Owen Coyle talks about Chennaiyin FC’s Budget, the clubs aspirations to make better young Indian players

Owen Coyle claimed he would win the ISL Shield every season with Mohun Bagan’s budget.

Owen Coyle’s Chennaiyin FC are set to face Punjab FC at the Marina Arena on Saturday. The Marina Machans pulled off a dominant 3-0 win over East Bengal last weekend however their home form has not been up to the mark with just one win in nine home games.

The CFC manager Owen Coyle addressed the press ahead of the Indian Super League game and talked about some key things within the club. Here is the excerpt of what the Scotsman said:

What did Owen Coyle say regarding Chennaiyin FC’s Budget?

Chennaiyin FC have a very slim chance of making it to the playoffs this season. Owen Coyle’s side started the season well but they faltered midway due to their inconsistency. When asked about how the Scotsman sees himself and the situation from here, Owen Coyle said, ”I think what we’ve been showing is that what we’ve done has been nothing short of a very good body of work.”

The Chennaiyin FC manager also talked about the club’s budget adding, “The clubs I’ve been to don’t have big budgets. You give me the budget of Mohun Bagan and I win the shield every year. There’s no doubt about that.”

“I’ve already won a shield with a club with a really low budget (Jamshedpur FC). To be honest, Will that ever happen in Indian football again? I’m not sure. When you have big budgets, you sign the best players and if they stay healthy and fit, then more often than not. They have a very good coach there as well that knows how to steer them on that path.

“This year I think you’re right. We’ve shown that we can stand toe-to-toe with the best teams but we haven’t done it often enough. There’s been a number of underlying reasons for that but as soon as a coach says that, people think it’s just an excuse. I won’t go down that road. What I would say is that I certainly think that we could be better than what we’ve had.”

“I certainly think we have a team that’s capable of being in those play-offs. Are we capable of winning the Shield? No, because we don’t have the best players in the league. We have good boys, we have different things, but there’s been different reasons. What we want to do is finish strong.”

Owen Coyle concluded by saying, “It’s really important to point this out because ultimately people look at games, they just look at results. There’s been an unbelievable body of work, certainly since we came in last year, going on behind the scenes at this club to make us better for further years down the line.”

Owen Coyle praises Punjab FC’s youth setup

Chennaiyin FC in recent years have boarded a lot of young Indian players, looking to mould them. Irfan Yadwad is the latest example who has gone on to make his debut for the Indian national football team.

Owen Coyle talked about Chennaiyin FC’s aspirations and also praised something similar that Punjab FC are doing. The manager said, “Punjab have some terrific young players in their team. They haven’t haven’t come in the last year. That’s been a body of work over the past few years. Pratham Basu, who works with us now, was also a part of Punjab FC’s project.”

“Implementing the plan to get young Indian players is something I’m passionate about. Because at the moment there is only a certain pool of players that ISL teams can get their players from. What we want to do is expand that and make it bigger. That in turn will help the whole of Indian football.”

“In Punjab FC, Roundglass – the owners certainly did that and now you see Rakesh Abong, Abhishek, Young Suhail also came in the other night. They have a lot of really young players. So that’s something that Pratham and we have been trying to implement at Chennaiyin FC.”

Owen Coyle concluded by saying, “We’ve put a number of young players out on loan. That’s for a reason, to get I-League experience so they can come back to us to be better moving forward. So there’s a whole load of things that it takes to build a football club.”

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