AIFF chief’s illness leaves Md Sporting’s foreign tie-up in limbo

Not very long ago, the AIFF chief had provided a welcome a financial grant to the tune of Rs 50 lakh to the century-old Kolkata club. And shortly after that, Dasmunsi was in the process of working out a sponsorship deal for Mohommedan Sporting with a leading Dubai-based company for the new season.

Talks went quite far and a team of representatives from the Dubai-based company had visited the Kolkata club recently and even sat through Mohammedan Sporting’s I-League match at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK).

However, the entire initiative has been stalled, now that the Union minister is admitted and is in critical condition.

A senior Mohammedan Sporting official confirmed the development. “They (the company’s representatives) came to see our match at the YBK to observe how big the club’s fan-base is. Later, they told us that they would keep us posted on the proceedings after a detailed discussion with the AIFF president. Unfortunately, Mr Dasmunsi had a heart attack and fell ill before the negotiations could be worked out.”

However, the club administration hasn’t yet chalked out any concrete plans regarding its next course of action, particularly with how to go about utilising the funds. The only concrete decision that has been taken so far is that the club would soon start manufacturing its trademark jerseys as part of the merchandising programme.

Meanwhile, on the football front, the club has decided to appoint crafty Nigerian striker Mike Okoro as the team’s skipper for the rest of the I-League campaign this season.

In another good piece of news, the team’s Liberian striker Theodore Sunday resumed training today, three days before the team’s crucial I-League encounter with East Bengal that will be played at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan on November 2.

Meanwhile, Jamil Manzar, a director with the club, expressed his dissatisfaction with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s promises not quite translating into action. He told The Indian Express: “We were quite thrilled when Shah Rukh Khan made a statement in the media, saying that he was interested in investing money in the country’s leading football club. But later, nothing happened. Long back, we had honoured respected people like Farooq Abdullah and Dilip Kumar. But the efforts didn’t click. This season, we have been struggling to meet our budget, which has already exceeded our original budget of Rs 3 crore.”