Seven months without the I-League, but with a Red-and-Gold tint

A lot of time has passed between the conclusion of the last I-League, and the commencement of this season's I-League – seven whole months to be specific. It has been a very long seven months for most teams, and hence obviously so for their management, who are most busy in this relative hiatus of on-field football activity. The wheeler-dealers have had that much time atleast to form their squads, finalise their foreigners, gel their newcomers, and the works.

Of the clubs from last year's I-League, the off-season activities of East Bengal Club easily stand out as the most eye-raising and strenuous. Firstly, were the stories leaked by Alvito, of him desiring a move away, which were then brushed aside as he re-signed an extension with the club he captained. The club then signaled their intent to lay down the marker of their ambitions, signing the key Indian national team duo of Renedy and Chetri, to add to their already substantial national contingent of Mehraj, Sur, Nabi and Subrata. The additions of the experienced Dharamjit and young-gun Sanju Pradhan offering great attacking potential from midfield, really give them a plethora of options in that department.

Which begged the question, what was the whole Steven/Pradeep issue all about? These two players would probably have been played in roles they fulfil for the national team – as attacking midfielders. It was given that the duo had long-term contracts with Mahindra, regardless of whatever was the verbal agreement between the players and the Mumbai club. So obtaining their services would have only happened with Mahindra's consent, which was certainly not going to come. Obviously East Bengal must have known their minute chance of landing the duo, which probably played a part in their recruitment drive of so many other available and talented attacking midfielders, to add to those present in the squad from the previous season. Could the attempt then to land Steven and Pradeep have been motivated more by external factors, namely, to placate a demanding fan-base craving for the current stars of India football, or, to cause confusion and uncertainty amongst the opponent clubs and players as to the supposed (or not) inviolate nature of the 'professional' contracts that had been signed in the first year of the I-League? Or maybe it was just a feeler, to get a sense of where the clubs stood, where the players stood, where the federation stood, and where the law stood in these matters, to create a precedent, from which future actions and strategies for the transfer-market could be formulated.

Then there was the case of Yakubu. We went through the whole gamut of officials travelling to Goa to convince the Salgaocar management, to Yakubu tendering what surely reads as a scripted-to-perfection letter of apology, and turning up for training with the red-and-gold even before the Goans agreed officially to let the Calcutta club have him.

Can one then take issue with East Bengal with the way they conducted themselves? That obviously depends through which coloured glasses you are looking from. The clubs at the receiving end surely wouldn't have appreciated these maneuvers. But then, it's the system that was worked around and loop-holes found in, amongst all this protracted seven months of activity. As they say – innocent until proven guilty – and no one has passed a 'guilty' sentence on the Red-and-Gold for their recruitment drive.

Good that the long months of following off-field activities are finally at an end, and we can see what comes of all this on the field of play – the thing that truly matters most to the followers of a club, and football – including the success starved passionate East Bengal supporters.