Indian coaches must convey they mean business: Miranda

Aesthetics are important, said Clifford Miranda. Unless Indian coaches get that, their lament about top jobs in the country being taken up by foreigners would continue, said the interim Odisha FC head coach and the only Indian to win the Super Cup.

“Why are foreign coaches with average knowledge or quality coming here and convincing owners that they can run a club? It is because they bring in a wave of professionalism,” said the former international midfielder who played 15 years for Dempo when the Goan giants ruled the club circuit in India. It convinces owners to give them a chance because they think this person means business, he said.

By professionalism, Miranda said he meant the way coaches ran training sessions, organised their day and the people around them. “This is what we must learn.”

It is also why players drift towards foreign coaches, Miranda told Hindustan Times’ football podcast Kicks For Free. “Players are smart: in two days they will find out whether you deserve this position.”

Asian coaches are not good technically or tactically because they don’t watch enough football and don’t do enough analysis, Miranda said he was told by a coaching instructor in Uzbekistan. “Even though he said Asians, I felt like he was talking to me. And it was the truth, I felt. That has hampered our chances. This is one part but it is the second part. The first part is: are we professionals?”

Will getting Odisha FC ready in three weeks after head coach Josep Gombau left change perceptions about Indian coaches? “I am not here to bring in a revolution. I am working to develop myself and the players that I have, the organisation I work for,” said Miranda who joined as assistant-coach this season after four years on FC Goa’s staff. “In the process, if I am able to change perceptions, why not?”

Only one team, NorthEast United in 2021-22, in the nine-year history of Indian Super League has started the season with an Indian head coach. Five of the top six teams in the I-League this term preferred a foreign coach. Miranda said he hoped that would change – some former India teammates such as Renedy Singh, Gouramangi Singh, Sameer Naik and Bibiano Fernandes are good as was NorthEast United’s assistant-coach Floyd Pinto, he said – but not without “corrective measures.”

That said, Miranda, 40, is ready for the top job. “I will be one, for sure. I just don’t know when.” He said if he was not ready to be head coach, he wouldn’t have taken charge “in the middle of the season. That is so much more risky. It shows my confidence and belief and I say this without being arrogant.”

If it doesn’t happen in ISL, he is willing to move to I-League. “But it should be a good project, not necessarily a big or rich one. The club has to have ambition,” he said.

Happy calling Odisha FC home, Miranda’s focus is on Saturday’s knockout game against last year’s I-League champions Gokulam Kerala FC. At stake is an 2023-24 AFC Cup berth. It would complete a season of firsts for a team that in 2019 got a new identity after moving from New Delhi.

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