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After a series of poor performance, I-League winning coach Sanjoy Sen resigned from his post at Mohun Bagan. The 'Mariners' lost their home match against a spirited Chennai City FC 1-2, who played with 10 men for more than 50 minutes.
Mohun Bagan needs to pull up their socks if they want to stay in the hunt for the I-League. Their next match is against Aizawl FC on January 7. A more pressing matter for them, however, is who to replace Sen with, at the moment. Let us have a look at 5 coaches who can replace Sanjoy Sen:
Sankarlal Chakraborty
Sankarlal Chakraborty is currently the assistant coach of Mohun Bagan and he has the best knowledge of the team apart from Sanjoy Sen. He had even acted as the head coach for Mohun Bagan in the Calcutta Football League for the last couple of seasons now. If a permanent replacement is found before the next I-League game kicks off, we will not be surprised if he fills in the boots of the outgoing coach.
A Tata Football Academy graduate, Shankarlal Chakraborty was a part of the historic Kolkata Derby during the 1997 Federation Cup semi-final which East Bengal won 4-1. Chakraborty was representing the arch-rivals East Bengal during that match.
Ashley Westwood
Ashley Westwood has arguably been the most successful coach in the Indian football in the last five years. His stint with Bengaluru FC has been magical having won all major trophies during that time. The Englishman led the Blues to their first I-League triumph in their maiden appearance in the top flight in 2013-14.
The following year, he won the Federation Cup with the side and followed it up with a second I-League title in 2015-16. No wonder he is familiar with Indian football and is a fit contender to take charge of the century-old club. Westwood is currently the director of football for the Indian Super League side ATK.
Karim Bencherifa
Moroccan Karim Bencherifa is a coach who has been around Indian football for a long time until 2015. He is one of the few coaches to win the I-League with two different clubs, Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar. Mohun Bagan had him as a manager in two spells from 2008-10 and from 2012-14 respectively.
Bencherifa is widely regarded as one of the most versatile coaches to have ever taken charge of an Indian club. In the year 2011, he won the I-League and the Federation Cup with the same team, Salgaoncar. Being a former coach of the club will make things easier for him but he has to deliver to make sure he is kept for a longer time.
Trevor James Morgan
Trevor James Morgan is probably one of the unluckiest coaches in Indian football, having missed the I-League title by a whisker in the 2011-12 seasons with Kolkata giants East Bengal. In spite of that, he won several trophies with the red and gold brigade such as the Federation Cup, the IFA Sheild, the Super Cup and the Calcutta Football League.
He was a favourite among the fans and even had a great record in Kolkata derbies which made him more popular. But being eluded by the I-League trophy, he parted ways with the club. Joining hands with the rival club within a year of his resignation will definitely raise a few eyebrows but it will also be a big opportunity to show East Bengal that they have made a wrong decision not to retain him, especially if he manages to outclass them in the upcoming Kolkata Derby on January 21.
Subrata Bhattacharya
Subrata Bhattacharya is probably the most loyal footballer the club has ever seen. The defender has spent 17 years with Mohun Bagan in his playing days and was a stalwart during that time. Although he received many mouth-watering offers from various clubs, he never left Mohun Bagan. He was equally successful as the coach of the Kolkata giants having led them to two National League titles.
Following that, he coached many teams such as East Bengal, Prayag United, and Southern Samity. He was even called up by Mohun Bagan for small spells when they had no options, but he never refused to rescue the Mariners when their ship looked like it would sink. Even today, chants of ‘Bablu’ are heard in the stands when Mohun Bagan are performing miserably. Can he rescue the ‘Mariners’ from drowning?
