Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Just when it looked like Juan Ferrando steadied the ship, picking up seven points in the last three games, FC Goa were left in a shocker on Sunday morning when the Spaniard triggered his release clause to leave the club.
Things haven’t been really good for FC Goa lately. They have had a poor start to their campaign suffering three straight defeats and then had their training group damaged. And now they have been abandoned by their coach in the middle of the season.
Though there were a series of rumors making the rounds early Sunday morning, things got confirmed only during the later part of the day when FC Goa club president Akshay Tandon confirmed the news, “This has come as a surprise to us, Juan Ferrando informed us of his decision this morning. He left no room for a discussion or a negotiation,” Tandon tweeted.
According to reports, it is learnt that ATK MB have considered Juan Ferrando as a replacement for Antonio Habas as the coach and with the release clause being triggered, the club could do little to persuade to keep the Spaniard at the club.
“It is unfortunate that people involved in the deal chose to leak the information to the press even before the release clause was triggered. Members of our squad and staff had to find outabout these developments through twitter and the media,” Tandon added.
Tandon, however, wasn’t happy with how the whole episode transpired. “Poaching our coaches, staff and players is fair game but I hope better sense and sportsmanship prevails in the future. We would have at least liked the opportunity to inform our squad ourselves. To our fans, I’d like to say, ‘Do not worry’. This will in fact make us stronger,” the president explained.
FC Goa are now left without a coach and itis unlikely the team would rope or hire a new coach with more than a halfseason to go as Tandon dropped hints of promoting a coach from within. “It may not seem like that now. I’d like toask for your love and belief in your club. We are FC Goa. We have a championship squad and there is already a full strengthof coaches and staff to fill in the gaps in the short term,” he stated.
According to the sources, it was learnt that the club made a revised offer to the Spaniard but were alright with him leaving the club.
“The club made an offer, but we were okay with his decision,”stated the source. The source further added that assistant coach Clifford Miranda would take charge of the team for the reminder of the season.
