SC East Bengal on Tuesday parted ways with head coach Jose Manuel Diaz midway the ongoing Indian Super League season after the club’s eight-match winless streak. Former India captain and assistant coach Renedy Singh has taken charge as interim head coach of the side.
As things stand, Singh joins Khalid Jamil (NorthEast United FC) and Derrick Pereira (FC Goa) as the third Indian to be in charge of a club in the Indian Super League this season. Jamil and Pereira are full-time appointments, however.
The Kolkata club said Diaz and his deputy Angel Puebla Garcia “have mutually agreed to part ways” with the club due to “personal reasons”.
“We thank Jose and Angel for their contribution and support to the team in the ongoing season. I wish both of them all the best for their future endeavours,” SC East Bengal CEO Col Shivaji Samaddar said in a statement.
The former Real Madrid Castilla coach had replaced Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler who left midway into his two-year contract after SC East Bengal finished ninth out of 11 teams last year, winning just three of their 20 matches in their debut season.
Under Diaz, East Bengal have suffered four defeats and four draws to remain at the bottom of the ISL table with worst goal difference (minus 8) among the 11 teams.
SC East Bengal next face fellow strugglers Bengaluru FC on January 4. If they end their winless streak when they take on tenth-placed BFC, it could help SC East Bengal leapfrog the Blues in the table.
(With PTI and ISL inputs)