KOCHI: If there is one question that any new Kerala Blasters coach has to face, it is about how they will cope with the pressures at one of the widely supported and most popular football clubs in India.
The Indian Super League side has never won the league and managers have come and gone as the pressure and expectations are always sky-high.
Ten coaches, right from those with international pedigrees such as Steve Coppell and René Meulensteen to former India international Ishfaq Ahmed (on an interim basis) have been in the hot seat. It is now Serbian tactician Ivan Vukomanovic's turn to take up one of the most challenging assignments in Indian football.
After Kibu Vicuna's acrimonious departure towards the end of last season, the club kept the fans waiting for a while before unveiling the Serbian as their new coach in June.
The 44-year-old has already touched down in Kochi with the pre-season underway and he is really looking forward to the challenge.
"In football, expectations are always high, there'll always be pressure. When you talk about the challenges that are going to be there, I grew up under that kind of pressure. If I go back in time to 20 or more years ago as a player, I've been part of challenges. I grew up at that kind of club. It means that this club is important. It means that there are certain expectations and the club wants to battle and be high up the table. That's the challenge and these things in football are really nice and it gives you extra motivation," he said.
And all eyes will be on how the new coach sets up his team. While the likes of Coppell and David James led the club to finals, many fans were critical of their style of play.
Coppell's defensive philosophy and James' long ball approach didn't go down well with a lot of fans.
Others like Eelco Schattorie and Kibu VIcuna tried to be bolder and play attractive football but were hampered either by injuries or not having players suiting their style.
When it comes to the former Standard Liège coach, the first objective is to make Blasters into a hard-to-beat team and build from there.
"If you talk about the Indian Super League, it is very short in terms of games. You have to be ready to play hard games and competitive games from the very beginning. So there is no time to take a couple of games at the beginning and see how it goes. You have to be prepared for football that sometimes will not be pretty but it's done because you have to fight for the points and victories, and I like to win," he said.
Blasters have struggled over the last couple of seasons and even failed to qualify for the play-offs but Vukomanovic has made it clear that his target is to make it to the play-offs.
"Of course (qualifying is a target). I like to win. I want to play for high rankings and that's my motivation and my goal. We'd like to build a team that will win every game and fights for every point," he said.