I-League 2017-18: Mohun Bagan issue show cause notice to star striker Kromah

What’s the Story

Mohun Bagan have show caused striker Ansumana Kromah for the second time this season. It has been a torrid season so far for Mohun Bagan, as they have failed to win the Calcutta Football League for the eight time. Their only silverware in the past year is the Sikkim Governors Gold Cup. They are not even having the best of pre-season results, and back-to-back defeats have had an effect on the team’s morale.

According to sources, Mohun Bagan has show caused Ansumana Kromah for the second time this season, as he failed bring his kit to the FC Goa game.

In Case You didn’t Know

Mohun Bagan have been having a poor run of form during the pre-season and coach Sanjoy Sen wanted to have his full team for the two friendly matches against ISL sides FC Pune City and FC Goa. The Mariners lost both the games 4-1 and 2-0, respectively.

Fans of the century-old club are not at all happy with the recent run of results and are furious about the attitude showed by certain foreign players present in the team.

Heart Of the Matter

Ansumana Kromah wandered into troubled waters right after he set foot in Kolkata, as he was seen taking part in a local competition, which is actually an unrecognised league. Professional players have a strict embargo on playing in local unrecognised leagues, and if they break protocol, the club or state governing bodies have the right to suspend or ban the player.

Kromah, though, was let off with a show cause notice and warning, and Mohun Bagan official Debasish Dutta had said after the incident, “We let him go this time as he is new to Kolkata and was not aware of the rules in place here.”

Now the Mohun Bagan officials have show caused him for a second time for not suiting up for the FC Goa game. Officials believe he deliberately made up false problems to avoid playing in the series of friendlies.

The team officials are now waiting for Kromah’s response and will take further action depending on Kromah’s response to the show cause notice.

What's next?

While Mohun Bagan’s arch-rival East Bengal have started to get into the rhythm, and sort out their foreign players issues, Mohun Bagan seem to be facing new problems every day. With Kromah not getting along with the team properly, coach Sanjoy Sen will certainly have a huge headache, given his plans to rely heavily on the foreign trio of Kromah, Dicka and Soni Norde to score the goals for the Mariners.

Author's take

If Mohun Bagan want to be true contenders for the I-League, then they need to try and sort out these internal problems first, and then focus on the problems present to them on the pitch.