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Former East Bengal and Mohun Bagan coach Stanley Rozario is likely to become the head coach of the new I-League club from Kochi. Eagles FC, which will now be funded by a consortium from Kerala, are expected to be among the new clubs that would be given a direct entry into the I-League next season.
The club are yet to confirm any signings but are close to securing the services of Rozario as their head coach for the 2013-14 I-League.
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A source close to the Kerala club told Sportskeeda, “Stanley Rozario is expected to officially sign soon. We will soon be contacting Indian and foreign players and prepare the team for next season. Since there will be no relegation, we have some time to build a proper youth system and at the same time become competitive with the senior team.”
Rozario will be taking charge of an I-League club for the fourth time in his career, having also coached Shillong Lajong in their debut I-League season, 2008-09, which ended in relegation and was the only top flight campaign in which he remained in charge for an entire season.
The former India assistant coach had also finished runners-up in the Federation Cup final with the Shillong club in 2009 before repeating that feat with Mohun Bagan the following year, losing to East Bengal on both occasions. His last job was at United Sikkim, with whom he worked in the second division in 2011.
The source added that some players from local Kerala teams like SBT and Kerala Police could be loaned before the start of the season while trials also started in Kochi on Sunday.
Eagles want to follow the model of Pune FC and thus intend to have several age-group teams. For the first season, they will be playing their home matches at either the Nehru Stadium in Kochi or the Municipal Stadium in Kozhikode but plans are already in place to build a new stadium at Malappuram.
The club has also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Reading, who got relegated from the 2012-13 English Premier League.
