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Northeast United FC have so far been the worst team in the Indian Super League (ISL). The team from Guwahati has so far failed to make the playoffs of the ISL, and has finished bottom of the table on a couple of occasions. Last season was a disaster for the club given they ended at the bottom of the table and had the worst crowd turnout too in the league.
The team saw a managerial change midway through last season, and ex-Chelsea manager Avram Grant was appointed as the head coach, with Eelco Schattorie playing the role of the assistant coach.
Avram Grant was supposed to continue as the head coach for this season too, but somehow that didn't work out for Northeast United, and they have gone on to name Eelco Schattorie as the head coach for this season.
Sportskeeda spoke in length with the Dutch gaffer, regarding his views about the upcoming season, and Indian football in general.
"I got a call from an agent in January asking if I was willing to work with Avram Grant in NEUFC," he said.
"I had been following the ISL from far so when the offer came, and I thought it was an excellent opportunity to come back to India, and that is how I happened to take up the NEUFC role," elaborated Eelco on how Northeast United happened for him.
Talking about last season, Eelco gave us an insight into how the team was run under Avram Grant, and he went on to mention how he had all the freedom to conduct practice sessions.
This season, though, the dynamics have a changed a bit, as Avram Grant has stepped aside from the role of head coach and has taken up the role of a technical advisor, while Eelco and Arthur Papas are left with the day-to-day running of the club.
"Avram will only help us if Arthur and I have an issue regarding something, or if we need advice regarding a certain matter," Eelco clarified the role, which will be played by Avram Grant this season.
"Some of the Indian players came through Avram Grant. Some of the Indian players came through me. The others came from the club, it was the time frame that we were in with Avram deciding to not continue as head coach, and us signing players, now we have a bunch of players, and we have to work with it," said Eelco on how the signings for this season happened.
Eelco sounded positive regarding the marquee rule being scrapped and also pitched that signing aged superstars of football was not doing good to anyone, and what teams especially Northeast United should aim to do is buy smart or spend wisely.
"See, in football, one day you are a hero, the next day a zero. What I mean to say is that I have tons of experience in football, more than that of my team owners too. Everybody wants to be champions, but only one team will become champion.
"What we need to ensure is that the right process is followed to gain success, so that we don't have to take a step backward after gaining success but instead, move forward. But let me be clear: I want to be champions with NEUFC, but we need to do the right things every day to get there," he said on what the management expects of him from this season.
Northeast United abandoned their plans of going for a pre-season camp to Sweden, and Eelco mentioned the reason as to why the idea was put off,
"It is illogical to go to someplace for just ten days when you lose 4 days in traveling, it would leave us with six days, and that wouldn't be enough to play games and practice, so we decided to stay put in Guwahati and travel to play some friendly games nearby. If we had two or three weeks time, then we would have surely gone for a preseason camp."
The head coach did mention that losing right winger Setyasen Singh to a long-term injury lay-off was a loss for his side but hoped other like Redeem Tlang could make use of the opportunity.
Speaking about the I-League, the Dutch coach did mention that, apart from clubs like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, and a few others, the rest didn't have a professional set-up and that he has players in his team (NEUFC) from other I-League clubs who have never been coached properly, and he hopes that the scenario changes.
