Not all seems well at the Mohun Bagan camp. Having overshot budgets this season in their quest to defend the National Football League title, the club management has run into a spot of bother. With claims that players have not received their dues making rounds at the Maidan, their performance this year is a clear indicator to this theory.Club secretary Anjan Mitra plays it safe by brushing aside the financial questions with a ‘‘It’s an open secret that we have some of the best in our line-up, which leads to expenditure’’.But axed coach Subroto Bhattacharya gives the clearer picture when The Indian Express caught up with him. ‘‘The players are not being paid,’’ says the man who played for 17 consecutive seasons with the club, and was their coach through NFL-winning runs in 2001 and 2002.Subroto, axed on the grounds of ‘‘anti-football activities’’, says ‘‘I have been victimised. There was no reason for me to ask the players not to play.’’ An angry Subroto asks, ‘‘Why would I want to do something like this, when things within the club are not fine.’’ For Mitra, Subroto’s sacking was necessary as it was not only an assault on the club but on football overall. ‘‘As a teacher things of this sort just cannot be tolerated,’’ Mitra said.The coach maintained that his expulsion was the handiwork of some officials at the club who did not like him. Subroto alleges that it was these ‘officials’ who were devising a way to remove him and it is these officials who ‘refused’ to sign payment cheques if he was not sacked. ‘‘Mitra needed the money and had no choice,’’ Subroto adds.Awarded the AFC Coach of the Month last year owing to Bagan’s NFL success, Subroto explained that if the club sacked him due to the poor performance of the team it would have been ‘acceptable’. ‘‘I am coach and fully responsible for that,’’ he asserted, adding, ‘‘this is not the right way for a professional set-up to deal with a professional’’. He, however, said that the club has the right to terminate the contract before its expiry date on April 28. ‘‘There is nothing in the contract that can force the secretary or the club to have to issue a showcause notice on me first,’’ he said.Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Mitra had interacted with a senior overseas player (read Jose Ramirez Barreto) and a senior outstation player (read Bhaichung Bhutia) who had informed him about the incident. However, Mitra refused to divulge names and added, ‘‘I would rather not get into that. They (players) were asked and they told us what they had to say,’’ Mitra said.Interestingly, Subroto, not aware of this, when asked why the players went against him, the 48-year-old said, ‘‘They have been promised an extension of their contracts next year.’’Another aspect that comes to light is the fact that Bagan recently were directed by the FIFA Player Status Committee to clear the dues of their Nigerian import Issa Musah Eroje. The apex body had asked the club to ‘‘not hold back payments or if so face a hefty fine.’’Subroto’s stint — his second — with Bagan started in 1999 (November 15) and in this three-and-a-half year stint, he helped the team win 12 titles, including two NFLs, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, Calcutta League and IFA Shield titles.Sobroto Bhattacharya thus becomes the third coach whose contract ended prematurely. Amal Dutta, in the past, was sacked for ‘conspiracy’ for ‘selling’ a match in the Rovers Cup, while Dronacharyya Awardee Syed Nayeemuddin was dropped for ‘non-performance’.
