PLS: Foreign Players & Coaches left in the dark

At the 2012 Soccerex European Forum in Manchester with India being on the agenda, one topic which I and other attendees from India got asked again and again is what is the latest on the Premier League Soccer.

With no one from the Indian Football Association (West Bengal) nor Celebrity Management Group present it was difficult to answer with more and more questions raised about the PLS and its future. Some European journalist have actually written that the PLS will never see the day of light. Tough judgement, but as I would suggest to wait and watch.

These developments has foreign marquee players and coaches worried. Some had actually left good contracts to join the PLS and they are in trouble. In Manchester I bumped into Peter Reid and John Barnes, who both currently not know if they will shift to West Bengal to coach in the PLS.

Former Liverpool star John Barnes actually asked me rather then me him what I think about the current situation then I gathered from our conversation that he is feeling sceptical about the situation though still very much interested to come to India.

“First it was to start in February, then March, then April and now they are saying maybe as late as November,” said a worried John Barnes. “I don’t know what will happen.”

The other thing that both coaches said, which Robbie Fowler had tweeted about is that the foreign coaches and players are not kept updated and informed on what is happening with the PLS, if anything at all.

This all is surely not something the organising IFA and CMG will like to hear, but they need to keep their star attractions better informed or otherwise if the delayed PLS kicks-off might have to play without them.

The media abroad who had written a lot of positive things about the PLS earlier in the year have been alerted about the continued problems and once they start writing about it, the PLS and Indian football has a problem.