#TFGinterview: Former coach of Kean Lewis & Pratik Shinde, Brendan Keyes, on life in lower leagues & crossing paths with India

BEING AN IRISH-BORN US resident, you wouldn't expect the life of a league president, club owner and full time coach to have much to do with Indian football. 

But Brendan Keyes, owner of Houston Hurricanes FC and the founder of Texas Premier Soccer League, has had several run-ins with India and its football players that has affected him strongly in his footballing journey. And when TFG caught up with him, in his element, sitting in his study on a leisurely afternoon, he hinted at crossing paths with India again in the future.

A former player for Houston Hurricanes, Keyes slowly moved into coaching after retirement, but he did so while simultaneously becoming an investor and administrator. In the tight circles that form around the lower leagues in the United States, clubs are a study in micro-financing and it's not rare to see one man taking over multiple roles. Keyes took over as owner at Galveston Pirates in 2010, where he was the general manager and head coach as well. In 2013, he bought the Houston Hurricanes, now a shadow of its former USL self, and even founded a regional league called Texas Premier Soccer League.

The strange footballing journey of this coach-owner-league president operating under the shadow of the big leagues in the ladderless United States league system took unexpected turns over the last decade, taking him from the fourth division to a non-national league, across the state of Texas, to In and united him with two talented Indian players seeking education and life abroad. One of them just landed a big contract in the ISL Draft.

Talking about his Indian understudies, Keyes seemed nostalgic,

"Pratik Shinde... he's very close to me. He even lived with me at one point. He's hard working and technically very gifted. But his problem was that over here he was physically smaller than most of the other players. He used to get pushed down a lot. But he always got back up, and never gave up. He has that spirit. He was with us last time we made the playoffs but could not play for us because his visa ran out."

The other player that he worked with, Kean Lewis, is now making waves in the ISL. Keyes was emphatic in his praise of the young winger,

"I've been watching a number of I-League games, and ISL matches. I even saw some Indian national team games. Don't tell me he can't make the national team with his talent. His touch is great and he has an intelligent reading of the game."

While Kean Lewis has made his mark in the mainstream of Indian football, Shinde is somewhat apart, without a club and running football schools. But both of them have seemingly left a deep impression about Indian football in the mind of Keyes, and he confessed he feels drawn towards it,

"Football is going to grow in India. And I'd love to be a part of it, help some club find its footing and rise in the ranks, whether it's as an administrator, coach or a manager. I can be an all-in kind of guy."

Keyes said he saw a similarity between the Indian and the US league systems. In the US there is no promotion-relegation between divisions, period, while India has parallel leagues with dual characteristics (There is promotion-relegation between I-League and 2nd Division while the ISL is a closed league). With most of the cash flow going towards the ISL, other clubs are going through a ton of hardship, and he identified with that as a lower league club owner himself,

"Back in 2012, with the Pirates, we won the South Central division of the National Premier Soccer League, which is one of the fourth tier leagues in the US. But still, there was no promotion to something bigger, and that makes you wonder what's the point. During NPSL days, we used to travel for hours to play our away games, tried to do our bit to improve the facilities with limited resources, but it wasn't adding up. The league made us big promises, but none of them were kept. It's hard to keep going without a clear path forward. Now, after soe years in Houston, we're moving back to Galveston. Our club will be called the Galveston Hurricanes. Hopefully we'll be able to re-integrate into that community."

His sentiment reflected that of most I-League and 2nd Division clubs, who are facing an uncertain future due to lack of a definite roadmap for the future of Indian football. Many clubs in India and US have died in the recent years, and others have had to evolve to survive. Keyes, for his part, moved to a different city and a different league,

"After I took over the Hurricanes, I came together with some of the clubs in the NPSL South Central Division and formed a league where we had a more sustainable model to flourish with. We're adding more teams and soon most of the division will be with us. And we are participating in the Texas Cup and US Open Cup as well."

Observing the way Indian football currently is, with the ISL and I-League splitting resources and attention, he said there was only one solution,

"There needs to be one league, with promotion relegation. You can't really focus on all-over development until you solve the current situation with the league pyramid."

Apart from running a club, coaching and being a league administrator who's repeatedly trying to become a part of the US Soccer pyramid at the bottom level, Keyes has been trying to venture outside the US as well with the sport. One such venture was supposed to take place in Mumbai,

"We had prepared a nice few sessions for the kids. I was bringing a couple of my qualifier coaches. We were paying for our own flights and accomodations. But after Pratik talked to the local association we were told that we'd have to rent our own ground to hold the camp, which wasn't right. We were coming all the way to work with local kids, so I think we deserved that much respect. When we realised there was no enthusiasm or cooperation from the local association, we called it off."

Looking for a bigger role as a coach and administrator has also been on the list for Keyes. He even almost landed a national team job once, 

"Since I had done the necessary qualifications I sent a few applications around explaining my experience and areas of expertise. There was interest from the Belize national team, and they did multiple interviews with me. Everything seemed to be going well, the offer was a multi year contract with less money on the first year, then the amount going up. But in the third interview they asked me to accept an even lower salary in the first year, so I said no."

He insisted that it would have to be a offer worth his while to move out of the US, and he saw India as one of the prime locations where he would like to coach,

"I'd go there in a heartbeat. But the money has to be right, and it must be in ISL or I-League. Moving out of the US means I'll have to hand over my responsibilities at the Hurricanes and Texas Premier Soccer League to somebody else, so it has to mean something. I'm a hands-on coach and can be an administrator as well. I'd like to really contribute to the development of the club I join, focus on the players' techniques and teach them to play effective football in my way."

Keyes expressed belief that young Indian players can be molded into his preferred style of playing - a quick passing game similar to Arsenal - and produce results at the highest level,

"They need the technical training from a young age. From what I have seen in Pratik, Kean and other players I have seen on TV, the zeal is there, and if they get the right kind of guidance, they can play a better, more well-organized form of football. That's what you need to beat bigger stronger teams."

For now, Keyes has a number of fish to fry. He and his group of coaches, apart from looking after the club team, offer lessons to local kids. There's also the prospect of moving to another city with the team, and an expanding league to look after. But this Irish-American Shamrock Rovers fan seems to have developed an unlikely taste for Indian football, one he insists will make him venture out of his lower league comfort zone soon.

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