Mohun Bagan's coach steps down

"Since Mohun Bagan is a formidable club and top contenders in Indian football, I want the team to bounce back and bring back the winning attitude," Rozario wrote in his resignation letter.

"So at this point of time in the greater interest of the club and the team, I will like to step down from my job as chief coach."

With two consecutive defeats and a draw in the ongoing I-League, Mohun Bagan's campaign has got off to a jittery start. Conceding that Mohun Bagan are going through a crisis, club general secretary Anjan Mitra told PTI from Goa: "We are going through a problem at the moment. But we will not die -- this is not the end. Being one of the top clubs in India, we will tackle the situation bravely and bounce back."

There is a strong rumour that Mohun Bagan are in talks with Belgian coach Phillippe de Ridder who is expected to be in the city next week. "We want to consider a lot of options, but I've no idea about de Ridder being approached."

Like Rozario, de Ridder too had coachced East Bengal earlier.

According to club insiders, the Mohun Bagan thinktank was not happy with Rozario's patchy tactics that had backfired this season and the club was looking for an A licence coach to meet the AFC guidelines.

Rozario, however, defended himself, arguing that under him Mohun Bagan had done reasonably well, finishing runners-up in the Federation Cup, the local league and Platinum Jubilee Cup.

He said that his side struggled because of injury to key players. Incidentally, on all three occasions Mohun Bagan lost to their bitter rivals East Bengal in the final.

Key players like Diamondstar of Asian origin and Chidi Edeh have been battling injuries. "Apart from them Sheikh Azim, Ishfaq Ahmed, Sagram Mukherjee, Kinshuk Debnath and Satish Kumar were also unavailable due to injuries and sickness for many days which affected the team's  performance," Rozario wrote.