Two days after the Derby defeat, East Bengal coach Alejandro Menendez Garcia resigned citing “personal reasons” on Tuesday.

But according to a source, he had already put in his papers on January 17. He continued after club’s investors Quess Corp requested him to stay till last Sunday’s Derby clash. “He had resigned on January 17,” the source told The Telegraph.

Interestingly, Quess East Bengal sent out a mail on January 17 that assistant coach Josep Maria Ferre Ybaraz (Coco) had resigned.

“Alejandro informed us a few days ago that he is not keeping well and he wants to go back to Spain for some personal and family reasons. We tried to keep him but he was determined to go back. Today, I had a talk with him. He then expressed his desire to resign,” Quess Corp CEO Subrata Nag said.

But, in reality, the Spaniard had quit five days before the Derby.

Now the question is who would be Alejandro’s successor. In the meeting between the investor and the club, Mario Rivera’s name came up. An Alejandro aide, he was the assistant coach last season and knows most of the players well. Karim Bencharifa and Ashley Westwood’s names are also doing the rounds.

Officially though Nag had this to say. “Assistant coaches — Marcal Trulls Sevillano and Bastob Roy, trainer Carlos Nodar Paz — are there with the team. They will guide the team in the head coach’s absence. It is not possible to find a replacement before the match against Chennai City. We will try to appoint someone before our match against Indian Arrows.

East Bengal will play their next I-League match against Chennai City FC in Coimbatore on Saturday. The match against Arrows in Kalyani is slated for February 1.

The players had no inkling about Alejandro’s resignation. “We didn’t know. We were told there was a meeting. The coach came and told us goodbye. Coco was not there though,” a player, who did not want to be quoted, informed.

After East Bengal’s loss to Gokulam Kerala FC on January 15, outgoing CEO Sanjit Sen was heckled. And later speaking to mediapersons, Sen had said players were signed by Alejandro and his support staff. Sources said Sen’s comments didn’t go well with the Spaniard.

Relation between Quess and East Bengal, who joined hands in June 2018, has always been tense. And the aggrieved parties would part ways after May 31. Senior East Bengal official Debebrata Sarkar said he was not aware of the fact that the coach wanted to resign before the Derby. “It’s today that I came to know that coach wanted to leave before the Derby,” Sarkar said.

After the Derby defeat Alejandro, who was adjudged best coach of the league for the month of December, had said the team would fight back.