“I want to be a decision-maker,” Bhaichung Bhutia had told this reporter in the spring of 2008.

He had just got the Padma Shri award and was in Tinkitam, his home in Sikkim, when during a chat he offered a glimpse of his ambition of getting into football administration.

“I want my opinions to be taken seriously.”

On Friday, as the 33-1 verdict in the All India Football Federation elections started flashing, one wondered if that aspiring decision-maker of 2008 had erred.

“Bhaichung could have kept himself away from all this,” is the refrain.

The humiliation heaped on him by the member-associations, who overwhelmingly backed BJP-supported former footballer Kalyan Chaubey in the battle for the president’s post, is something Bhutia might not forget very soon.

“The ignominy of this defeat will rankle him for long,” a Bhutia supporter said. “I felt so down that I switched off my phone,” a candid Bhutia said on Saturday. “But tell me if Kalyan was so confident of winning then why did a Union minister have a closed-door meeting with the members for hours on Thursday night? What were they scared of ?” he asked.

“I was not allowed to reach out to the members.”

Bhutia was being seen as a prop by former president Praful Patel with whom most of the members did not see eye to eye. And once Manvendra Singh, seen as a Patel man and whose Rajasthan Football Association had backed Bhutia’s candidature, filed his nomination for the vice-president’s post, the Chaubey camp was more than sure that the NCP leader was pulling the strings on behalf of the former India captain.

“You do not have to think twice to deduce Patel’s game plan,” an influential member of Team Chaubey said.

“Bhaichung was a great footballer but by allowing himself to be used by Patel he has let everyone down.”

Another official was more blunt: “He never had the numbers, he should have used some common sense before taking the plunge.”

Bhutia found it funny that he was called a Patel prop.

“If that was the case why did the person from Patel’s state (Western India Football Association) vote for Chaubey? I had nothing to do with him or anybody.”

On Saturday, his former teammate IM Vijayan, a co-opted member of the newly-elected executive committee, was m a d e t h e chairman of the technical committee. Climax Lawrence, another former teammate, is also part of the executive committee.

Bhutia, who is also a member by virtue of being an “eminent footballer”, did not attend the first meeting of the executive committee.

“I have not taken a decision on whether I would be part of this set-up,” the former India captain said.

Chaubey, in his first news conference as the AIFF president on Friday, welcomed Bhutia’s inclusion.

Noting his contribution to Indian football, Chaubey invoked the mythological reference to the building of the setu in the Ramayan, saying though Hanuman could have done the job by himself, he took the help of gilharis (squirrels) to finish it.

A former footballer said Bhutia should have done better groundwork before joining the fray.

“Kalyan was preparing for the last two-and-a-half years. He is a state (Bengal) leader of the BJP and has the backing of powerful people in the government. Bhaichung should have thought about it. This will be a learning experience for him,” the ex-footballer said.