#3 Mridul Banerjee
Having led the Bengal side to their 32nd Santosh Trophy win, Mridul Banerjee seems like the perfect candidate to land the job of managing a top team like East Bengal on a long-term basis. The Santosh Trophy winning coach has donned the role of a caretaker coach previously for Mohun Bagan until Karim Bencherifa had been appointed.
This time, he has been called in to do the same for the other Calcutta giant.
The 56-year old had been the head coach of Mohammedan Sporting Club during the previous season of the Calcutta Football League. Thereafter, Banerjee was made the head coach of the Bengal side for the Santosh Trophy. The coach landed the trophy with a bunch of young, spirited individuals, defeating Goa at their home.
If one had followed the gameplay of either Bengal or Mohammedan Sporting Club, it would have been evident how he prefers to deploy his troops. Retain possession, thread a number of passes and build an attack moving forward – this was the overall strategy of the astute coach during his previous stints. It is pertinent to note here that Morgan had been a proponent of a similar strategy but failed to execute the same this season.
But with the correct conditioning during his next few weeks, Banerjee can be considered to head the side on a permanent basis if results go his way. The squad has great depth and a number of ball players to compliment his style of play. It remains to be seen whether the former Mohammedan SC coach can replicate the same with the current East Bengal players.
