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Meulensteen’s second in command Thangboi Shingto is reportedly set to take over as the head coach of the Kochi-based club on a temporary basis.
“I would like to thank the management staff, players and amazing fans for the experience and wish them well for the future,” said Meulensteen in a statement.
Kerala Blasters CEO Varun Tripuraneni said, “The club likes to thank Rene for all the hard work in his first time at the club. The replacement would be announced soon.”
According to sources, Meulensteen offered to step down from his position as the head coach of the club after the Blasters suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of bitter rivals Bengaluru FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, on Sunday.
Last season’s finalists have been on a poor run of form, and the pressure had been mounting on Meulensteen as his side failed to garner the wins one match after the other.
After seven matches, the Blasters now stand third from bottom of the table, having drawn four and lost two of their seven matches. Their only win came against NorthEast United FC at home.
It has been a rather disappointing season for Kerala Blasters, who seemed to have a very strong squad on paper, having signed top international stars. The likes of former Manchester United stars Dimitar Berbatov and Wes Brown certainly gave them a lot of weight. To add to that, the signing of Iain Hume, who is the highest scorer in the ISL, further bolstered their attack.
However, the results were a completely different story, as the Blasters managed to win only one of their seven matches so far, and are languishing deep in the bottom half.
