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Bollywood star John Abraham, who also happens to be co-owner of the Indian Super League’s Guwahati franchise North East United FC, talked about the targets of his franchise on the first day of the ISL domestic draft and made it clear that their focus is on development.
“We are a team of purists and not backed by any corporates. For us success is secondary and the focus is on development. We just don’t want to buy players for success in the first year and stop there. We want to sustain this and help develop football in the North-East, which would eventually contribute towards improving Indian football,” Abraham stated.
When asked on whether the ISL will be able to attract the masses, Abraham was quite confident as he feels IMG-Reliance and Star will make the new league an attractive product.
“Two kinds of fans watch football in India. One category of fans are the hardcore Indian football fans. They know everything about the I-League, the players, the teams, everything. Then there are fans who watch European leagues and for them we will have international players. Every team will have a mixture of foreign and local stars and am sure IMG-Reliance and Star will make the league attractive to watch,” he added.
Abraham also pointed out that although the franchise will be based in Guwahati, there are plans to play in other parts of the North-East in future seasons.
“Our franchise represents the entire North-East, where football is such a huge passion. I think the region has the best average attendance in the I-League. We will start off in Guwahati but later we would like to play in Shillong, Sikkim, Aizawl,” he concluded.
