Players save FC Goa massive backlash with top spot and Champions League place

PANAJI

: FC Goa have not yet won the Indian Super League (ISL) but celebrations have not stopped since demolishing Jamshedpur FC 5-0 at the JRD Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Goa are League champions. They finished on top of the league standings, and even though there is this small matter of navigating the playoffs and possibly final –where the team has cruelly lost twice – the Goans will take the top spot and a historic place in the

AFC Champions League

for now.

That they managed to reach the top, without any stutter, is commendable. For a side that sacked their most successful coach, when at the top, with just three games left to be played, to do even better is commendable. Goa’s victories since

Sergio Lobera

’s sacking –Hyderabad FC (4-1),

Mumbai City

(5-2) and Jamshedpur (5-2) – have been convincing. But can you imagine the fall-out if it was not?

It was club president

Akshay Tandon

who decided it was time to bite the bullet and personally summoned Lobera to his office in

Porvorim

. Expectedly, the decision to part ways didn’t go down well with Lobera and his support staff. There was exchange of words at the headquarters, but more hate was waiting outside.

Tandon received plenty of abuse and death threats from fans. When the first game was being held at Fatorda post Lobera’s exit, he was greeted by nasty posters outside the stadium.

One poster said ‘Deltin Out, Tandon Out, Management Out’ another said the club was ‘Destroying Eliminating Love for football Through its Intolerable and Naive decisions’ a jab on Deltin, while ‘throw management away’ posters were also seen. Some called for former owners and the likes of Churchill Alemao and Peter Vaz to take the club in ‘Goan hands’.

The attendance fell to its lowest for the season.

Tandon tried convincing fan groups. At least two official supporter groups – FC Goa Fan Club and East Lower Army – decided to throw their weight behind the club, but not everyone was convinced. ‘Sergio’s Gaur Army’ chants were unstoppable.

All along, the management maintained that they acted in the better interest of the club. That the decision was best, not just for the present but also the future.

Fortunately for FC Goa, the players didn’t let anything distract them. Several players owed allegiance to Lobera. A couple of them broke down when the Spanish coach said an official goodbye at the team hotel, others met him separately too. Even though most of them didn’t know all the reasons behind Lobera’s sacking, the seniors convinced everyone to look in one direction.

That direction led to the top spot with the minimum of fuss. It also helped that the club handpicked two Goans to carry Lobera’s work forward – technical director Derrick Pereira and assistant coach Clifford Miranda.

Of course, Lobera deserves credit for what he started in Goa. The team was in shambles when he took over. Zico’s boys, remember, had finished at the bottom of the league in 2016 but 2017 heralded a new philosophy, a new style and a new era.

Next season, Goa will enter uncharted territory. Indian clubs have gone as far as the AFC Champions League playoffs but never managed to cross the hurdle. Group stage for such a high-profile league will be an entirely different experience, something even Indian clubs who have previously featured in Asian Club Championship can’t fathom.

Goa is now celebrating the top spot. But can you imagine the fall-out, if things had gone south?