ATK coach Steve Coppell on Wednesday slammed the AIFF over the “unprofessional” manner in which the Super Cup 2019 was organised after seven I-League clubs opted to pull out from the knockout tournament.
Only Real Kashmir, Indian Arrows and Chennai City FC took part after the rest of the clubs opted out before the qualifying round as they failed to receive any response from All India Football Federation chief Praful Patel over the impending domestic restructuring for Indian football.
“I think whoever is in charge has to have a real re-think about where this competition sits. I have said that it has to be a pre-season competition or during the middle of the season. I realised it has to be played. The arrangements, I felt were poor, the training facilities were unprofessional,” he was quoted as saying by Sportstar after ATK suffered a 2-0 defeat to Chennaiyin FC in the semi-finals.
Amid growing uncertainty over the future of the I-League, the AIFF is reportedly set to promote the Indian Super League as the top-most division in the country. But the Englishman expressed his concerns about the lack of clarity on the situation.
“Nobody knows what the league is going to be next year, nobody knows when it’s going to start, nobody knows anything. There must be transparency in planning going forward as to what’s the end game or what people are trying to produce. The ISL has helped the national team but this competition has just been bolted on. It needs to have meaning. At the moment it’s all ‘We got to do that so let’s do it’,” he added.