ISL bid warfare: Praful Patel to skip 7th June meeting, Kolkata clubs threaten open rebellion

THE AIFF HAS CALLED for a meeting of all stakeholders on 7th June, but Praful Patel, the person who called the meeting in the first place, will not be attending.

The revelation came from Kushal Das amidst a rebellion brewing from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan over the terms of their participation in the Indian Super League. 

The clubs are asking for a franchise fee cut and the right to play in their own home city of Kolkata. IMG-Reliance had asked them to move to a different city because they have given an exclusivity over the city to Atletico de Kolkata till the next 2 seasons. In retaliation, the clubs, with the backing of the West Bengal chief minister, have threatened to banish ISL from Kolkata if IMG-Reliance continues to try and rob them of their home city.

Representatives of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan held a meeting with IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly and afterwards called for the AIFF to tell the clubs exactly what was discussed between Praful Patel and AFC General Secretary Dato Windsor, and threatened to boycott the 7th June meeting if the picture was not made clear to them beforehand.

Speculation is ripe that AFC is about to grant ISL its own AFC Cup spot, and IMG-Reliance may even manage to get a top league status for ISL. Mr Patel's absence from that meeting may be because he wants to avoid being personally responsible for the decisions being announced there. 

Previously he had assured clubs that I-League was going to remain the top division league of the country after the current Champions of India Aizawl FC threatened to launch a public movement if they are forcefully relegated due to ISL replacing I-League as the top division.

The confrontational rhetoric from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan can be seen as a pressure tactic to make their point as it will be difficult for IMG-Reliance to get ISL the top division status without these two clubs. 

The AIFF General Secretary, meanwhile, defended the Federation's actions here, saying to Ananda Bazar Patrika,

"If the clubs send us a letter asking for details of the meeting between Mr Patel and Mr Windsor we'll tell them everything, there's no conspiracy here... everything will be decided in the meeting with AFC officials. Afterwards we'll have an AIFF Working Committee meeting where final decision will be taken. It will take till mid-June to get everything done."

But the legitimacy of the open discourse AIFF is promising to the stakeholders is coming under question because of Praful Patel's personal absence from the meeting.

However, Mr Das also hinted that despite the warfare being waged by the Kolkata clubs, there's still a chance they may get to play ISL,

"It may be that some particular clubs will have different rules for bidding... let's see what the AFC wants."

The new team bids that have been submitted so far - Bengaluru FC and a team owned by the Tata Group - will remain sealed until an Indian football roadmap is agreed upon and adopted.

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