I League 2019-20: East Bengal head coach Alejandro Menendez Garcia steps down

What's the story?

Alejandro Menendez Garcia has stepped down from his position of head coach of I-League giants Quess East Bengal FC due to personal reasons.

In case you didn't know

The former Real Madrid youth team manager was brought in ahead of the last season as Quess invested heavily in East Bengal. Menendez led East Bengal to a 2nd position finish with 42 points (the club's best league points total in last 14 years), just one point behind the eventual champions Chennai City FC.

The heart of the matter

After losing three consecutive matches since the turn of the year, Alejandro Menendez has stepped down as East Bengal head coach citing personal reasons as he wants to relocate to his home country.

In a statement released by the club, Subrata Nag, the CEO of Quess thanked the Spaniard for his services to the club in the past 18 months. He said,

“We admire the leadership of the coach and the significant professional changes he brought at QEBFC in such a short period of time. He has led the team in the right direction, and we thank the coach for his contribution to the club and wish him much success for the future."

The 53-year old manager cited the progress the club has made during his tenure and wished good luck to whoever replaces him. Garcia exclaimed,

“I am happy for the progress the club has made during my tenure as the head coach and wish to see the new leadership to take this progress to the next level. I enjoyed my duration with the club and wish the team and fans all the best of the ongoing season."

What's next?

I-League 2nd divison club Bhawanipore FC manager Sankarlal Chakraborty is being rumored as the possible replacement for the Spaniard. The 44-year old led Mohun Bagan to a Calcutta Football League title last season. As a player, Chakraborty turned out for both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and might repeat the feat as manager.