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East Bengal’s coach Trevor Morgan’s birthday coincides with the Federation Cup finals. It is a tale of three birthdays.
He celebrated his 54th birthday on Sept. 30 2010 - his first year in India in 2010 - cautiously watching his club’s prospective opponent (Mohun Bagan overcoming Dempo) in the final of the 32nd Federation Cup at Cuttack. A year later, his celebrations were muted as a day earlier, East Bengal had been humbled 1-3 at home by Salgaocar in the Federation Cup final and injured ace midfielder Mehtab Hossein was declared out of action for several months.
He got the perfect birthday present in 2012, when his club swept aside Dempo (Goa) 3-2 to win the Federation Cup for the eighth time.
A week after their Federation Cup success, East Bengal start their 6th I-League campaign against Sporting Clube de Goa in Margao today. Oozing with confidence, East Bengal are firm favourites for the title as they have a cohesive squad, with good bench strength and the best quartet of goal-scorers in the country: Chidi Edeh, and internationals Baljit Sahni, Manandeep Singh and Robin Singh. East Bengal have never done the double of winning the I-league and Federation Cup in the same season. Only Mohun Bagan (2001-02) and Dempo (2004-05) have done the same. This season is East Bengal’s best chance of achieving a historic double crown.
In the Federation Cup, East Bengal has many historic achievements. They are the only club to win the Cup in their debut year (1978-joint champions with Mohun Bagan), ITI Bangalore, champions in the inaugural year, 1977, aside. East Bengal are also the only side to win the Cup twice in one calendar year in 2010 – Guwahati (3.1.10) and Cuttack (2.10.10). Again, East Bengal are the first club to have entered the Federation Cup final four years in a row (2009—2012)
During this dream run, they won the title thrice and lost just once to Salgaocar in 2011. Foreign coaches Philip de Ridde (Belgium) in 2009 and Trevor Morgan (England) 2010—2012 spearheaded the club’s successes during this great run.
East Bengal has made 16 appearances in the Federation Cup final and won the trophy eight times. All their triumphs have been very dramatic. Thrice, they won the title in extra time, 1985, 1996 (golden goal) and now in 2012. In 2009, they won on penalties, beating Shillong Lajong 3-0, after the match ended goalless. That year they won the trophy without conceding a goal, a feat achieved only once before by Mohun Bagan in 1987. Twice in 1978 and 1980 East Bengal were joint champions with Mohun Bagan. Only in 2007 and 2010 they won the Federation Cup in regulation time.
1978, Coimbatore: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were joint champions after both the final and replay ended in a goalless draw. The final was billed as the clash of the coaches- Arun Ghosh of East Bengal against India’s most successful club coach P. K. Banerjee, then with Mohun Bagan. This final became famous for Arun Ghosh’s clever tactics. He realized that Bagan, launched attacks mainly from the left using the blistering pace of Bidesh Bose, who would latch onto through passes from midfielder Prasun Banerjee and burst through opposing defences.
In both the final and the replay, East Bengal thwarted the rampaging Bidesh by some clever marking. Right striker Mihir Bose played as a withdrawn right midfielder to assist right back Chinmoy Chatterjee in marking Bidesh. The speedy wing-back Chinmoy ensured that Bidesh did not run down the line and get in penetrative crosses. When Bidesh tried to cut inside and shoot at goal, Mihir was always present to tackle him. With Bidesh restricted, Bagan, the stronger team on paper faded and made little impact.
1980, Kolkata: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were declared joint champions as the final at the famous cricket stadium, Eden Gardens (Salt Lake Stadium had not been built till then) ended in a 1-1 draw. This time P.K. Banerjee coached East Bengal and Arun Ghosh looked after Mohun Bagan. The 1980 Federation Cup was P.K. Banerjee’s finest hour. For a decade the carping critics had said that P.K. only managed star-studded teams and got success as a coach. But in 1980, he proved his detractors wrong and with his clever man-management, eye for talent and astute tactics, developed a competitive East Bengal squad relying mostly on newcomers and just two established players in sturdy defender Manoranjan Bhattacharya and diminutive Mohammed Habib. Despite having a weakened squad, East Bengal were joint champions in both the Rovers and Federation Cup in the 1980-81 season.
During the transfer season, East Bengal had been decimated. Several star players, goalkeeper Bhaskar Ganguly, defender Chinmoy Chatterjee, midfielder Prasanta Banerjee, striker Shabbir Ali, wingers Surojit Sengupta and Debashish Roy had switched allegiance to Mohammedan Sporting, lured by lucrative contracts offered by the president Tahir Irfan Randerian, a tycoon with business interests in shipping and tea.
After the transfer season, P.K. Banerjee had only three weeks to develop a cohesive squad consisting mainly of youngsters and three Iranian recruits Majid Bhaskar, Jamshed Nassiri and Mohammed Khabazi. The critics felt this makeshift team would falter. But mainly due to the brilliance of Majid, the goal poaching of Nassiri and P.K.’s clever coaching, the weakest ever East Bengal side reached the final. In the semi final they overcame Punjab Police, 3-0.
Mohun Bagan with their brilliant quartet of forwards were expected to win the final easily. But P.K. used retractable wingers and made Majid play as a central midfielder. So East Bengal’s unusual 4-5-1 system and commitment, kept Bagan at bay.
P.K. Banerjee
1985, Bangalore: Another East Bengal (P.K. Banerjee coach) and Mohun Bagan (Amal Dutta coach) classic. On the day of the final, the erstwhile secretary Ashok Ghosh announced that P.K. would be India’s coach for the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. Amal Dutta was disgruntled as he had hoped to get this coveted job. So there was a lot of tension in the match. East Bengal had a rugged defence: Balai Mukherjee, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Tarun Dey and Aloke Mukherjee and with Krishanu Dey, Biswajit Bhattacharya, Bikash Panji and Jamshed Nassiri in good nick were fancied to win.
P.K. used defensive midfielder Sunirmal Chakraborty to mark Bagan’s playmaker Prasanta Banerjee, so the match became a battle of attrition. Ultimately, East Bengal ousted arch rivals Mohun Bagan with an extra time goal by the Iranian striker Nassiri.
1996, Kolkata: In front of a capacity crowd of about 100,000 people at the Salt Lake stadium, East Bengal beat Dempo 2-1 with prolific striker Raman Vijayan scoring the golden goal in the 17th minute of extra time. Shrewd midfielder Tushar Rakshit had put East Bengal ahead in the 15th minute but Camillo Gonsalves equalized for Dempo, in a breakaway move a minute later.
Manoranjan Bhattacharya, East Bengal’s captain when they won the trophy in 1985, was now the club coach with veteran P.K. Banerjee as Technical Director. In the final, the team was jolted as ace defender Debashish Pal Chowdhury got injured in the 11th minute. Ranjan Dey was pulled back from his role as defensive midfielder to stopper-back alongside Debjit Ghosh and nippy A. Sarvanan came in as a wide midfielder. Raman Vijayan was East Bengal’s hero scoring twice in the 3-0 win over Kerala Police in the semi-finals and once in the finals.
2007, Ludhiana: Another long wait for Federation Cup success ended in 2007. Kolkata’s glamour club had not won this coveted trophy since 1996. East Bengal seemed jinxed in this tournament and in the new millennium, had not even entered the semi-finals of the Federation Cup. Coached by a former Bagan legend Subrata Bhattacharya, they overcame Mahindra United of Mumbai 2-1, in the 29th Hero Cycles Federation Cup final. Brazilian striker Edmilson netted a brace for East Bengal.
East Bengal played glorious, attacking football, winning four matches in 11 days and scoring 11 goals. Their lethal striker Edmilson was the tournament’s top-scorer with six goals in three matches. He missed the semi-finals against Mohun Bagan due to injury. East Bengal beat city rivals Mohammedan Sporting 3-1 in the first round, JCT 3-2 in the quarter finals and Mohun Bagan 3-2 in the semis.
2009, Guwahati: The genial Belgian coach Philippe de Ridde became the first foreign coach in the club’s history to win a major title. Nigerian defender Uga Okpara played brilliantly in each match and East Bengal won the tournament without conceding a goal. Nirmal Chettri( in his first season with East Bengal), Syed Rahim Nabi and Saumik Dey also impressed. Goalkeeper Abhra Mondal saved three penalties during the shoot-out in the finals against Shillong Lajong. East Bengal won this tournament, scoring just four goals in five matches, with two goalless draws and two 1-0 victories. No team has won a major tournament in India scoring such few goals.
This tournament marked the second coming of midfielder Mehtab Hossein. The Belgian coach made him switch from a wide midfielder to central midfield and told him this move would help in the revival of his international career. It certainly helped because since the 31st Hero Honda Federation Cup, Mehtab Hossein’s career has blossomed. He is now a regular in the Indian team and considered the most dependable midfielder in the country. Mehtab acknowledges De Ridde’s efforts in the revival of his international career.
2010, Cuttack: A new, exciting and attacking East Bengal emerged in the 32nd Federation Cup, which got limited media coverage as it was held just prior to the start of the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
East Bengal with attacking midfielder Penn Orji, Tolgay Ozbey, Robin Singh, Naoba Singh and Vashum in their ranks were quite dominant and won all their matches in grand style.
East Bengal scored eight goals in five matches. The influence of their new British coach Trevor Morgan was evident as they played more direct, one-touch football.
2012, Siliguri: Trevor Morgan got the best birthday present of his life, as East Bengal overcame two major rivals, Churchill Brothers (1-0 in the semi-finasl) and Dempo (3-2 in the finals) to win the tournament. He has now won the Federation Cup twice with East Bengal, a record he shares with P.K. Banerjee (1980 and 1985).
Morgan was spot on in his substitutions and strategy. He opted for Ishfaq Ahmed and Harmanjot Khabra as the wide midfielders at the start of each knockout match, as both have good defensive abilities. As both the semi-finals and finals drifted into extra time, he brought in attacking midfielders Sanju Pradhan and Lalrindika Ralte (another inspired selection, who joined this season). Ralte scored the match winner against Churchill Brothers and set up the winning goals against Dempo in the finals.
