Mr. Ranjit Bajaj, the owner of Minerva Academy has been in the news recently. He and his wife, Ms. Henna Singh, sold off their stakes at the I-League club Punjab FC to RoundGlass, having won the I-League a couple of years ago. Mr. Bajaj has always been in the news, usually for his no-nonsense comments about the negative aspects of Indian football’s administration. Now focusing on grassroots-level football and scouting for FIFA World Cup 2034 through his academy, Mr. Bajaj spoke to BleedSport over a telephonic conversation and answered some of our questions. Source: 90min Q. Describe your relations with AIFF. A. AIFF’s biggest problem is their short-term planning regarding the future of Indian football. They always aim for the immediate next World Cup, which is practically shortsightedness. They’re busy making the leagues top-heavy, without focusing on providing infrastructure at the grassroots level. They provide negligible money to the state football associations, which points towards their reluctance to build a strong base. Their unwillingness to broadcast the I-League 2nd Division speaks volumes. What’s the harm if they at least start with a Facebook Live broadcast for the matches? They won’t even allow it. This is something which is essential to garner popularity and let football grow organically. They have all wrong ways of earning money, like coaching. Coaching should never be a method to earn money, but should always be on merit. As a result, there are very few A-licensed coaches in India. Q. Coming to the much repeated question, why did you sell your club completely? Did you ever think that you’d have to do this? A. I made my decision based on the AFC allocation, when the Champions League slot went to the ISL group toppers. I have always been vocal about my displeasure with the I-League having no promotion and only relegation, which is not the case with the ISL clubs. It made me introspect, that if I can win the I-League once with basic facilities, then I can aim for much more with more money and better infrastructure. A lot of it can happen with just one year’s budget for the I-League. For me, legacy isn’t about winning trophies, it’s about benefiting Indian football. For me, Jeakson’s goal in the Under-17 World Cup or Anwar Ali’s stunner against Argentina Under-20 would be more precious than the league win. I had actually never thought such a day would come (to sell the club). But I’m not going anywhere, Minerva will be back soon. I have not sold the academy, players, ground, or the name. Thus, the Minervan identity is intact, and will be back with a bigger impact. Q. Will you come back to the I-League, or perhaps, the ISL? A. I will follow the protocols of football. The protocol of promotion. By next year, Minerva will be in the 2nd Division. We will aim to win it and get promoted to the I-League. Win it and get promoted to the ISL. I am not ready to pay any franchisee fee to participate in the top tier of Indian football. Anyway, ISL is supposed to have relegation after three years, which is the time I have targeted for Minerva’s entry to the ISL. Q. What would you describe as your takeaways and learning from your stint in the I-League? A. It was a surreal journey. An absolute dream, which started from the 2nd Division and carried on in the I-League. The major learning was that one learns different things every year. The game changes with every season, which makes it a new challenge. The difference in quality between the teams has become very minuscule, with the standard of football also going up massively. The game is now getting better in terms of possession and keeping the ball grounded, unlike previous days, when Indians were infamous for playing only long balls. We also realized that the league needs to focus on local players and grassroots development. Minerva’s title-winning season had over 70% boys from the academy, many of whom were locals. This way, when the boys get picked up by bigger clubs, more local players replace them, thus, letting opportunity being passed on, like a conveyor belt. One thing which really needs to be worked upon is the professionalism. The solidarity mechanism needs to be brought in as soon as possible, which would reward the hard work of training a player, and to make it more lucrative for budding footballers. It’s a shame that so many people’s hard work goes unrewarded, which disregards the motivation of coaches. With the solidarity mechanism brought in, it’ll act as a drip down effect to recognize and reward each and every individual associated with the growth of a footballer. (In football, the solidarity mechanism is a way to reward clubs that participated in the player’s early development. It is defined as the procedure in which when a footballer is transferred or loaned when he still has a current contract, the player's new club must distribute 5 percent of the pass amount among those clubs that have participated in the athlete's training between the seasons included between 12 and 23 years old.) Source: The New Indian Express Q. So how do you plan to follow your footprint? A. We plan to scout some 70-odd kids of ages 5-7 from across the country and bring them to our academy, take care of their training, living, education, diet etc. We want to have qualified coaches with them, who would teach them tactics, nutrition and mindset, among other things. We plan to take them to foreign countries like Germany, Spain, and Brazil to play against their boys of the same age and thus, provide our boys with exposure. We want them to compete with foreign players from the very beginning which would help them understand the level of football across the globe. We want to teach our kids what fitness is, and focus on good rehabilitation facilities as well. If you see nowadays, players don’t know the importance of an ice bath, and various other things. This needs to be eradicated, and we aim to be a catalyst in the process. Q. What about lateral entry to the academy? A. In case we come across an exceptional talent, we definitely will consider lateral entry. Although, I feel such a scenario will be quite unlikely unless that boy has also been training somewhere in an academy. I have full faith in my boys and can assure that they’ll be polished. Q. How do you think coaching needs to change in India? A. It needs to be revamped from the very initial stage. Basics need to be taught at the grassroots level more professionally. Coaching of coaches is essential. The revolution in Belgium came in a similar manner, where thousands of coaching licenses were given after proper training. As a result, over the past decade, their national team has become among the best in the world. More and more B-licensed coaches are required for the grassroots level, to set the basics right. Q. What about coaching in Minerva Academy? A. We already have many B-licensed coaches, with two A-licensed coaches as well. Surinder Singh, who has coached players like Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan is with us. We’re aiming to get more A-license coaches. We will focus on tactical training, which is currently rare in India. Understanding tactics at an early age is essential, so that by the time a player is 16 or 17, he can understand gameplay and combination. We’re going to teach our kids about zonal football and strategies such as zone 14, half space etc. I feel that Indian football teams need to be tougher to beat. It starts with more draws, and slowly gets converted into wins. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Q. Which is the playing style you’d want your team to follow? A. Possession, possession, and possession. I am an ardent believer of possession-based football. I feel there is no point in simply running behind the ball. Specific roles for each player need to be designated. I really want players who can play with both their feet. I want our team to play attacking football, not park the bus. Q. Do you have any plans for women’s football? A. I agree with Praful Patel, when says that women have a higher chance of qualifying for the World Cup. They can do it before men. Women have always kept our heads high, having produced wonderful results over the years. With the 2020 U-17 Women’s World Cup being awarded to India, women’s football is going to be at the center stage for the next few years. Places like Haryana have so much of untapped potential, which we saw in last year’s Indian Women’s League. It’s high time we give our women the respect they deserve. Looking at the way things are, you will definitely hear an announcement from our side very soon, possibly after Covid-19 takes a backseat. Q. What are your views on foreign players of Indian origin playing for India? A. I think it’s a big sacrifice to give up their foreign passports to come and play for India. By doing so, they give up a lot of privileges, which I think is too much to ask for. Suppose Sarpreet Singh was from India; we could have started a revolution with an Indian player playing for Bayern Munich. Such players representing India will fasten the process of growth of Indian football. We have been asking the Indian government to allow these players to hold dual passports and represent India. If this would have been allowed, so many players like Danny Batth and other would have represented us, and we could have steamrolled into the top 6 of Asia. But, having said that, I still believe our priority should be on youth and training them. Source: 90min Q. Why do you think our audience isn’t keen on Indian football? A, Results play a big role. The day we start playing well and perhaps qualify for the Asian Cup, things will change drastically. The despair and low expectations have left fans with no hope, and they look towards European football for entertainment and thrill. Q. If you had to invest in a football club instead of starting your own, which would it be? A. I would never invest in a football club, would always open my own. If possible, I would open a football club in Delhi. Being the capital of the country, it’s a shame that it doesn’t have a football club in the top two leagues of the country despite having great infrastructure and passionate fans. It’s sad that the city where the captain of the country was raised doesn’t have a single team good enough to play at the top, and Chhetri himself has been vocal about it. Q. Any plans of getting into coaching? A. I am already a B-licensed coach. I plan to pick up a UEFA B-license at the end of this year, so I know what I am talking about. I need to dirty my hands to ensure my kids are being taught right. Q. Which European club or coach do you follow? A. I have followed Arsenal. But I have been following Liverpool quite a lot these days due to Klopp. The way he started over there with limited budget and built the team slowly is extraordinary. Having said that, I am a huge fan of Marcelo Bielsa. I look up to him and consider him as my master. He has moments of football. For every single aspect of the game, he has multiple ways to do it. Be it passing or creating. It’s a dream to spend some time with him and learn as much as I can. For more such interviews and updates, please like our Facebook page BleedSport. Author: Siddharth Dutta
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