In big, bold letters on a chart paper, the word “Believe” was pasted on the wall between the changing room and the one where coaches chewed cud at AFC Richmond for most of the first three seasons of “Ted Lasso”.
Khalid Jamil is as different from the Kansan football coach of the eponymous series as loquacious is from reserved but connecting reel and real, fact and fiction, is the ability of both to get their teams to internalise the seven-letter word.
Like Lasso getting Richmond “unrelegated”, Jamil got Pronay Halder to slot in at centre-back and managed to get another season from 35-year-olds Javi Hernandez and Pratik Chaudhari, Ashutosh Mehta, who is 34 and returned to professional football after serving a two-year ban, and Albino Gomes who had to work his way back through I-League after injury. As he has got Reliance Foundation Young Champs product Mohammed Sanan who is 20.
Even before Thursday’s smash and grab, Jamil had shown that he has the nous and man management skill to belong at this level. You could even say there was a bit of Jamil in how Bengaluru FC choked FC Goa in the middle on Wednesday.
A rare thing
A head coach or manager from USA in the Premier League is as rare as an Indian helming a team in the Indian Super League (ISL). Bob Bradley lasted 11 games at Swansea City, Jesse Marsch 32 at Leeds United with David Wagner’s 62-game stint at Huddersfield Town the longest among those from across the pond, as per Transfermarkt.
The first Indian head coach in ISL, Jamil is in a club of one when it comes to making the ISL play-offs. He has done it twice. Jamil and Thangboi Singto were the only Indian head coaches at the start of ISL11. “Aap nazar mat lagana,” Jamil had said drily at the pre-season media day in Kolkata.
Kerala Blasters got TG Purushothaman, Mohammedan Sporting had Mehrajuddin Wadoo, and East Bengal Bino George to manage teams but only after foreign coaches had left or had been asked to leave. Hyderabad FC replaced Singto with Shameel Chembakath.
The support staff situation
One of the reasons why clubs would baulk at the idea of appointing Indian head coaches was their inability to get support staff. This was pointed out in 2022 in HT. But that was then. Jamil has assembled an all-Indian support staff at Jamshedpur FC and taken them to the semi-finals. Last year, I was speaking to Ishfaq Ahmed and the Real Kashmir coach told me he too is confident of assembling his own staff.
When I asked Mukul Choudhari, CEO Jamshedpur FC, about this in an interview where Jamil was also present, this is what I was told. “Now, there will be a lot of self-belief in many other teams and many other Indian support staff. So, this will open doors. While the intention was not that, the by-product is that.”
Which means now clubs can look at Indian coaches, especially the ones who have recently completed their AFC Pro Licence diplomas. India has 46 of them, 26 having earned badges in the last two years. Every time Jamil takes a team deep into ISL, he waves the flag for compatriots Steven Dais, Renedy Singh, Ahmed and Clifford Miranda. If more clubs trust Indian coaches, one of them may take charge of the national team someday. You can read more about Jamil here and here.
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