Indian football is taking a different turn with a longer season as more tournaments are getting organized in the calendar from the upcoming season. The proposal of a longer season has received massive plaudits from fans and experts. Similarly former Chennaiyin FC head coach and Indian Super League champion John Gregory has also supported this welcome change.
He feels that a longer season of nine months will help the players, coaches and even administrators to manage the football calendar in a better way. He feels that players will get more time to recover and hence will put their best foot forward on the field. Similarly for the coaches, if they get more time they get to know their players better and also implement the style of football they want to play by doing several training sessions and practice matches.
“For coaches, players, and club administrators having the season stretched out over nine months is a much better format. It will be tremendously exciting for everyone to be involved in a long-term project. As a coach or player, I would be incredibly excited about playing the season spread across nine months. It will give you good recovery time after each game and with that should come better performances from your players and obviously more time for coaches to implement their ideas and philosophies on the training pitches,” said John Gregory who won the ISL title back in 2018.
John Gregory spent two seasons at Chennaiyin FC where he guided them to the title once. The Englishman has since then seen the growth of the game in the country. “The season now will be more in line with the type of season that certainly Europe experiences. I don’t doubt the future of football in India. I’ve seen it myself since 2017 grow and grow. The game has captured the imagination of the people incredibly well, particularly since the ISL was introduced and world-class players have come to the country and paraded their talents. The season expanding to nine months is a bold step,”Gregory added.
Apart from the ISL and I-League, the football calendar will also have the Durand Cup and will end with the Super Cup. There are rumours that the ISL may opt for a weekend centric schedule allowing players more recovery time and fans to witness their favoruite players from the stands.
Lastly the Englishman shared how a longer season means more chances to the younger players. He pointed out how former Jamshedpur FC head coach Owen Coyle unearthed some of the unknown talents as they won the league phase last year. He feels that there are many young talents in India who are waiting for their opportunity and a longer season puts them in good stead.
