Mumbai City FC’s head coach Des Buckingham stated it was very special to lift the trophy with the fans. The Englishman led the Islanders to Hero League Shield trophy after the club remained unbeaten in the first 18 matches of the season.
Mumbai City confirmed their top spot with a 5-3 win against FC Goa in an away game and then celebrated with their home crowd while playing in their last league stage match in Mumbai.
Mumbai clinched the trophy after winning 14 out of their 20 matches in the league stage and bagged a total of 46 points, the highest ever in the history of the ISL.
“Trophies can define success in some ways,” Buckingham stated in an interaction with BBC South Today.
“But we scored more goals and amassed more points than anyone has ever done in the league before. It is the way that we went about the win and the records that were broken along the way that means the most to me,” he added.
In fact, Mumbai had also won the League Shield in the 2020-21 season after 12 wins in 20 matches with a total of 40 points but they could not celebrate that win with the fans because of Covid-19.
“We won the league at an away game in Goa so we didn’t get a chance to celebrate with our supporters until the final game of the season at home. The last time we won it was during Covid, so there was no one in the stadium. To be able to share the title moment with the fans this time was very special,” said the MCFC head coach.
Meanwhile, Buckingham played for youth and reserve teams of English clubs Reading and Oxford United as a goalkeeper but then decided to take up the coaching role.
“As an 18-year-old coaching was never something I looked at as a profession. At the time the reality is there weren’t all the opportunities around that you have today. But I was fortunate that I had people like Les Taylor [former player and academy coach] and Micky Lewis [former player and manager] at Oxford United who got me very interested in what coaching could be and what it could look like,” Buckingham shared.
Buckingham will look to continue the good show for Mumbai City FC. The Islanders’ journey in ISL 2022-23 season ended when they lost to Bengaluru FC in the semifinals on penalties.
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