Why would you need a president & secretary to run a football club?

Mohun Bagan once epitomised tradition, fair play, dignity and virtues, but today those are missing from their iconic status as one of the leading Indian football clubs.

It can be recalled that in the 1970s when a few footballers refused to take part in a tournament, the then club secretary Dhiren Dey declared that Bagan would field its groundsmen.

That was the spirit and values the club stood for, but that seems to have vanished.

The factional politics has done more harm to its image in recent months just like it did in 2004-05.

This time the club’s Executive Committee has resigned en masse to protest against Anjan Mitra and his inefficiency. The club has lost McDowell as its sponsor, and what stands today is all about misery and false ego.

There’s no need to crib and cry over its doomed fate as Bagan and the other two – East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting – has seldom understood the importance of professionalism.
If a tournament like ISL has spread its wings, it’s because these clubs have boosted their confidence by being inactive and less ambitious.

Prashanto Banerjee, one of India's finest midfielders and who led Bagan in 1988, once told me that the difference between East Bengal and Bagan is that politics is less significant in the former club.

A player like Subroto Bhattacharya who played only for Bagan during his 17 year career, knows more about the club's politics than most people. Having coached Bagan to two National League titles and couple of other major trophies, he doesn't mince his words when it comes to politics in Bagan.

It’s not about who is right or wrong here, but there has to be an integrity and accountability when you run an institution like Bagan.

The club, like East Bengal and Mohammedan, is still not a private entity. We don’t have to compare European clubs with ours because that would be a chalk and cheese difference.

Just watch how Bengaluru FC became one of the top sides in the country. This southern club should be one of the best examples of a professional modern club.

We really don’t understand why would you need a president or secretary and cronies to run the club or you’ve to be north Calcuttan or East Bengalis or Bihari Muslims to link your identity with the respective clubs?

Bagan that once united a race to fight against foreign rule, has now been reduced to a society of people with blinkered vision and overriding political ambitions.
http://footballwallah.blogspot.qa