Tesla Coyle: Runaway disaster to runners-up
CHENNAI: It was December and Owen Coyle was speaking at a press conference before his first home game as Chennaiyin FC manager. His club, after a disastrous start to the season under John Gregory, was hovering around the bottom of the table and looked to be going nowhere soon. However, Coyle appeared bullish. And when someone asked him about what the aim was for the rest of the season, his reply had everyone shaking their heads. “We have to believe we can make the top four and for that, we have to win games,” he had said.
“We need to perform consistently. I’ve seen enough quality and attitude, hunger to do well and that augurs well moving forward. We need to win games and play our style of football.” It seemed such a ridiculous notion! Up until his arrival, Chennaiyin had won one game all season. Their strikers were struggling to score and the best chance Coyle had of success was to bring in some new blood. Indeed, another question at that press conference was about potential signings in January.
But Coyle not only stuck with the players he had, but he also improved them. Nerijus Valskis was suddenly the league’s most lethal striker. Lallianzuala Chhangte went from being all flash and no finish to being the second-highest Indian-scorer behind Sunil Chhetri. A jaded Jerry Lalrinzuala looked a player reborn. And thanks to the style of play that Coyle implemented, Chennaiyin went from lethargic and boring to the most exciting team in the league.
They embarked on a lengthy unbeaten run and somehow made the playoffs. Once there, they beat FC Goa, perhaps the best team in the league in terms of personnel, over two legs. Even in the final against ATK on Saturday, as the latter led 2-1 with only a few minutes left, you had the feeling that Chennaiyin was going to find an equaliser from somewhere. Most of the credit for such a recovery should go to Coyle himself.
Perhaps the best example of how Coyle has transformed a player is what he has done to Edwin Sydney Vanspaul. Before Coyle, Edwin was a solid but unspectacular right-back. Within a couple of sessions, Coyle had spotted the potential and shifted him to central midfield, where he had sparingly played a couple of years ago.
“He was trying out different players in midfield and after I played there in a practice game, he told me to be in that position,” Edwin had said about his switch. “Two days later, I was starting in midfield against NorthEast.” The Chennai-born player went on to have a storming second half of a season and earned his first call-up to the national camp.
Speaking ahead of the final, Coyle spoke about an incident that happened just after he took charge, that he described as a lucky break for him.
“The postponement of the game against NorthEast United actually worked in our favour in many ways,” said Coyle, referring to the game that had been called off after anti-CAA protests in Guwahati.
“Had we played NorthEast two days later, I probably would have played the same team we played against Jamshedpur because we had no time. Having watched the training, I was able to see how good a player Jerry (Lalrinzuala) was and I had to think of a way to get him in the team.”A spot of good fortune, indeed. But fortune, as they say, favours the brave.
End of season awards
Winning Pass of the League - Hugo Boumous (FC Goa)
Golden Glove - Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Bengaluru FC)
Golden Boot - Nerijus Valskis (Chennaiyin FC)
Emerging Player - Sumit Rathi (ATK FC)
Hero of the League - Hugo Boumous (FC Goa)