Delhi Dynamos director Rohan Sharma said that he would not be judging the team’s new coach, Miguel Angel Portugal, simply on the basis of results.
“I’ve been here 12 games now and I find it hard to understand. Is the purpose of developing players, develop interest, or to find the best team?” Steve Coppell, the erstwhile manager of Kerala Blasters had said in 2016. The Indian Super League has expanded its number of teams in the intervening period and will be played over a duration of five months instead of the jam-packed two-month schedule that existed until last year. Whether it translates into more stability on a managerial level for the franchisees is something that remains to be seen.
Delhi Dynamos director Rohan Sharma, though, said that he would not be judging the team’s new coach, Miguel Angel Portugal, simply on the basis of results in the league but also on how far the Spaniard is able to go in terms of developing a squad. Portugal has been signed on a one year contract by the Dynamos but Sharma said that it is “definitely a long term signing.” “I think coach Portugal is a developer. I needed some one who has experience developing because I’m trying to focus on getting a lot of good young Indian players this year. I’d like to get more Indian players and make them into stars,” said Sharma on the sidelines of Portugal’s unveiling as the team’s new head coach.
Sharma said that the franchise wants to get the focus away from the international stars, bring more Indian players and develop a squad for the future. “International players are good but this is an Indian club, right? It should be the Indian players making the Indian club look good,” he said.
The Spaniard has coached Real Madrid’s B and C teams and also led Spanish minnows Racing Santander to a 10th place finish in 2006. When asked if he will be judged only on the basis of the results that the team bring under him during the league season or the way the squad develops and the kind of football they play, Sharma said that it will be “a little bit of both.” “I don’t see it as one year, then we break up and get a new coach. I don’t believe that” he added.
It has been confirmed that India will be represented in the AFC Champions League by an I-League club if one qualifies and ISL teams would be able to participate only in the AFC Cup. But Sharma already has lofty ambitions for the team. “I don’t want to just win (the league), I want to go for the future,” he said, “I like to win the ISL but my goal is the AFC Champions League. That to me is the goal.”
