East Bengal to seek special permission from AIFF to put B-license coach Ranjan Choudhury in charge

THE COACH APPOINTMENT SAGA is still not over for East Bengal. To ensure that newly appointed Ranjan Choudhury, their third coach to be in charge within 3 days, can stay at the team's helm for the rest of the season, the Red and Golds need to complete one more step of official formality.

The club licensing rules in I-League require that every club must be coached by somebody holding an AFC A coaching license at the very least. Trevor Morgan's original replacement Mridul Banerjee had that qualification covered. But his unfortunate first day injury which forced him out of action resulted in the club being short of options for people who could fill the role immediately.

Ranjan Choudhury, though a known and trustworthy coach in the eyes of the club officials thanks to his extensive experience working as an assistant coach at East Bengal in the past and coaching Tollygunge Agragami in the Calcutta Football League, he only possesses the AFC B coaching license which means he does not have the outright qualification needed to manage a top division club.

But thankfully, the rules offer some relief to clubs that are hit by emergency situations (like the coach falling ill or getting injured) and have to replace him immediately. In such a situation, a club can seek permission to temporarily employ a B-license coach as their main gaffer.

So East Bengal are expected to submit an application to the AIFF soon in order to make sure that Mr Choudhury gets permission to be at the bench during the club's remaining two I-League matches as well as the upcoming Federation Cup campaign.

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