Ranjan Chowdhury remembers Md. Habib after receiving the special award as coach
Ranjan Chowdhury who was presented ‘lifetime’ award for his contribution to Indian football as a coach by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday in Bhubaneswar, was remembering late Mohammed Habib as his mentor at the Tata Football Academy. Chowdhury worked as the TFA for more than two decades, helping the academy to produce 127 India internationals. Speaking over phone from Chennai Chowdhury, said, “TFA was the most memorable phase of my coaching career. Not only I got the world class infrastructure at TFA, I got the teachers like PK Bannerjee, Chuni Goswami, and Mohammed Habib there. I learned a lot about the game from game.” When asked about his idol as coach the 68-year-old coach did not hesitate to make Habib’s name. “I had two idols. Habib was one and the other one was a German coach Rote Muller. I learned discipline, how to motivate and create tenacity among the footballers from Habib.” Chowdhury also remembered Pune FC academy infrastructure adding, “After TFA I remember Pune FC academy where we had modern infrastructure and facilities and that is reason many footballers including Amrinder Singh and Ashique Kurniyan earned prominence later.” Chowdhury has been in charge of the youth development program of Gokulam FC since the last season and when asked about the prospect, explained, “A lot of young potential footballers are there but they will take time to get mature. The club needs to build up its own infrastructure for the quick progress of its youth development program.” Chowdhury seems willing to work in Bengal again. He said, “I was in East Bengal and I helped them to produce several footballers also like Mehtab Singh. So, If I get opportunity again to work in Bengal, I can be back.”
