Jamshedpur FC has chosen Owen Coyle, the man who picked up Chennaiyin FC from the depths and guided it to the final last season, as its coach ahead of ISL 2020.
The Scottish coach rose to fame the previous ISL season as he arrived in the middle of the tournament to help a faltering Chennaiyin FC rise from the bottom of the table and reach title round (where it lost to ATK).
Assuming his new responsibility as the Jamshedpur FC manager, Coyle said that he was conscious of the passionate fans of Jamshedpur and will try put “a smile on everybody’s face.”
Coyle has a rich experience of coaching clubs in England, Scotland and the USA prior to his assignment in India.
“As you are seeing now, football is playing a huge part in bringing smiles in lots of places in the world.
“I want to make JFC a winning team on the field. And a team that is representative of the passion of the fans,” Coyle said during an online news conference organised by JFC.
When asked about his plans, Coyle said, “It is going to be a huge challenge. Young India players are hugely important and we will have to stand together.
“I will try to make sure that when they speak about ISL, they speak about Jamshedpur FC,” Coyle said.
Young talent
He sounded hopeful about the two young Indians in the JFC squad, defender Narender Gehlot and midfielder Amarjit Singh.
“There are a lot of young talents in the squad. But those who have caught my eye are Narender and Amarjit,” he said.
Jamshedpur FC CEO Mukul Choudhari said the team cannot have a pre-season at its own facility owing to the strict COVID-19 guidelines.