India's affair with Houghton ends

PANAJI: Knee-jerk reactions have always been big in Indian football. This one though seems to have been long time coming.
Since, quite expectedly, losing by big margins in the Asian Cup 2011 in Doha last month, there have been calls from several quarters to sack chief coach Bob Houghton. The chief coach was given a free reign, exposure tours, international friendlies and an overlay of Rs 16 crore, but when the team conceded 13 goals in three league games, the coach's fate seemed to have been sealed.
True to form, when the executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) met on Wednesday in New Delhi, they lost little time in signalling the end of Houghton's reign that lasted over four years."Houghton must go. We have decided to start afresh and it's time for a new face to take over," said a senior AIFF executive committee member.
Officially, though, the AIFF was unwilling to confirm that Houghton is on his last leg as that would mean paying him at least Rs 3 crore in compensation, thanks to a lucrative contract that enables him to draw a monthly salary of $30,000 (approx Rs 13.5 lakh) till the end of his contract in 2013.
"The executive committee expressed concern over the performance (at the Asian Cup) and also expressed its unhappiness regarding the conduct and derogatory remarks made by the coach. The committee has unanimously decided to seek legal opinion regarding its course of action," the AIFF said in a statement. The AIFF, not surprisingly, did not elaborate on the "legal opinion" but sources said referee Dinesh Nair's complaint about racial abuse from the coach during an international friendly in Pune could be the additional ammunition used to fire Houghton.
Till now, the AIFF had been silent on the racial abuse but those four words - you bas**** Indian referees - crucially confirmed by manager Pradeep Chowdhury, could come to haunt Houghton and provide the AIFF with that extra leverage to reduce Houghton's severance pay.
Those in the know said next month's AFC Challenge Cup in Kuala Lumpur will be Houghton's last assignment, by the end of which he would have completed five years in office. Incidentally, Houghton remains the longest serving and most successful foreign coach in India.
While Houghton will always be remembered for winning three international tournaments with India (two Nehru Cups and AFC Challenge Cup), his away record - excluding, of course, friendlies against third division teams - remains dismal. And it was this away record that ultimately led to his downfall.
Nobody gave India a chance of winning anything more than a point, if at all, at the Asian Cup 2011 in Doha, but it was India's performance in the preparatory friendlies that started the clamour for Houghton's head. A 0-2 defeat against Iraq followed thrashings by Kuwait (9-1) and UAE (5-0) that even a team currently ranked 145 in the world found demeaning.