CHENNAI: A couple of years ago, Sanjoy Sen walked into the hallowed offices of Mohammedan Sporting, where so much of history lay entrapped between dusty files and unpolished cups, and informed them of his decision to leave. His reason? “My son’s tenth standard exams were coming up. That was a crucial moment in his life and I wanted to be there with him.”
His son ended up doing pretty well in his exams (ninety-plus in a number of subjects, Sen proudly says), but the father has done even better.
Twelve months ago, everything that Sen has gone on to achieve would have seemed unrealistic at best and laughable to the cynic. Mohun Bagan were unable to pay their players, and their pre-season was largely limited to officials publicly lamenting their financial plight. Bengaluru FC, on the other hand, went to China. Yet, as the season ends, the I-League trophy is back in Kolkata and Sen is being hailed as the miracle man. Not only did he restore the fast-fading lustre of Bagan, he did so pipping one of the best ever foreign coaches to hit these shores in Ashley Westwood.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s been thirteen long years since Bagan last won the title. When the season began, few believed. But of course, I maintained right from the start that we were contenders,” says Sen.
In many ways, Sen could not be farther from your archetypal Kolkata coach. He never had a high profile on-field career, spending all his playing days with Eastern Railways. After retiring, he started coaching at the same club in 1996. A stint under then national youth team coach Colm Toal followed, before Sen finally got his big break as manager of Prayag United in 2010.
But it was at Prayag that the grim realities of Indian football caught up with him. Despite having one of the best records for an Indian coach in the I-League, Sen was replaced by a foreign coach (ironically his current East Bengal rival Eelco Schattorie), with club officials justifying his sacking by explaining how inferior Indian coaches were to their international counterparts.
It is a snub that Sen has not forgotten. “I think Indian coaches are not inferior to foreign ones. You have to look at the quality of these foreign coaches that are coming in. How many of them have won an Asian Games medal, which India did under a domestic coach?”
Sen then went on to bring Mohammedan Sporting back from the dead, leading them to an I-League Second Division title in 2012, before replacing Subhash Bhowmick at Bagan this year. His job description was as simple as the job itself was complex — drag Bagan back ahead of better-run, better-funded clubs like Bengaluru and Pune FC.
A fool’s errand to many, but for Sen, it was only a matter of time before the Kolkata clubs bounced back. “It’s good that these corporate-run clubs are here and that people have only good things to say about them. But you have to ask how long they will be there in Indian football. Where is Mahindra? Where is JCT? Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, these clubs have been here for a hundred years and they will be there for a thousand more.”
As for his future, Sen says nothing has been decided. “I will meet with club officials in a couple of days and will tell them what I want. Then we will take a decision.”
And yes, his son’s twelfth standard exams are coming up next year, he laughs.