Interview with I-League’s most successful coach Armando Colaco on his 60th birthday: “No retirement plans just yet”

You are the president of the Goa Football Coaches’ Association, which was formed last year. What is its current status?

Our body has been recognised by Societies Registration Act and now we will write to SAG (Sports Auhority of Goa) and GFA (Goa Football Association) to do the same. We want to bring more foreign coaches and educate our coaches. We want to improve the standard of coaching in Goa first and maybe then we can look to have a similar body on an all India basis.

Indian league winning coaches like Subhash Bhowmick and Subrata Bhattacharya are without a club now as they don’t have a license. Should they be given honorary coaching degrees just like it was in England? (where coaches with at least ten years coaching experience were awarded a FA Coaching Diploma)

Look at the achievements of Subhash Bhowmick, Subrata Bhattacharya and even Sukhwinder Singh. Then there is Bimal Ghosh also who had been grooming players at Air India for years. None of them have a license but AIFF should consider the workload that they have put in. So something has to be done, even if it’s an honorary position. Certificates are also important but practically also they have coached and given so much to Indian football.

Armando feels coaches like Subhash Bhowmick should be given honorary coaching degrees

You won five league titles at a single club, staying there for 13 years. Do you think any coach in India will ever be able to last that long in one club and achieve the same success?

It will be very difficult because the mentality of players has changed now as each one is for themselves. Even a substitution is questioned regularly nowadays. Somehow I managed it because I had the full support of Mr. Dempo and worked very hard for him.

Any regrets regarding the controversy with Rohan Ricketts?

I don’t want to talk much about the controversy. He was a player of class and if he had remained we probably would have won the title but the management had taken a decision as you cannot compromise on discipline.

Your thoughts on the proposed IPL-style football tournament?

How will football develop if retired players are playing? Same money should instead be spent on youth development, grassroots activities and coach education. It’s true many people will come to the stadiums but they should also get the famous players to give lectures and talk to our coaches and players.

Would you be open to coaching a team in that tournament?

I will get paid for coaching but how will it develop Indian football? That is still not clear to me. If they are seeing it as an experiment its fine but will FIFA allow? There are lot of complications like transfer and loan windows. In cricket it’s successful because there are only eight countries playing and there is no transfer window.

What if everything is cleared by FIFA and the event goes ahead, then will you be willing to coach one of the teams?

Yes why not! If they call me, I am always open to coaching.