NorthEast United dribble past ISL rules with proxy head coach appointment
SERGIO FARIAS, the newly appointed coach at NorthEast United, has gone and become the coach of a Thai club Suphanburi FC, and it seems this happened by design.
It appears that the Guwahati-based ISL franchise signed him just for one month so that they could meet the deadline set by the private tournament for hiring a new head coach. With the ISL set to kick off in October, the franchise has enough time to make up their minds about who will be their actual coach.
This is another instance of a franchise taking the tournament's rules for a ride. Before this, the likes of Mumbai City, Kerala Blasters, Chennaiyin FC and Delhi Dynamos hired retired or almost-retired former star players as "marquee player-managers" to get around the ISL rule that required the coach to have been a part of a major tournament like the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA Champions League.
NEUFC have struggled to make a mark in the first two editions of the ISL, failing to qualify for the semi-finals on both occasions. So it appears that they are being extra cautious in order to make sure they make the right choice in terms of picking a head coach.
