Anwar Ali: The Road Ahead | A Simple Explanation of PSC Decision and a look at Bagan's Defense if they lose Anwar

byAvik Chatterjee -

 Anwar Ali: The Road Ahead


What the Player's Status Committee Said

The Player Status Committee of the All India Football Federation has issued its first set of recommendations and directives. In simple layman terms, PSC acknowledges that Anwar Ali had no valid reason to terminate his contract unilaterally (from one side only).
 
That being said, the PSC also argues that the welfare of Anwar Ali should be the priority, thus it expects the Player's Status Department to approve Anwar's decision to join East Bengal FC or any other club he desires.

But such a transfer will also have to be approved by the Committee the next time they sit on this matter, and also that the involved clubs are at a risk for sporting sanctions if a new deal is made. 
 
According to them, Mohun Bagan cannot enforce their "current" loan contract, but Bagan will be eligible for financial compensation, the details of which will be discussed in subsequent meetings.
 

What if some Party isn't satisfied with PSC Decision?


What needs to be noted here is the final decision of the Player Status Committee can be challenged. If any involved party think the decision has been unfair to them, the case will be reopened in front of AIFF's Appeals committee. The next higher authority in this scenario would be the FIFA's Player Status Committee. 

Also, if even after that, some party feels they haven't been provided justice, they can move the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), which is an international body which settles sport related disputes.

A recent instance of the CAS being involved with Indian Football was when Kerala Blasters FC appealed a huge fine imposed upon them due to Ivan Vukomanovic staging a walkout due to a controversial Sunil Chhetri free kick goal in the 22/23 ISL Playoffs.

Thus it can be understood that this situation can become a very lengthy affair. What is most saddening is that the person getting most affected in all this unwarranted legalese is the player himself, Anwar Ali.
 

The Despondent Predicament of Anwar Ali


Pre-season is in full swing, every ISL team has started their trainings and are designing their tactics for the upcoming ISL season which begins in mid September. Meanwhile, Anwar Ali is in no man's land. 
 
Niether he is choosing to train with MB, nor is he eligible to train with East Bengal or Delhi FC, which will make him difficult to get acclimatised to wherever he ends up eventually. 
 
And God forbid, if Delhi FC are handed a transfer ban in this situation, there is also a possibility that Anwar will have to stay at Delhi FC only until the ban gets lifted. However, this is a remote possibility as the technical details whether Anwar's signature with East Bengal will be considered valid before handing anyone a transfer ban (if any) is still unclear.

This is a grave matter which jeopardises the continuity of the career of India's current best Center Back. Anwar remained silent when questioned by the PSC and it was his lawyer only who did the talking. We don't know what Anwar wants, but expecting him to don the Green and Maroon seems more and more unlikely as the case grows in complexity.

Thus, it is an important discussion that how Mohun Bagan would be approaching their upcoming season if they happen to lose Anwar Ali, which at the moment seems most likely.
 

How can Bagan mitigate the absence of Anwar?


There has been a buzz about the homecoming of a player close to the hearts of the Mariners, none other than the 22/23 ISL Cup winning captain, Uttarpara boy Pritam Kotal.

Anwar Ali became the replacement for Pritam Kotal, thus the world will come full circle if it just so happens that Pritam will become a Mariner again when/if Anwar Ali departs. 

However, that doesn't mean that Mohun Bagan were keeping an eye on Pritam (or maybe other Indian CBs too) just because Anwar might leave, rather it is more so because the management has realised that having a solitary Indian CB is a risky affair.

Anwar was solely missed after he got a medium term injury last season. He quickly became arguably the best player in that Bagan team under Juan Ferrando, but the dynamics got messy when Anwar became unavailable.

Juan was apprehensive of starting an Indian CB from the Reserve team, thus both Hamill and Yuste had to start, which took away an important foreigner spot from the attack, especially in the ISL where Mohun Bagan had to lose three games back to back for the first time in two decades.

It might be argued that it was a team selection blunder due to the fact that Dippendu Biswas performed brilliantly when he was given the seal of trust from Antonio Lopez Habas in the second half of Bagan's 23/24 season.

Thus, it would always be wiser to have two good Indian CBs so that a similar depressing scenario doesn't unfold this time around too. So now the question arises whether Pritam Kotal and Dippendu Biswas will be able enough to become the best choice CBs for 24/25 Mohun Bagan.


Pritam Kotal had an interesting season at Kerala Blasters. In the 22/23 season, he had an exceptional pairing with Slavko Damjanovic and he also got the Shield of two proper physical and technical Defensive Midfielders, Carl McHugh and Glan Martins or Deepak Tangri in front of him.

That changed drastically at Kochi. Instead of 2 DMs, there were two Center Midfielders who had comparatively greater freedom in the middle of the park and were relatively poor defensively. 

This forced CB Pritam become a lot more focused positionally and he was mostly successful in his new role in the first half of the season. For the majority of the first half of ISL 23/24 he had the highest number of interceptions in the ISL.

However, Pritam, due to whatever reason, lost his place in the latter half of the season which also corresponded to a downfall of performances of Kerala Blasters. Eventually he was getting deployed as a Right Back where he didn't do anything impressive. He also became physcially leaner at Kerala to adjust to his new role.


It will be very interesting to see what role Pritam Kotal gets at MB again and how he performs at that role. It is unfair to comment on his possible performances at the moment as Indian Football has seen many incredible redemption arcs, and no player can be exempted from such a lens of optimism.

Dippendu Biswas is an exciting prospect. His positional sense is more than good enough for the ISL standard. Although it will take time for him to develop physically to transition to the commanding CB role, especially in a four man back system, Dippendu shows nothing but promise and a hope for Bengali football enthusiasts as the next big thing from the Mecca of Indian Football.
 
In conclusion, losing Anwar might not be the end of the world for Mohun Bagan, but it will be a mammoth task for Jose Franciso Molina and his coaching staff to compensate for such a huge technical and tactical loss. 
 
It will be difficult to replicate the assurance, command, finesse and confidence Anwar provided but its the inherent beauty of football itself that observing how teams mitigate such interesting challenges and continue marching on towards fulfilling their targets is what keep the fans cheering, celebrating, engaging and bonding over the beautiful game.
  
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Avik Chatterjee

Deep dives into Indian Footballing History, Present and Future | Editor @MBFT89 | Why Mohun Bagan Series | Indian Women's Football | Twitter (X) : @just_avik (DMs open)

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