Bagan bring back Prasanta as coach

KOLKATA: During their playing days at Mohun Bagan, Subrata Bhattacharya and Prasanta Banerjee hardly ever saw eye to eye. Their strained relationship quite often made the headlines. On Tuesday, almost two decades later, the legendary club decided to hand over the reins of the football team to the duo, hoping that the two superstars of yesteryear would be able to bring back the glory days.
Ending four days of uncertainty following Steve Darby's resignation, Bagan officials finally made up their mind after consulting their principal sponsors — the UB Group — and announced that Bhattacharya would be the team's new technical director while Banerjee will be the coach.For the record, Banerjee holds an AFC 'A' coaching license, while Bhattacharya doesn't. The duo are scheduled to take charge of the Bagan team on Wednesday, four days before they kick off their I-League campaign, against Pailan Arrows.
Banerjee, who was one of the three technical advisors appointed by Bagan to oversee the team's prepartions, was replaced by Pradip Chowdhury. Assistant coach Bernard Oparanozie and goalkeeping coach Hemanta Dora kept their jobs.
For all practical purposes, Bhattacharya will call the shots in the Bagan dugout. This will be the former defender's third stint in the Bagan hot seat. His first stint had ended in 2005 when he was replaced by veteran Amal Dutta when the team was struggling to beat relegation in the National Football League.
Announcing their appointment, club secretary Anjan Mitra said: "It's a happy ending and I hope both Subrata and Prasanta will revitalise the team."
Vasco drag AIFF to court
Panaji: Vasco Sports Club have filed a suit in a local court against the All India Football Federation and Shillong Lajong Football Club, seeking the latter's disqualification from the I-League which kicks off on Saturday. Vasco have prayed that the AIFF disqualify Lajong from the I-League for fielding an ineligible player in the Second Division I-League qualifiers and instead replace them with Vasco. Vasco have contended in the appeal that Lajong were found to have fielded an ineligible player Seikhohao Tuboi in the qualifiers, which Vasco lost 1-2, and they deserve to be awarded three points.