I-League 2017: Manager of the week – Khalid Jamil

For a long time, Khalid Jamil has been the poster of ‘bad boy’ of Indian Football. His sides don’t play the ‘aesthetic’ football purists and arm-chair pundits (I am largely included in the group) crave. The infamous ‘bottlegate’ incident with Ashley Westwood hasn’t helped matters either.

Stereotypes are made easily, and often incorrectly. ‘Mourinho and parking the bus’, ‘Metal is All Screaming’, and ‘Bengalis eat a lot of sweets’ (well some are true), and with Khalid, he is associated with stone-age football in India.

But, what these same supporters fail to see is his teams have a clear philosophy with which they play. He has a bottom-up approach, in which he makes sure that his defence is strong, and his midfielders don’t leave spaces behind them for the opponents to pick up and break the lines.

His teams tend to take the fastest route to goal, and that involves a lot of long punts. His philosophy involves defending without the ball, and that can on many occasions, be a double sided sword.

Granted that doesn’t allow the most picturesque of football, but when you don’t have the resources to play the way you want to, it’s sometimes better not to. There was, inevitably, a lot of raised eyebrows when he was chosen as the manager of Aizawl, especially after how they started last season under Manuel Fraile.

The former Mumbai FC player for Directors is something of a ‘money in the bank’, he knows the League (has been the manager from 2009), he has the experience as a manager and a player, and he virtually assures survival in the League. Given the unpredictability regarding the future of the League, it might prove to be a very shrewd decision.

On Saturday, his team did exactly what he would have wanted them to, they got into the faces of the East Bengal players, and dared them to play. East Bengal wilted at the pressure, and if captain Jaryan wouldn’t have missed the opportunities in the second half, they might have come away with all three points. One of his often overlooked qualities of management style is how well he does with youngsters, and that was epitomised by probably the best player on the pitch, Jayesh Rane. He kept cutting in from wide and was a constant menace to the seasoned pros in the East Bengal, Mehtab Hossain and Rowllin Borges.

“I was coached by him from the very start. I was under trial at the junior team and it was he who gave me my first break and then with the senior side too. Whatever a footballer I am today, I owe it to him. I thank him for his guidance”, Jayesh had once said about his manager, and that highlights his impact on young players he coaches.

With the number of youngsters Aizawl FC have in their squad, the likes of Lalruatthara, Lalmuankima and Albert Zohmingmawia will learn a lot from the man at the helm. When he left Mumbai City, Vice President Atul Badgamia said, “He leaves us with a legacy of having given several young players the confidence to show their ability on the highest stage.”The Aizawl fans will hope, he leaves with the same impact at their club.