Bob opts for Bulpin

NEW DELHI, MAY 20
India coach Bob Houghton has recommended experienced Englishman and current Philippines national side manager Desmond Bulpin to guide the AIFF Under-19 team to be fielded in the I-League next season.
The All India Football Federation will take a call on Houghton’s recommendation of Bulpin in its executive committee meeting next month, president Praful Patel said today.
“Houghton has recommended Desmond Bulpin’s name as coach for the AIFF team for next I-League. But it does not mean that he will be made coach. We will take up the matter in our meeting next month,” Patel told PTI.
Bulpin, who has a one-year contract with the Philippines National team till November, was former manager of English Championship side Queens Park Rangers and youth team coach at EPL side Tottenham Hotspur where he discovered England international strikers like Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe.
Meanwhile, the AIFF conducted a seminar on Transfer Matching System (TMS) for the I-League clubs which will be put to effect starting June 1 when the transfer window opens in India.
The new system will be used for all the transfers relating to international players and every club which needs to avail the services of any foreign player has to process it using the TMS.
Interestingly, TMS applies only to professional players and according to the AIFF, any player who receives more than Rs. 4,999 per month is considered as professional.
For the clubs that would qualify for next season’s I-League, the AIFF does plan to hold the educational seminar again.
But the question of the hour is that there are several clubs across the nation who rope in foreign players receiving more than the desired amount to be considered professional player.
 Meanwhile, with the I-League set to come to a close on May 28, one does not know when the season curtain closer or the Super Cup game could possibly be held.
Super Cup is played between the winners of the I-League and the Federation Cup much like what forms the Community Shield game, which is a curtain raiser before the season begins in England.
It is learnt that Dempo coach Armando Colaco in a letter to AIFF mentioned that the match be not held this season and that the money spent on it could be utilized in the form of youth development which is the need of the hour. The Super Cup has been a sponsored match.
In response to the letter by Dempo, the AIFF mentioned that the Super Cup was a sponsored match and that since the apex body for football in India doesn’t interfere with the budgets of the clubs, it is best if the clubs don’t poke their noses into the financials of the AIFF, stated Goal.Com.