PTI, KOLKATA: Former captain Baichung Bhutia Thursday said stakeholders of Indian football need to “drop their egos” and make a few sacrifices while deciding the structure of the country’s domestic league, which remains an unresolved matter due to lack of consensus.
Bhutia said the need is to set pride aside. “I think the biggest challenge right now is to keep the egos down. It has to be give and take. Everything can’t be the way you want. It has to be a bit of sacrifice for all the parties (I-League, ISL and AIFF), keeping your egos down, looking at the betterment of Indian football,” Bhutia said at the Football Players Association of India’s new building.
“Everybody right now is looking at their own clubs to survive, their own league to do well… Yes, there are different challenges in I-League and there are also pluses and minuses in it. We have got a same thing for the Federation and ISL as well.”
“The structure of Indian football, sooner it gets settled, the better. Till the time you don’t get your structure this is going to go on happening. Federation’s biggest challenge with ISL and I-League is to get the structure right.”
“Today if you play a Spanish League and if you do not play Barcelona or Real Madrid then the charm of the league no more exits. By bringing them into the top league will only add to the passion and the competition will be much better. I’m sure one day they will get in.
“ISL will definitely benefit with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan coming in. These clubs have a lot of history, they bring in fans to the stadium. The I-League name can be changed. What we need right now is a top league with the big clubs of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and the ISL teams. They need to be more professional,” he added.
