Gearing up for the 10^th season of the Indian Super League (ISL), the North East United Football Club (NEUFC) is looking to spread its wings beyond its headquarters in Guwahati, and is mulling at playing a couple of this season’s games in Shillong.

In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, the club’s new CEO Mandar Tamhane spoke on a wide range of issues, regarding the club’s aim to earn back the trust of fans, their plans of creating a pathway for players right from the grassroot level besides playing a few matches beyond Guwahati.

For the past five years, the NEUFC has been perennially hovering around the bottom of the league (barring the brief Khalid Jamil-inspired season) and with constant chopping and changing the backroom staff also adding to the woes.

Tamhane’s addition is mainly aimed at resurrecting the side’s administrative front, while the on-field responsibilities have been entrusted to Spain’s Juan Pedro Benali, once a technical assistant to Claudio Ranieri.

Tamhane, who served as the CEO of Bengaluru FC since its inception 10 years ago, has led the club’s transition from participation in the I-League to the Indian Super League, and also developed the youth system and earned multiple titles and accolades on and off the pitch.

Ever since taking over the reins at the NEUFC four months back, Tamhane has been monitoring the side’s prospects of expanding base, and said he has received very good feedback from the governments of some of the North East states, and therefore mulling at shifting some of the home games of the club to the other NE cities.

“As far as the ISL is concerned, the NEUFC is planning to play two games of the season in Shillong, and we are in talks with the ISL teams, as we have to bear in mind the logistical challenges of shifting base. We have planned the Shillong leg towards the later part of the season in December,” he said.

“We are also planning to have a game in Itanagar next season, and probably a couple in Imphal, depending on how the situation pans out there. As far as the other cities are concerned, with respect to Aizawl or Kohima, we will have to see the availability of turfs for conducting ISL games,” he added.

Mandar also spoke in detail about his long term plans of creating an ecosystem in which budding players from the eight states of the region are scouted and trained to go through the grind of club and international football.

“The idea is to create a pathway for the players right from the grassroot level and get them through the grind to get into professional football. We have identified a few places where we are planning to set up 15 day-boarding academies in the region. It should have started five years back but since the focus now is on the first team as they prepare for the season opener, we are planning to have a few of the academies by the end of the season,” he said.

“The 15 academies will be based out of various places across the region, and it will be for the age-group between 7 and 11 years. So the day-boarding academies will have Under-7, Under-9 and Under-11 categories so that the local kids can continue to be with their parents.”

“Once they are out of the age category, our scouts will select them to train at the residential academy that we are planning to set up in Shillong. As of now, it is 99 percent confirmed that the residential academy will be based in Shillong. The Meghalaya government has shown keen interest in it, and we are hoping to have a sizable number of kids playing in the U-13, U-15 and gradually graduating to the U-17 level from the academy,” he further explained.

Lack of spectator turn-up in the last couple of years have been a cause of concern for the club, but Mandar feels that if the team performs well then it will automatically attract crowds back to the stadium.

“NEUFC is the only team in the ISL to represent eight states, so it is the club’s responsibility to win the trust among the fans across all the states. The only way we can get that is to perform in the upcoming ISL season,” he said.

“When I was part of the BFC, we had a match against NEUFC and we were surprised to see that the number of supporters of the visiting club outnumbered the home side in Bengaluru. That’s the craze for football in this part of the country, and that is something which motivates the players to do well.”

Coach Benali echoed the CEO’s views, saying, “It’s a wheel, the club performs, you get spectators, the club doesn’t perform, fans gradually lose interest.”

Gearing up for their Indian Super League (ISL) season opener against a formidable Mumbai City FC at the IG Stadium here on Sunday, NEUFC coach Benali said that his team has seen the lows, and can only rise from here on.

“The question is how low can you get? The only way is to go up from here on, and we have the team to do it. It’s a nice challenge, we will try all the 23 players at our disposal, and see they are in their best shape. We have a very strong opponent against us in the opening game, and we are working on improving on our weaknesses and giving our best on Sunday,” the Spaniard said.

Commenting on his joining the NEUFC, Benali said that there’s a reason for him choosing the region.

“There’s a reason for me to come to this region in India. 70 per cent of the national team players are from the North East and when I got the offer, I thought it would be a good challenge to be a part of the team. It’s been four months, since I joined the club and every time I move out of the city, I am in a hurry to be back home, in Guwahati,” Benali said before signing off.