Owen Coyle will take charge of Jamshedpur FC only after the Indian Super League season VII fixture is released.
The 54-year-old Coyle, who was appointed head coach of the Tata Steel-owned club on August 7, is presently at Langho, his village near Manchester in United Kingdom.
The ISL fixture was supposed to be announced earlier this month but was postponed and is now likely to be declared in the last week of August.
JFC chief executive officer Mukul Choudhari said they will start preparations for the next season after the fixtures are released. “The ISL fixture is expected later this month. We’ll decide on our pre-seasons only after the schedule is declared,” he added.
Talking about the possibility of Coyle joining the squad, Choudhari told The Telegraph Online, “He (Coyle) is presently in the UK and likely to join our men sometime in October. But things depend on when the ISL fixture is announced,”.
Apart from the fixture, Coyle's travel to India will also depend on the resumption of commercial flights, which has been discontinued owing to the pandemic. “We expect the flights to resume operations next month. This way, the head coach will have no issues travelling to India,” a member of JFC’s team management said, requesting anonymity.
Asked about the possible destinations for pre-season training, the member named Kerala or Goa. “Again, the ISL venue would be clear only after the fixture is announced. We may conduct the pre-season in Jamshedpur if the 14-day quarantine protocol for players and support staff was relaxed,” he added.
The Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), organisers of the cash-rich tournament, had announced November 19 as the start of the glamourous event. However, nothing has been given in writing to the participating clubs, the JFC CEO informed.
Choudhari said the squad was almost in place and they would like to announce the same later this month.
Coyle played a stellar role in helping bottom-placed Chennaiyin FC reach the final of the ISL last season. He is expected to make a turnaround for JFC in the ensuing season, who has so far not made it to the play-offs in the three seasons it has played.
