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Chennayin FC head coach John Gregory was all praises for his opposition ahead of an important clash at the Salt Lake Stadium, as the Chennai outfit looks to do the double over rivals ATK in the battle of the two former ISL Champions.
Gregory, who has managed clubs like Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers to name a few, believes two-time ISL champions ATK are like the Manchester United of India and ISL.
“To me and all my players, we look at ATK like the Manchester United of India. It’s a huge club. Obviously, they have been champions twice. We have been champions once (but) we still look up to ATK," said Gregory.
"All of my 25 players want to play tomorrow night because it’s ATK. They are all fired up. At the start of season when the fixtures come out, the first thing I did was ‘when do we play ATK’. That’s what they do in England; ‘when do we play Manchester United',’” said the Chennaiyin FC boss, who described the previous encounter of the two sides at the Marina Arena as "one of the most exciting games of my complete career”.
ATK, who recently got rid of the services of their head coach in former Manchester United forward Teddy Sheringham owing to poor displays this season, will now be under former Bengaluru FC head coach Ashley Westwood, who will be taking the helm as interim manager.
Westwood is a United academy graduate and has coached three seasons in India winning two I-League titles. He will be hoping he can work his magic on the reigning ISL champions and turn their fortunes around as far as results are concerned at least.
On the injury front though, ATK have been struggling since the beginning of the season, as they will be missing out on marquee man Robbie Keane again.
"They've lost some very very good footballers. For one reason or another, it hasn't worked as well as they wanted it. Obviously, Teddy wanted it to work this season. He's lost a lot of players to injuries and not been able to pick his best team," remarked Gregory on his oppositions woes.
