Mayukh on Junos, getting into managerial circle and the second chance!

Mayukh Chatterjee, who has been recently appointed as Head Coach of FIIOB Junos, has been with Junos team for almost 4 years now. He has been one of the main man behind the most successful 2018 batch.

While working from home in this lockdown period, he is also planning for the new batch of 2020.

"As soon as we go back to the ground, we will have a trial. Anyone interested can register for trial in our website", he said. What followed is free flow of emotions - more than an interview.

How did you get interest in managing teams?

I'm a throughout football fanatic person. Since childhood I do try to connect myself with football anyhow. I played for my school & college team and same for local area team, that we typically term as 'Parar team'. After 12th board exam, I met with an accident and my ligament got torn while playing football in my locality. It was a partial tear. What more tragic was, due to wrong treatment for 3 long years, my ligament got completely torn and doctor had given me strict instructions not to play football further. I was completely disappointed but did not give up on the game. So I decided to be a manager.

I wanted to be a manager since I started playing FIFA 08. It was not a sudden decision. Yes, I had a dream to be a manager but obviously not at the age of 24.

I used to watch football matches in a regular way. Whenever a team lost, I always used to think that why the team has lost, what could have been the reason behind it. If I was the manager, what I should have done in those conditions. So this kind of thought processing I had from the very beginning. I started to manage a team in 2015 and that was our own Real Madrid Fan club team, Los Merengues Kolkata. Once I started, I was not sure that I can carry on this role or not, but I enjoyed the tasks. Like I had to read the match and do the substitution properly, have to set the formation, then need to find the proper player for that proper formation, then for any sudden accidental situation how should I behave or think etc. all these things gave me a such excitement. So I grew interest more.

And then end up joining FIIOB Junos?

LMK, as a team, never got that much recognition like the players got there individually. Yes, I've to admit that they are really really talented individuals. At the end of 2016, few players told me that they want to move to some different teams. I had tried to convince them to stay, because it's a brand new team and if we do not stay together. we'll not get the success. Success does not come up so easily but they were quite adamant to leave. We were not at all a financially backed team, so I didn't have any option further.

Might be they were somehow right. because from their point of view, LMK needed more time to establish and they wanted to win more trophies and matches. So I decided to move on with my rest of the players. A year later suddenly the other players were also saying the same that they want to move to some different different teams. I was so disappointed, because the team had started to win matches gradually and suddenly they wanted to move on. Again I tried to convince them and again, I failed. In that point of time I had few players but still we were unable to participate in any tournaments because they were not ready enough and we were lacking in quality. After trying so much I was like, "No, my dream will end here and I can't move forward".

During the LMK period, I used to chat sometimes with Rajjo da (Rajarshi Bhattacharya) who still handles all the teams here. He was a constant motivation to me. He encouraged always that don't worry! you can start again, don't loose hopes etc.

Now this was quite funny! One day Jonty (Ayan Chatterjee, who used to play for FIIOB then) told me that he wanted to send a trophy's picture to Rajjo da and he didn't have the charge in his phone, so if I can share behalf of him. I have a very good relationship with Jonty. He used to play in LMK before and then he was a FIIOB player. I sent it. Then we had a little formal chat and suddenly after that, I sent another text to Rajjo da that if there is any vacancy at team management, please let me know. I still don't know why I sent the text but it actually gave me the real opportunity in my life. That period might be the longest period where I was completely detached with football.

After few days I got a text from Rajjo da, that if I'm interested to manage FIIOB Junos. I was so excited and surprised as well, because FIIOB was on of the best team in amateur circuit at that time and I got a chance to manage FIIOB Junos being a failure in my eyes. It's, till date, one of the memorable moments of my life definitely. Rajjo da told me to come to Maidan on a particular date and once I was briefed there the rules & regulations, principles of the team, how do they work, it gave me goosebumps. I wanted to do all this as a manager with my team and I failed to do that. Now I got another chance. I told myself that I might be a failure with LMK but I'll not let anyone down here, because my dream has got a second chance and I can not afford to lose this.

Talking about team rules and principles, how do you work on these youngsters at Junos?

FIIOB Junos project is quite interesting. All the youngsters are under 19 years of age and that's the best opportunity for me that I can start from the youth level. It's quite challenging too. Because I have to guide them to the right track. If they do something wrong, it would be completely my responsibility whether I taught it correctly or not.

So usually I behave friendly my players. I believe if I always sound like a coach or a strict manager, they might not come with their problems they are facing. So for each and every year, with new new batches, I've tried to communicate maximum, I've tried to make fun with them, on and off the field. Once these youngsters are comfortable with me, it's always easy to work with them. I follow few more things in practice, which I believe are important that are discipline, enthusiasm and sportsmanship spirit. I live in Barasat and we conduct our practice session in Jadavpur University Ground, at 8:30 AM. So now If I reach late just because the practice ground is too far from my home, may be it makes sense but on the other side any player can follow that. So I always try to be in the ground on time. This is the discipline I want to make them understand that whether it's a match, tournament or practice session, you should be there on time. So that you can take rest, kit up properly and then can hit the ground with full energy. I'm very strict with their kits also. If you are not dressed like a player, you are not entering the ground.

In practice session I follow various drills like stamina drills, agility drills, passing drills etc. for at least 1-1:30 hour and then we have match practices like senior team vs junior team or 6V6 match among the Junos only. Someday we do some very hard practice sessions with drills, match situations, understanding the formations, players attributes etc. We do play several fun games with football to give them more interest. I believe nobody should feel the monotony of the practice sessions. So if they could find that from here, then they will come every single day.

I want my players to adapt the toughness in their attitude, because football is never a gentleman's game. So if you are a good dribbler or a striker and if your opponent is not able to stop you fairly, then they may hit you badly. So I've tried to make my lads so tough that they can overcome the same without getting affected. I always tell them, "If someone hits you, don't loose your focus. We are here to win, not to fight. At the end, if we can win the match or even the tournament, nothing else matters."

To be continued....

(1/2)