The uncertainty over the I-League’s future has forced Shillong Lajong to put their plans or the upcoming season on hold with the Meghalaya club deciding against renewing the contract of their coach Thangboi Singto.
Club sources confirmed that Singto’s contract was not renewed and that they would only decide the coaching staff after getting clarity about the future of the league.
“We have no idea about the league situation next year. We don’t know in which league we will be playing. That is something we will come to know very soon. We can confirm that the coach’s contract has not been renewed,” a club official told The Field.
“For the moment, we haven’t lined up a replacement as we can’t just blindly sign any coach without knowing the future of the league,” the official said.
The official, however, refused to rule out an extension for Singto, stating, “He might come back on board after we have some clarity.”
Singto, who had been on Lajong’s coaching staff since 2009, took charge of the club’s first team in early 2012 after Desmond Bulpin was sacked. The team has since remained in top flight, finishing fifth in the recently concluded season, their best ever performance so far, despite fielding an average of eight Under-22 players every I-League game.
The All India Football Federation had earlier proposed to merge the I-League and the Indian Super League from this season and later backtracked. There is no clarity on how the leagues will function going forward. The I-League and ISL clubs are scheduled to meet the Asian Football Confederation representatives in Kuala Lumpur on June 7 to figure out the future course of action.
Singto confirmed that he met the club’s management recently and was informed of their decision to not renew his contract. “I was waiting to see if they wanted me to continue. On 31st May, the management called me and gave me a cordial send-off. They told me that there would be no continuation of my contract.
“There were really good performances from the young boys. We did reasonably well. Maybe we could have finished strongly. Our target was top four. We didn’t quite live up to that expectation but I am very happy with how the young squad has progressed this season,” he said while summing up the team’s performance.
The AFC Pro-Licensed coach also revealed that he has been approached by ISL and I-League clubs but refused to divulge any names. “There have been some approaches. But I will wait for the league situation to be sorted out before I take a call.”