Kolkata giants SC East Bengal are currently in a big tussle with their investors Shree Cements over the transfer of sporting rights of the club. Therefore in this tussle, if they pull out from the upcoming Calcutta Football League, then they will be slapped with a relegation announced by the Indian Football Association (IFA).
There is no clarity regarding the club’s participation in the 14 team tournament, which is set to resume this year from the third week of August after last year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. So IFA secretary Joydeep Mukherjee has said that following the rule book the Red and Gold brigade will be relegated if they don’t turn up for the tournament.
“We want football to resume, many players, officials are affected (by the pandemic). We don’t want to deprive any club and for one club CFL won’t stop,” Mukherjee told reporters after a meeting with club representatives where SCEB did not join, citing “personal inconvenience”.
The Red and Gold have been given a seven day notice to clear all their confusions and inform about their stance to the IFA.
“Initially, we had decided to stop relegation but if competitions happen in all divisions, then there will be a relegation and the team which pulls out will be relegated to the lower division. It will be a big blow and there are chances that SCEB will face relegation.”
“They (SCEB) have not yet specified that they’re not playing. We have mailed the fixture details to all the clubs including SCEB. We have also spoken to the club’s (executive) official Nitu Sarkar in personal capacity and he said they have no issues,” Mukherjee said.
The ongoing issue between the team management and the investors have hampered their team building as one by one all their players are leaving the club and joining different ISL teams. Their star foreign player Bright Enobakhare has also left the club and joined Coventry City.
Joydeep Mukherjee wants East Bengal’s participation in the CFL and hence he has offered to listen to them and sort out the difference ahead of a new season. “For the interest of Bengal football, we want all the clubs to play. From our side, there will be no problem, IFA is ready to negotiate but they must come to us,” he concluded.
