Houghton was the best brand ambassador for Nehru Cup

Bob Houghton with former Indian captain Baichung Bhutia.

Sitting somewhere at his residence in South Africa, former India coach Bob Houghton would now ponder his contributions for Indian football when the 2012 Nehru Cup starts this Wednesday in Delhi.

Had it not been for his initiative, Nehru Cup – All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) only international tournament in its calendar, wouldn’t have happened in 2007. Shortage of tournaments for the national team made him pester the AIFF bosses to revive the event after a gap of 10 years.

In fact, the Englishman knew the art of marketing. He was aware without any international performance at home, nobody would be care about the national team. Houghton’s involvement saw the event garner huge response not only from the corporates but even from the foreign media.

In less than a year, Houghton’s popularity graph reached an all time high. His players loved and respected him and the Indian fans chipped in with a huge support whenever the team played at the Ambedkar Stadium, which was the favourite and lucky venue for the Englishman.

Even former captain Baichung Bhutia’s presence added the zing to the excitement. Also, there was Renedy Singh, one of Houghton’s most trusted lieutenants, who would attract a huge number of North-East students from Delhi University’s North Campus.

This year’s event will miss the trio and several other players who formed the core of the team which won back-to-back victories in 2007 and 2009.

On both occasions, India beat Syria in the final.

Five years later, I feel, Houghton was the best brand ambassador for Indian football. He gave a direction and there was a whiff of fresh air. News channels used to train their cameras on him when he trained. Journalists used to chase him which was unseen in Indian football before him.

I agree, many would say he is an Englishman, who knew how to carry himself in front of the howling media and his critics from within the AIFF. Houghton was already a big name much before he became India’s coach in 2006. In 1979, he alongwith his close friend and current England coach Roy Hodgson led Swedish club, Malmo FC to their successful campaign in the Champions League in 1979.

So, I’m sure, when Syed Rahim Nabi, Sunil Chhetri, Subrata Paul – three of the senior most players in the current team – will miss their former coach when the national anthem is played on the inaugural day on Wednesday.

Their eyes will look for the person at the dugout who gave an identity to the Indian team during his five-year stint.

Besides, the national team will also miss the electrifying atmosphere of Ambedkar Stadium at Delhi Gate as the tournament has got a new venue at Nehru Stadium.

In stark contrast to 2007 and 2009 when Houghton coached the team, Nehru Cup got a huge mileage. I’m not sure, if the tournament is going to get a similar response this time from the stakeholders.

Because, the rankings of the team gives us the impression that Nehru Cup is slowly slipping into mediocrity.

Cameroon (59) is the only top-ranked sides in the five-team event. The other contesting nations rank well outside the top 100 including India who are the lowest ranked (168) besides Syria(147), Maldives (161) and Nepal (162).

In the past, the AIFF had cited paucity of funds and other reasons to ignore good teams for the event which definitely won’t rank among the best of the 13 editions held so far.

In terms of quality and star-studded teams, the inaugural edition in Calcutta in 1982 and the third edition in 1984 at the same venue would rank as the bests so far.

In 1984, Nehru Cup unveiled a host of talented players and a coach who would went on win a World Cup in 1986 with Argentina.

I still remember watching the event, which was held at the Eden Gardens, when Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo was expelled from the bench after a heated argument with the referee.

Among the host of stars, the prominent names were Laszlo Kiss (Hungary), Jorge Burruchaga (Argentina), Nery Pumpido (Argentina), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Poland).

It was during this time, that Bilardo came with his future World Cup squad. Though, Argentina didn’t win the Nehru Cup, it won the hearts. It was great to watch Burruchaga who later became one of the stars after he scored the winning goal in Argentina’s 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final.

Probably, that was the only time when the AIFF brought some quality teams. As years wore on, particularly in the early 90s, the Federation lost passion and motivation to host the event after 1997.