Baichung Bhutia now wears coach's hat
KOLKATA: Baichung Bhutia has worn many hats on and off the football pitch. On Tuesday, he also added to the coach's hat to his collection. With his team United Sikkim FC still smarting from the 1-10 defeat at the hands of United SC in their I-League match last Saturday, Baichung - both a player and co-owner of the team - got into the act, restructuring the team management by elevating himself as player-cum-coach and giving coach Philippe de Ridder the role of football director.
"I'll be coaching the team on a temporary basis till we get a suitable candidate. It's a challenge and, at the same time, a risk," he said ahead of his team's practice session at the East Bengal club on Tuesday. "It's not new for a player to be coach of the team as well. It's happened in Europe, with Ruud Gullit.
"Sometimes things just happen and situations call for a different reaction and different perspective. As a team, we are going through a difficult phase. So I have stepped up to take it as a challenge," he added.
Baichung will make his debut as coach this Sunday when United Sikkim face Sporting Clube in Margao. He, however, believes that the team will bounce back from their heaviest defeat. "The 1-10 result is not normal. And it may influence a team in two ways. It will either destroy you completely or motivate you for a revival. I believe I'm professional enough to understand the situation and turn things around," he reasoned.
He has been there and done that as a player, but as coach he's aware of "this huge challenge" of shepherding the team out of a crisis. Baichung - who claimed to have gone through a brief coaching lesson during his stint with Bury FC in England a decade ago - ruled out coaching as an immediate career option.
"I'll be coaching the team on a temporary basis till we get a suitable candidate. It's a challenge and, at the same time, a risk," he said ahead of his team's practice session at the East Bengal club on Tuesday. "It's not new for a player to be coach of the team as well. It's happened in Europe, with Ruud Gullit.
"Sometimes things just happen and situations call for a different reaction and different perspective. As a team, we are going through a difficult phase. So I have stepped up to take it as a challenge," he added.
Baichung will make his debut as coach this Sunday when United Sikkim face Sporting Clube in Margao. He, however, believes that the team will bounce back from their heaviest defeat. "The 1-10 result is not normal. And it may influence a team in two ways. It will either destroy you completely or motivate you for a revival. I believe I'm professional enough to understand the situation and turn things around," he reasoned.
He has been there and done that as a player, but as coach he's aware of "this huge challenge" of shepherding the team out of a crisis. Baichung - who claimed to have gone through a brief coaching lesson during his stint with Bury FC in England a decade ago - ruled out coaching as an immediate career option.
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