FC Goa budget is reduced but not ambition, confident of what we have built: Ravi Puskur | Goa News
In one of your previous interactions, you said FC Goa were keen on retaining Brison Fernandes, Ayush Chhetri and Hrithik Tiwari, all of whom are comparatively young and had consistent performances. Two of them have joined Chennaiyin FC and Hrithik remains doubtful. Is that a setback to team building?Without a doubt, we were interested in retaining the players. They knew that too. We made offers, but the way the market is, we unfortunately don’t have the means and resources to compete with the best bid they received. Both players had expressed their interest in continuing with us. We negotiated, but we were unable to reach the expectations they had in terms of the financial value.If the players were key and valuable, why not spend a little more and retain them?The difference may not have been huge, but in the current market, the difference was still sufficient for us to be maxed out. To be very honest, we are not working on the same budgets that we did historically. In the current ecosystem, if someone goes out and spends mindlessly, I think they are being a little tone deaf. We have seen what has transpired in Indian football (with Jamshedpur FC pulling out of ISL). We don’t want to create a system where owners, at the strike of a button, are able to make decisions which can be quite drastic in terms of changing livelihoods altogether. We want to be in a situation where we are able to be a little bit more sustainable. If that requires a little bit more conservative pragmatism at this point in time, we will do that. Simple reason being that we can continue to see tomorrow.Brison and Sahil Tavora were the Goan faces in the team. With their exits, does it create a negative perception?Good question. Let me give you Brison’s example. Two seasons ago, he broke into the team and ended up replacing Brandon (Fernandes) in a like for like position, who left the club as we were unable to hold on. We need to continue and build Goan talent. Brison and Sahil will not be in the team, but there are other Goans who will be given an opportunity. Prachit (Gaonkar) plays in a position which is identical to where Sahil plays. Harsh Patre, another Goan plays there too. Bob (Jackson), another Goan, could be a beneficiary if we are not signing more goalkeepers. Our reserve team has done well in the past couple of seasons and made it to the RFDL final last season. There were a lot of Goan players in that team who made an impact. Two of them – Prachit and Vellington Fernandes – are midfielders. There’s Sitroy (Carvalho) too. If we don’t give them an opportunity now, when will we? In the ISL, if you look at the state to local player ratio for the club that they represent, you will still find FC Goa is number one. The only exception is NorthEast United, which has the benefit of having seven states enrolled into one. Look at our youth development programme. Also, it’s important to note that barring a few outstation players in our developmental team, every other player from a pool of 80-odd players is Goan or come from families who call Goa their home now.For the first time, Goa have a domestic head coach and an all-Indian coaching staff. Was this decision out of compulsion or choice?Our numbers (in terms of budget) are not as big as last season. There is no denying that. But it was not out of compulsion. We had two strategies to go with. Either we wipe the slate clean or, in this scenario, we had an option where we could have some continuity, without having to entirely change everything from top to bottom. If Gouramangi was not the Indian coach available to us, perhaps we would have gone in a different direction. He represents four years of continuity, having worked with two different head coaches. For that reason, we chose to go with him, not out of compulsion.With a reduced budget, do you think Goa will still be a competitive team in ISL?Absolutely, that’s our job. That is why we are paid. Our budget might have reduced but our ambition has not. It’s a challenge that we are looking forward to. The season has still not started, but my request to everyone would be to judge us at the end of the season, rather than at the start. Because we are confident in what we have built.Four foreigners have been signed so far. Are you looking at signing more?We have not ruled out adding to our squad. Not just foreigners, but Indians as well. We have a squad with a lot of players coming in, and it’s been a work in progress. We’ve been actively looking in the transfer market while the team plays the ACL 2 playoff, which is a little quick for us. But the window is still active, that means there’s still a possibility.Goa have been among the more consistent teams in ISL, making it to the playoffs and playing Asian competitions three times now. Do you think, with the squad that you have, Goa can continue to be at the top?As a club, playing Asian competitions is the only way you grow. The Al-Nassr game not only brought in eyeballs, but also generated revenue, which helped us sustain till December (last year). We need to continue to grow as a football club, and that growth can only happen when you compete in elite competitions, where the teams are better than what your country is able to provide. Our philosophy hasn’t changed.
