rumours that has been making the rounds since the IFA (WB) and CMG had to announce that the start of the league was postponed for a second time due to unavoidable circumstances.

The stakes are high. A massive hype has been created around the PLS not only in India but across the world with extensive international coverage on Indian football, which is rather unknown. All this is so due to the fact that stars like Cannavaro, Crespo, Fowler, etc are part of the new start-up league which has been dubbed the football-IPL. And the IPL is even known in non-Cricket nations - not for its results, but what the league has achieved having been started from scratch.

The PLS was postponed for a second time due to venue issues which the organisers are currently sorting out with the Government of West Bengal as are other logistical issues, so the league can run smoothly without any issues once it starts.

The IFA Honorary Secretary Utpal Kumar Ganguli has given his assurances that all will be sorted soon and the revised dates of the inaugural season of the PLS will be held, like third week of April until first week of June.

Meanwhile Robbie Fowler seems to be back amongst the PLS players as his latest tweet said:

Breaking news.. India not cancelled, just postponed, still on the cards.. We'll see

So all isn't bad, but as is typical in Indian sports postponement are part-and-parcel of it. In that sense PLS is no different...

Robbie Fowler opts out of PLS through Twitter

Former Liverpool FC striker Robbie Fowler has decided not wait for the launch of the Premier League Soccer in West Bengal as he doubts the professionalism of the organisers. That is at least what the 35 year old Robert Bernard Fowler made public through his official Twitter account.

Robbie Fowler tweeted in the afternoon

Ah well.. India looks like its cancelled, boots are clean and looking for a new place to play.. #professionalnotamateur

Earlier Fowler had tweeted a reply to a Liverpool fan

India still on cards but gone very quiet.... So , who knows

This surely isn't a positive sign for the IFA (West Bengal) and CMG in organising the PLS, if one of the stars of the league opts out due to the delay which is not special in Indian football, but it won't be accepted by ageing international football stars.

Fowler, who has played 26 times for England, had been signed by Kolkata Camelians in the auction for USD 530,000. Now it will be interesting to see what organisers and franchise do to replace Fowler, who through his Tweets has made it clear that he won't play in the PLS.

PLS faces further problems & delay

The Premier League Soccer in West Bengal is facing further problems. This time around they are infrastructure problems forcing the organisers Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and Celebrity Management Group to postpone the launch of the inaugural season indefinitely. The PLS season one was supposed to be played from March 24 to May 6, which was already a delay by about a month from the original dates.

Now the PLS organisers are facing a problem with the West Bengal Department of Sports regarding the six stadiums in Kolkata, Barasat, Howrah, Siliguri, Durgapur and Haldia. The West Bengal government has indicated that some of the venues are booked for other events during those dates, while the department also doubts that the venues would be ready in a few weeks to host such a high profile event.

This means that the PLS could be postponed by another three to four weeks to get things sorted and organised, which means a potential start in the third week of April and finish in the first week of June. Surely the PLS would have to finish before Euro2012 which starts on June 8.

If the PLS organisers are not able to get the wanted dates, then they will consider shifting the tournament to another state. Maharashtra and Kerala have shown interest to host the tournament, but it is the last option for the organisers to get the league off the ground.

All these problems follow the uncertainly if the star-studded PLS would be cleared by the All India Football Federation a few days ago.

PLS - A chance for Indian Football

There has been much talk about the newly created Premier League Soccer in recent weeks. I personally see the franchise-based league in West Bengal as a chance for Indian football to test a new format and learn from it - positives and negatives.

Lets be honest, an IPL-style football league has been on the cards for quite a while now. There has been so much talk about it that such a league was bound to come-up somewhere. The only thing is few would have expected a local state league like the PLS in West Bengal, but rather a revamped national league combining old I-League clubs and new franchises would be turned into such a football-IPL. The only thing people often forget is that a proper football league has to run to eight to 10 months, there are international transfer rules to follow plus many other small and large issues.

And there lies the problem. The Cricket-IPL format is a league of short duration just like the game of T20 cricket - a six to eight week league. Now that is difficult to test on the national stage in football. Only a strong and robust football market could be used for such a test. And there the only real option lies with West Bengal, then where else would companies spend crores on football in India?

Now we have the IPL-style football league in the PLS and though it is facing problems and hiccups, I hope it succeeds. Then I feel the PLS and I-League can co-exist, and could together strengthen the football system in India. A possible scenario for the future is that we could have further PLS' in three/four more states, which even the AIFF president Praful Patel has hinted at.

But I repeat one thing. We need a top tier league like the I-League for the professional game, then otherwise we would have our own entertainment product like the IPL, but we would detach ourselves from the global football system. And that is sure not what we will want to happen.

PLS facing problems & opposition

The inaugural season of the Premier League Soccer (West Bengal) is facing unwanted problems and now also opposition from the national body, the All India Football Federation. The AIFF has over the last few weeks has realised that the PLS has gotten funding and media coverage, which it together with its marketing partner IMG-Reliance have not been able to attract for its top product, the I-League.

Suddenly it seems football could follow in the unwanted footsteps of cricket, only then the rebel Indian Cricket League was allowed to start and once successful then came in the BCCI with the Indian Premier League. The rest is history. Some in Kolkata say, the AIFF could try and stop the PLS from happening.

The PLS is set to kick-off on March 24 with the foreign marquee players contracted and dates finalised for the league, but there are problems with the formal signing of foreign players due to the status and names of the six franchises.

The AIFF late on Saturday suspended the PLS from taking part in the FIFA 'Transfer Matching System' as the six new teams (franchises) were not affiliated to the sport's governing body, the Indian Football Association (West Bengal). The problem is that the six PLS franchises had been given access to the TMS, but under generic names and not under those now used by the franchises.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said, "The six franchises have been barred from seeking transfer of players because their documents are incomplete and proper procedures have not been followed."

The IFA (WB) is under pressure to get all the necessary documentation done, so the franchises can sign their foreign players. February 15 is the last day of signing. Besides getting their names changed and formally registered there is also the option of picking the licence of a small lower division club for the remainder of the season and sort out all necessary documentation by the beginning of the next season. For the organisers it is now about getting the PLS off the ground.

Due to all this confusion the auction of the Indian players was postponed. It was supposed to happen in Kolkata today, but under such circumstances it could not be held, then similar transfer problems would also exist with Indian and local Bengal players.

PLS Franchises finalise their names

The five Premier League Soccer franchises auctioned on January 29 have finalised their names, while the sixth and final Haldia franchise was confirmed to have been sold to Greymind Communications only yesterday.

There has been a lot of curiosity amongst fans about the names of the PLS franchises, but I am not really impressed by the names chosen by the owners. I honestly see a lack of creativity while coosing the names of the teams.

But Howrah simply are the worst by chosing the name Howrah Manchester. What relation has the North English town of Manchester with Howrah? Did the franchise owners consider that non-Manchester fans based in Howrah might now not support the club.


Here a list of franchise names & owners

Kolkata Camelians - Camelia Group

Barasat Euro Musketeers - Uro Infra Realty India Limited

Howrah Manchester - Syncsys Infotech Limited

Durgapur Vox Champions - Tulip Infonet Private Limited

Bengal Tuskers (Siliguri) - Aajay Consultants

PLS franchises auctioned, Barasat costliest

The six franchises of the Premier League Soccer, a new concept West Bengal city league modelled on the IPL cricket, were auctioned yesterday in Kolkata. Five of the franchises were sold for substantial amounts with Barasat the costliest of the lot at Rs 251,5 Million (25,15 crore), but the Haldia franchise could not be sold.

Barasat, which went into the auction at only 80 lakhs, was picked-up by URO Infra Realty India Ltd. The second highest bid was made by Aajay Consultants for the Siliguri franchise at Rs 180 Million (18 crore). The Kolkata franchise came third at Rs 115 Million (11,5 crore) and was bought by the Camellia Group. The Howrah franchise went to Syncsys Infotech Ltd at Rs 90 Million (9 crore), while Durgapur was sold at Rs 76 Million (7,6 crore) to Tulip Infonet Pvt. Ltd.

But the Haldia franchise could not be sold and the first season of the PLS might start with five instead of six teams. A sixth bidder was part of the auction process, but they did not bid for Haldia and when offered the franchise he did not accept.

The franchises have been sold by the organisers Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and Celebrity Management Group for a period of 10 years and they will have to spend between USD 2 to 2,5 Million per season on their players. The players auction is set to be held sometime today.

The list of 'icon' players is inpressive which includes Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, French World Cup winner Robert Pires, former Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin, Argentina striker Hernan Crespo, England striker Robbie Fowler and Nigeria midfielder Jay Jay Okocha.