On 8th January 2017, at the end of his first game in charge as manager of Mumbai FC in the I-League, Santosh Kashyap walked all the way to the other side of the pitch and greeted the 3000 odd fans in the stands.
He assured Mumbai’s faithful that they would get to witness an attractive brand of football. A week later, at the post-match press conference of his second match in charge, he guaranteed a top three finish and requested the Yellow Brigade to continue to turn up in numbers for every single match.
The fans latched on to every single word Kashyap uttered and they had reasons to believe in their new, vocal manager. After all, Mumbai began their 2016-17 I-League campaign on the best possible note - registering wins over DSK Shivajians and Churchill Brothers in their first two matches.
Football, like life, is full of ups and downs. But Mumbai hasn’t witnessed the ups for a long time, a really long time. Since their promising start, the side from the city of seven islands hasn't experienced what winning feels like. Mumbai went on a disastrous run, winless in 14 matches. Two of them under newly appointed coach, Oscar Bruzon.
Amidst all this, Kashyap had received his marching orders from a management that suffered from a peculiar “ostrich mentality” throughout the course of the season and much before it commenced.
With a string of poor results and nothing positive to show for, Kashyap was on the edge and finally burst open after his side were comprehensively beaten 5-0 by DSK – “The media is against me; the fans are against me. I don’t expect them to protest this way. They are abusing through the internet and also at the stadium. If they are uneducated and doing so, I can understand,” he stated.
That ludicrous statement all but sealed Kashyap’s fate. But his sacking arrived late, too late for his successor, Bruzon to make any kind of meaningful impact on the side.
Churchill’s emphatic 6-1 win over Chennai City FC on Saturday was the final nail in the coffin. It confirmed that Mumbai FC would no longer ply their trade in the I-League next season. This is the first-time Mumbai have been relegated since 2007, but everyone saw it coming and those who didn’t were merely delusional.
Truth to be told, the creative and catchy chants from Mumbai’s fans managed to garner far more interest than the football the team played on the field. Week after week, the players continued to put in tepid and uninspiring performances; at times, deplorable.
On Sunday, with virtually nothing to play for, the Maharashtra outfit was up against mid-table side, Shillong Lajong at the Cooperage stadium. The positive? They finally scored a goal on home soil, only their second of the entire season at the Cooperage.
But once again Mumbai imploded. Leading 1-0, the excitement of finally leading a match got to them. They eventually surrendered their lead in the 90th minute, ultimately having to settle for a draw. Shillong could have easily put the game to bed. The Meghalayan outfit missed a couple of gilt-edged chances much to the home side’s relief; one which rattled the crossbar.
“How can I be happy? After fighting for five weeks to get a win, today it was in our hands,” coach Oscar Bruzon cut a frustrating figure at the post-match press conference. “I want to see the videos after this, it was a bad clearance,” he said speaking about the goal Mumbai conceded late on.
But like the man who preceded him, Bruzon refused to accept the reality of the situation at large: “Tell me what is bad results? Three games we have conceded 1 goal and we haven’t lost. I don’t think they’re bad results. I don’t agree, I don’t agree that we have a sloppy defence,” he signed off.
Bruzon was brought in as the new coach to instil belief and produce results. Securing draw after draw has not helped Mumbai’s attempt to save themselves. He definitely has good intentions but he inherited a set of players who just couldn’t execute his plans. Not all is lost. They have a future, but in a lower division.
