Review: East Bengal’s 2011-12 season

As coach Trevor Morgan was given the ‘victory toss’ by his jubiliant East Bengal players, who had survived a late extra time onslaught by Dempo, to win a thrilling Federation Cup finale, the 56 year old coach can surely be forgiven for letting out a broad smile, for this was the 8^th Federation Cup triumph in East Bengal’s footballing history(and the 2^nd in three seasons under Morgan).

Morgan with his victorious team!

Though, the ‘Red and Gold’ brigade were backed by a vociferous Kanchenjunga crowd, it was their fighting spirit which stood apart in Sunday’s thriller.

Despite falling behind to Climax Lawrence’s 50^thminute goal, they managed to equalize through Arnab Mondal, and take the game to extra time. Morgan’s boys capped off a fine performance in extra time, and scored through Manandeep Singh and Edeh Chidi.

Though Mahesh Gawli pulled one back for Dempo, Morgan’s boys held on to cap off a fine victory.

Sunday’s triumph underlines how Morgan has managed to instil a fighter’s mentality in the ‘Red and Gold’ brigade, as Sunday’s victory showed.

Looking back at East Bengal’s season so far, they finished second behind Dempo (51 points) and have had a solid season so far.

Apart from the positives on field, Bengal also had a busy time during the transfer season, as they lost custodian Sandip Nandy to Goan outfit Churchill Brothers, plus they had a host of signings such as Calvin Lobo (Mumbai FC), Priyant Singh(Mohammedean Sporting), Jagpreet Singh(Churchill Brothers) and Sunday’s Federation Cup hero Edeh Chidi(Salgaocar SC).

Chidi turned out to be a good buy from Salgaocar

Also, there was lot of drama involving their star Australian striker, Tolgay Ozbey and coach Morgan himself.

Ozbey, who was reportedly ‘unhappy’(read charges of harassment ) at Bengal, had demanded an astronomical 150 Lakhs in terms of wages to stay at Bengal.

Though, the drama carried on for 3 long months, with the club management even offering the talismanic Aussie a paycheck of 120 Lakh, he finally transferred to arch rivals, Mohun Bagan, amidst much speculation and saga, as the ‘Green and Maroon’ outfit were ready to meet his demands, and even offered him an expensive apartment plus a sports car thus making him the third most expensive player in the I-League(after Ranty Martins and Odafa Okolie).

Ozbey later had to issue a letter of apology to the club and was also fined a million rupees for professional misconduct.

Ozbey was fined a million rupees plus had to issue a letter of apology for professional misconduct to the Bengal club management

Earlier, Morgan, after leading Bengal to the ‘Kolkata Premier League’ title, had major differences with the club management, and had initially stepped down as coach. But, talks between both sides ensured Morgan was ‘reinstated’ as coach once again.

If signing Chidi and losing out on Nandy and Ozbey were the positives and negatives for Bengal in the transfer season, they also had positives in the form of a great I-League season and of course the Federation Cup triumph.

If there were any negatives on the field for Bengal, it had to be their disastrous AFC cup campaign(Bengal were bottom in their group with a horrendous goal difference of ‘-12’).

The same old story of Indian clubs failing to match up to much superior Asian opposition came to the fore once more, as Morgan’s boys could not win a single group game and bowed out timidly.

Though, Morgan can be forgiven for the AFC cup disaster(considering India’s poor club record in the tournament), he definitely should be given credit for revolutionizing the club.

Morgan managed to stay calm during the entire ‘Ozbey-Bagan’ saga, and must definitely be credited to help them win seven trophies during his 3 year stay at the club.

So, with the Federation cup win, East Bengal have finished the current season on a high, and look set to start a fresh assault on the I-League title, the upcoming season.

And as things stand for the ‘Red and Gold’ brigade currently, next season definitely looks to be one to watch out for Morgan and boys!