Droancharya Bimal Ghosh does not want to continue as the chief of the scouts of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). 

Ghosh was present in the senior national championship for Santosh Trophy last year in Arunachal where he spotted Sanathoi Meetei and Samir Murmu. Then he also watched the semi-final and final of the Under-20 national championship last year, held in Narayanpur Chhattisgarh. 

While speaking to Parallel Sports the 68-year-old coach under whose tutelage several India internationals were produced revealed, “I have informed the AIFF president verbally that I do not want to continue as the AIFF’s chief of scouts.”

Ghosh explained, "I feel that only spotting potential footballers is of no use in Indian football. Anyone can note down the names of some footballers from a tournament and recommend them to the AIFF. But what happens next? Do any of the scouted footballers get nourishment and exposure properly? I spotted two potential footballers from Santosh Trophy last year, but they neither got selected even in the under-20 national team's exposure trip nor were they groomed later.”

However, statistics that have come up on social media show the worst state of Indian football in recent history. Indian women lost in the SAFF U-16, and Under-20 finals, and the national women's football team crashed out of the SAFF senior women championship from the last-four stage. 

The men’s under-20 also bowed out of the AFC Under-20 qualifiers from the semi-final. Even the under-17 men’s football team failed to qualify for the AFC U-17 championship final round for the first time in 10 years. 

Above all, India’s senior national men’s team are winless for the last 11 matches! They have lost all their three group league matches in the Asian Cup and failed to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. 

Ghosh added, “The disaster, especially at the junior level will continue unless the potential youth footballers are groomed properly by the coaches who have experience producing footballers at the club level.”

He further said, "Before selecting selecting a coach for the youth national teams the AIFF should make a research about his coaching background at the respective club or academy levels. You need to know whether the respective coach has experience of producing footballers from the grass-route level. But that practice is not made here.” 

Ghosh also explained saying, “I had even proposed that one team comprising only talented Indian youth footballers should be played in the I-league where they will have to face foreigners as well as senior Indian footballers and they will gain the maturity gradually.”

Jo Paul Ancheri, the former India international and also the coach who worked with the youth at Mohun Bagan-SAIL academy believes the youth footballers need time to be groomed and they also need exposure to playing competitive matches to become mature.

Sanjoy Sen who worked with Colin Toal in the AIFF's youth development programs for a long time in early 2000 says lack of constructive plans to develop the standard of youth football in India is the key factor behind the recent failures. 

Under Colin Toal, the national under-16 and under-19 teams often qualified for the final rounds of the AFC youth competitions. 

However, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey was not available to give reaction on the issue when contacted on Monday night.