The spectre of not being able to raise a team for the next season looms over the red and gold horizon.
As the impasse over the signing of the final agreement lingers on between investor Shree Cement and East Bengal, and with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) imposing a two-window transfer ban on the club for non-payment of salaries to footballers signed by erstwhile investor Quess Corp, it is the football team that may suffer the most.
SC East Bengal have appealed against the transfer ban. However, the present investor has made it clear it will not be clearing the dues from the earlier set-up since it is not their liability. “Yes, SC East Bengal have appealed to the AIFF but the current investors are not ready to foot the bill,” a source told The Telegraph on Thursday.
The amount due to the aggrieved players has to be cleared by March 31.
Differences between the investor and the club have grown after the latter refused to sign the final agreement unless Shree Cement agrees to change certain terms and conditions in the term sheet.
“As of now everything is in limbo. The sooner East Bengal sign the agreement, the better it is for them. It will help us to build a competitive team for the next season. The money due to the footballers will have to be transferred in a month’s time. Otherwise, if the ban remains for two transfer windows, then the football team will fall apart,” the source said.
Shree Cement came on board in September last year after chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s intervention and that helped East Bengal to play in the Indian Super League this season as the 11th team. They finished ninth with just 17 points, conceding as many as 33 goals. They lost both the Derbies to arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan and also conceded six goals in a match against last-placed Odisha FC. That was also for the second time in 60 years.
Shree Cement, it has been learnt, has told the Robbie Fowler-led coaching staff and the players to wait for some time. “We have been told to wait. If the agreement is signed and Shree Cement continues as the investor, then planning for the next season will begin. A clearer picture will emerge by the end of this month,” a footballer, who refused to be named, said.
Hari Mohan Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, is expected to come to the city from Dubai in the third week of this month. A meeting is likely to take place between the investor and club officials. “That may break the ice,” one official hoped.
East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said there has been no communication from the investors in the last three months. “We had mailed on December 2 listing the changes club members want in the final agreement, but we are yet to get a reply from our investors. It’s a members’ club and they have given us the responsibility to run the club. We cannot do something where the members’ right will be compromised,” he said.
A Shree Cement official though said no such correspondence was received. “I do not know where they sent it,” he said.
If the club does not sign the agreement and Shree Cement leaves, then there is also a possibility of the club going back to the I-League.
An AIFF source, however, ruled that out. “They cannot be so whimsical… One season in ISL and another season in I-League…” he said.
