QUOTE
The protagonists (Indian football bosses) are in it to look at not only how to improve the league but also through dialogue and discussion and inform the other club owners of their steps and findings. Eventually there might be an amalgamation (between the I-League and the ISL) or the ISL may be prolonged,"
David Platt,
FC Pune City coach
PLATT SPEAK
I see myself as an employee of the football club and as an employee the question of what I’m going to give them is well thought out. I think Pune City and all the other franchises have to generate youngsters, may of them, millions of them throughout the country, so that when they seek a leisure time, they have a football at their feet
-- on his vision for grassroots development
The ISL draft and auction was very alien to a person with my background. I know about the drafts which happen in several sports and the MLS too. It’s not over-alien to me, but the auction was. It would’ve been easy for me to come from my background of structure etc and also from a country where football has been a major sport for such a long period of time, to think, ‘this is silly, it shouldn’t be included in football.’
-- on the 'alien' concept of draft and auction in ISL
The question is how would you create a domestic and global awareness if you keep things quiet? I think it was fun, entertaining and for us it was very profitable. We went to the auction with two targets (Jackichand Singh and Eugeneson Lyngdoh) and came away with both. So from our perspective, it was perfect as we came away with a group of players we wanted.
-- the coach feels the draft and auction are good tools to create 'domestic and global awareness' about football in India
