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It is never easy for a coach to replace someone who has been in charge of a club for more than a decade and that’s why a massive challenge awaits David Moyes at Manchester United. Armando Colaco’s tenure might only be half of Fergie’s time at United, but the 59-year-old’s achievement would certainly be difficult for anyone to match in Indian football as he won a record five Indian titles and also took Dempo to the AFC Cup semi-finals.
Armando’s departure from Dempo became imminent in the final weeks of the 2012-13 season and it was always going to be difficult for the Goan club to find his successor because the former player was not only in charge for 13 years but would have the final say in every on-field matter and some off-field issues as well as he also operated as the general secretary.
Eventually, Dempo identified Australian Arthur Papas as the replacement and going by his CV and first season in Indian football, it looks to be the correct decision.
Papas proved his coaching credentials by nearly guiding the India Under-22s to Asian Cup qualification last year , and then made the Pailan Arrows outfit, AIFF’s developmental side, play an exciting brand of football with several youngsters like Alywn George and Shouvik Ghosh flourishing under his guidance and becoming senior internationals.
The appointment of Moyes suggests that United are looking at the long-term and Dempo are certainly aiming to go in the same direction with Papas. The Australian has signed a three-year contract and already has been given the freedom to sign the players of his choice.
In an interview to Sportskeeda earlier this month, Papas had stated that his next job will be at a place where he feels he has the confidence of the employers, and clearly at Dempo, he has been given the job satisfaction that he was craving for. Some of his transfer targets like Jewel Raja have already been signed while Jeje Lalpekhlua is also close to agreeing terms and the remaining foreign recruits will be the Melbourne-born coach’s recommendations.
Dempo set for a new core
Club director Shrinivas Dempo clearly has full faith in the 33-year-old and, thus, trusts him to keep the team competitive in this period of transition. For years, players like Mahesh Gawli, Climax Lawrence, Anthony Pereira, Samir Naik, Peter Carvalho, etc formed the core of the Dempo squad, but next season, the team will be build around a new group of players.
Depending on the future of Arrows, several players of that squad could be joining Dempo as they are keen on playing under their favourite coach Papas, who got the best out of several unknown talents. These Arrows players are the best youngsters of the country and all of them want to play for Papas, which is a testament to the Aussie’s reputation.
Thus Dempo may lack experience next season, but one can still expect them to be competitive under Papas, who unlike his last season at Arrows, will also have some foreigners besides a group of talented youngsters.
Another reason why the appointment of Papas makes perfect sense is that he is possibly the only coach who would be able to continue and even enhance the ‘Dempo-style’ of play that everyone got accustomed to under Armando. Many I-League clubs have started to keep the ball on the ground nowadays, but Armando got Dempo to play this short passing style a long time back and it proved to be effective even at the Asian level.
Dempo played entertaining football under Armando Colaco
It remains to be seen how Papas deals with the pressure and expectations as they were entities that weren’t really there during his time with the India U-22s and Arrows, but Dempo certainly couldn’t have picked a more talented tactician to start fresh with a new and young-looking squad.
Some players from the Armando era are, of course, still at the club, while Beto has also rejoined, and Papas would certainly try to have the right balance of youth and experience in order to have a solid start at the most successful club in I-League history.
All over the world history tells us that it is always difficult to replace a legendary coach who has been around at a club for a long period and, thus, Dempo are possibly right in having a completely new approach and Papas is best placed to take them forward in this post-Armando Colaco era.
