Not fallen giants anymore: Why there’s more to Mohun Bagan’s I-League triumph than just a trophy

There’s no doubting Mohun Bagan’s glorious history and heritage in Indian football. But their future, in recent times, had been shrouded with uncertainty.

Relegation to the second tier of Indian football in 2019 after the Indian Super League was given the status of India’s premier football competition, perhaps marked the lowest point in Bagan’s 130-year existence.

Not so long ago, a top division of Indian football without Mohun Bagan was unfathomable, but the club’s falling stock that saw them win just three national league titles since the turn of the century, and the entry of glitzy and cash-rich ISL franchises in the Indian football landscape, left room for doubters who questioned the place of country’s oldest club in the topmost tier.

Mismanagement within the club didn’t help as newcomers Bengaluru FC, Aizawl, Minerva Punjab and Chennai City FC all stole the march over them in the I-League at various points in the last decade. As Mohun Bagan lost their grip on Indian football’s summit, something had to give in the Green and Maroon half of Kolkata.

Getting organised: The teams behind the team

Mohun Bagan saw a new committee elected after an election in 2018. The new members straightaway got going in devising an action plan for the next campaign.

“There was a lot of disturbance in our club in the last 2-3 years,” Mohun Bagan General Secretary Debashish Dutta told Scroll.in.

“After the election, we did a thorough and honest assessment of the problems. We lacked organisation at all levels and that was the first thing we corrected, taking each step after a lot of planning in a very organised manner,” he added.

Bagan turned to a foreign coach for the first time in five years. It was a bold move at the time as the club had never won the national league title under an overseas boss with all their triumphs coming with Indian coaches at the helm.

Spain’s Kibu Vicuna was appointed and unlike his predecessors, was given a strong support staff.

“The support staff had a good mix of Indian and foreign coaches,” Jose Ramirez Barreto, Mohun Bagan’s legendary striker who was at the club as a guest coach at the start of the season told Scroll.in.

He added: “The work done by this team was one of the most important factors behind the team’s success. I’d say it was a team behind the team.”

Tomasz Tchorz of Poland was brought in as an assistant along with Ranjan Chowdhury. Dipankar Chowdhury was the goalkeeping coach and Lithuanian Paulius Ragauskas joined as a physical trainer and sports therapist. The support staff helped the Spaniard find his feet in Indian football and allowed him to take charge of the training immediately.

“The coach was very strict with the players’ body weights,” Baretto said.

“He made sure everyone was following the support staff’s instructions and monitored each player. There was a lot of discipline in the team right from the outset,” he further added.

Planned pre-season and astute recruitment

Bagan were quick to identify their targets and managed to sign them nice and early.

The Spanish duo of Fran Gonzalez and Joseba Beitia recruited in July were the two players that Vicuna planned to build a team around. As things panned out, it was an inspired choice.

“Beitia has been one of the most important players for Bagan. He lends them a balance that the previous teams never had. He made Vicuna’s system tick,” Baretto said.

The Brazilian who won two NFL titles with Mohun Bagan was also impressed with Gonzalez’s contribution in front of the goal, but his one quality stood out according to the 43-year-old.

“Gonzalez brought a winning mentality to the team,” Barreto said.

“He was very serious about what they wanted to achieve from the very first day and that showed in every training. I think that rubbed onto the other players. In the end, I think it’s this kind of mentality that helped them go on a big unbeaten streak,” he added.

Having done the recruitment of players early, Mohun Bagan managed to ease them in during a well-planned pre-season that lasted for five months.

“We played 25 matches in pre-season. Our focus at the time was only on preparation for the I-League. Results in those competitions were not that important,” Dutta said.

The Mariners played the Durand Cup, Calcutta Premier League and Sheikh Jamal Cup in Bangladesh but failed to win either of these tournaments.

There was no panic in the Bagan camp though as they understood and believed in Vicuna’s process, moving away from their tendency to fire coaches when a few results didn’t go their way.

The response after the setbacks

Mohun Bagan who were still adapting to the new coach didn’t have the best of starts to the I-League season. They drew their opening game against Aizawl before being soundly beaten by Churchill Brothers at home.

However, just when it all seemed to be falling apart for Mohun Bagan again, they clicked into gear. The Mariners went on an unbeaten run that currently stands at 14 games to win the title with four games to spare equalling Dempo’s record of 2009-09 season.

The reward for the patience shown by the team management was not just in terms of the results but also the manner in which they were achieved. The Mariners played a highly technical and attractive brand of football, scoring 35 goals in 16 matches in the process, averaging over two goals per game.

Their 23-pass goal in the 3-0 win over Churchill Brothers best described their football under Vicuna.

“The coach’s tactics and especially his training methods were a breath of fresh air. The players bought into it immediately and it made Bagan stand out,” Barreto said.

The big merger and its impact

Apart from on-pitch success, Mohun Bagan made a significant statement off it during the season when they announced their merger with ISL side ATK, a move that’s set to facilitate the club’s return to the top tier of Indian football next season.

However, with ATK set to own 80% of the stake in Mohun Bagan according to the merger agreement, the futures of the coach, staff and the players were put in doubt.

But instead of disturbing their focus, the merger seemed to have had a reverse effect on them. Mohun Bagan went on a seven-game winning run after the announcement that started with the win in the Kolkata derby. That streak largely laid the foundations for their triumph.

“The players took it [merger] very positively. They played for their places for next season whether it was here or somewhere else. In the end, it hugely helped the team. Now ATK may be forced to look at some of them,” Barreto said.

The perfect goodbye

I-League has been a competition where Mohun Bagan have flattered to deceive more often than not, but they bid goodbye to it after finally living up to their billing and producing a team that has left everyone else in its wake. They’ve left little room for doubters who raised questions over their credibility to play in India’s topmost tier, not just by winning the I-League but also with the level of their football.

With the merger on the horizon, uncertainty still surrounds the Mariners, but with its new-found, upgraded avatar, the club seems well-placed to return to Indian football’s summit.

Fallen giants of Indian football? Maybe not anymore.