Indian football team coach Houghton resigns

[Sachin=GOD]

NEW DELHI: Experienced Englishman Bob Houghton's tumultuous yet productive five-year stint as Indian football coach came to an end on Saturday in controversial circumstances after a bitter stand-off with the AIFF, which had charged him for racially abusing an Indian referee. Houghton, who has been facing an inquiry from a three-man AIFF panel on charges of racially abusing Indian referee Dinesh Nair in an international friendly against Yemen last year, on Saturday tendered his resignation, bringing an end to his eventful association with Indian football since June 2006. A release from the AIFF said that the racial abuse charges against Houghton has been dropped in the absence of evidence while the coach has decided to quit due to personal reasons. "The AIFF has perused the reply filed by Robert Douglas Houghton to the show cause notice dated 25.03.2011 issued to him. It has also conducted internal investigations through an inquiry committee and a report has been submitted to the AIFF. "Based on the report of the inquiry committee, the AIFF feels that in the absence of any definitive and concrete evidence the allegations against Houghton cannot be sustained and therefore the AIFF agrees to withdraw all charges and allegations made against him," the AIFF release said. "However, Houghton, for his personal reasons, does not wish to continue working in India and in his position as the Head Coach of the Indian Football Team. Houghton has therefore tendered his resignation. His resignation is accepted by the AIFF. The parties have mutually agreed to terminate the employment contract of Houghton," it added. The AIFF did not say anything about the compensation to be given to Houghton whose contract was to run till 2013. For the past few days after Houghton submitted a written reply to the AIFF panel on April 11, there had been reports of negotiations going on between Houghton and the federation to settle the issue. Houghton had in his reply to the show cause on March 23 had denied the racial abuse charges levelled against him, terming them as "baseless". But apparently, the initiative for a negotiated settlement had come from Houghton's side as he did not want his reputation to be sullied. Sources said the AIFF agreed to drop the racial abuse charges if Houghton quits immediately, which he did on Saturday.

Link Really sad state of affairs in Indian football - Houghton had done a good job over the past few years but now even he has been forced out

[aditya_reds]

SAD to say the least... he has been a revelation for indian football...

[cricketlover]

so the guy who takes you to asia cup is hounded to leave

[Silva]

Not sure if this is true but aparantly he made alot of enemies. http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2696/indian-national-team/2011/04/29/2462473/comment-top-five-controversies-involving-bob-houghton-during-his- Once the national team started having expensive foreign trips, many Indian coaches complained of the fact that they did not get such privilege during their playing days and in case of previous Indian national team coaches, the complains were even more. When Houghton failed to win the SAFF Cup in 2008 many Indian coaches called for his sack. Dronacharya Award winner Syed Nayeemuddin, whom Bob Houghton succeeded, was one of his chief critics. The former Indian international was quoted saying, “Bob Houghton is getting all facilities like having exposure trips to Portugal, Dubai, hosting foreign teams like Chinese Taipei for preparation but after getting all such facilities the Indian team is performing miserably.†Does this guy expect them to become world beaters over night? Bob Houghton had voiced his support for the captain of his side, “I was astonished to see the commitment and dedication of our Indian team captain questioned. I have coached international players of more than 30 countries and I have never found a more committed and dedicated player. “To comment on our club is beyond his jurisdiction as he is a paid coach. To interfere in our matters is none of his business. If he doesn’t apologize, we shall think whether to allow our players to train under him in the national camp.†lol praise a teams captain and one of indias top clubs threaten to not allow players to train with the national team? Last season ahead of a Kolkata League match between East Bengal and Chirag United, the red and gold brigade had informed the IFA that they will not be in a position to play the match due to unavailability of players because of injuries. East Bengal had requested the IFA to postpone the match till the players from national camp return. IFA General Secretary Mr. Utpal Kumar Ganguly had spoken to Bob Houghton about the release of players from the national camp on 11th of December(2009) instead of the original date of 13th December(2009). It was learnt from Mr. Ganguly that Houghton got infuriated over this proposal and slammed Mr. Ganguly saying that he is not adept to head a football organization. Houghton also maintained that it was against his principles to release the players. Mr. Utpal Kumar Ganguly reacted strongly to this matter writing an open letter to AIFF President Praful Patel seeking immediate and strong action against the British Coach. Lol. Bob Houghton was never shy of having a go at the lack of infrastructure in Indian football throughout his tenure. This was something never welcomed by the AIFF of course and eventually resulted in his unceremonious exit as India coach. Back in 2009, Houghton said, "After three years of being here, I don't think the game has moved forward very quickly. We don't see the whole picture, not just the AIFF but the general footballing body, about the standard we need to achieve.†Earlier that same year, former Sports Minister MS Gill had criticized the Indian national team stating that an Australian school team could beat the current set of players. "I remember the Sports Minister saying this Indian team would lose even to an Australian school team. I don’t know what prompted him to say that but I feel, instead of being cynical he should have asked himself why the facilities aren’t there." We still see many I-League clubs failing to meet the AFC criteria and Houghton pointed that lack of professionalism several times during his spell. Houghton said, “We also need to look at the quality of the I-League. I don’t think any of the I-League clubs follow the criteria needed for a professional league. Most teams don’t have doctors, trainers, assistant coaches, physios, goalkeeping coaches and, most importantly, a training ground." Looks like he made a lot of powerful enemies just by defending his players and stating ovious facts about Indias lack of infrastructure. I think this whole saga shows why Indian football is in the state its in.

[hari504504]

Hope BCCI gets a generous chief who can coerce the board to donating a part of their earnings annually to other sporting bodies - Football, weight lifting,shooting etc . It is common knwledge that all other sports in India are suffering ONLY due to Cricket's pervasiveness. I've read earlier of an instance when BCCI did donate money to another board in India , but that was a one-off I think

[Sachin=GOD]

Hope BCCI gets a generous chief who can coerce the board to donating a part of their earnings annually to other sporting bodies - Football, weight lifting,shooting etc . It is common knwledge that all other sports in India are suffering ONLY due to Cricket's pervasiveness. I've read earlier of an instance when BCCI did donate money to another board in India , but that was a one-off I think

I think they gave some money to the Indian Football Federation but were p!ssed off at how badly the money was used so decided not to give any in the future.

[hari504504]

I think they gave some money to the Indian Football Federation but were p!ssed off at how badly the money was used so decided not to give any in the future.

Maybe they should do it the way world bank does for reconstruction projects - don't pay in cash - but only against certified contractor bills. we need a bunch of good stadiums and support facilities in a hurry before any decent coach would take charge of the team.

[punjabi_khota]

A big setback to our football WC plans :hitler: :omg: :((

[cricketpredict]

does anyone still watche Football.. ?

[hari504504]

does anyone still watche Football.. ?

wayyyy more than cricket. Except that it is not Indian football.. European FTW :two_thumbs_up:

[hari504504]

A big setback to our football WC plans :hitler: :omg: :((

what plans ?:hysterical: I don't think we will host a football WC in my lifetime and our only chance of qualifying is a world war like the previous time..

[Sachin=GOD]

Dutch legend keen to coach India Former Holland skipper Rudi Krol has shown interest in coaching the Indian football team. The post is vacant since Bob Houghton's departure. Krol, who led the Netherlands to the final of the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, is one of the several coaches who have applied for the chief coach's post, according to All India Football Federation (AIFF) sources. "Rudi Krol has applied for the chief coach's post," a top source said. The 62-year-old Krol played a key role in leading his team to the finals of two World Cups but was unfortunate to be on the losing side on both the occasions, first to Germany and later to Argentina. The former Ajax and Napoli player represented the Netherlands on 83 occasions between 1969 and 1983 and in 1979 finished third in the European Footballer of the Year list behind Kevin Keegan of England and Germany's Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Earlier, there was speculation that former Germany coach Rudi Voeller had applied for the post but the AIFF dismissed the reports. http://www.espnstar.com/football/other-football/news/detail/item618044/Dutch-legend-keen-to-coach-India/

[Silva]

I've also read an article that said they where looking for a spanish or latin american to move away from the English Long ball/physical style of play. Rudi Krol is probably a front runner in that regard. Haughton was a very succeful coach but that long ball game isn't going to do India well in the future.