No regrets, only lessons, says Owen Coyle on debut season with Jamshedpur FC

The Scotsman gave a detailed insight into his maiden campaign with the Men of Steel.

Owen Coyle touched upon several topics during the conversation with Khel Now on the 'Beyond The Scores' podcast. The tactician made his foray into Indian football by signing for Chennaiyin FC. However, he signed for Jamshedpur FC ahead of the 2020/21 season.

The aim with the Men of Steel was to qualify for the playoffs for the first time-ever. The expectations were high and the challenges were many. The former Wigan manager presented his opinions on the initial experience with the Men of Steel, the first season and more.

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Here are the excerpts from the conversation with Khel Now:

The situation with the Covid-19 pandemic

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Owen Coyle expressed his mindset during the period after the sixth edition and before the seventh edition of the ISL. He talked about the pandemic, saying, “I think everyone was taken aback with what was happening (after season with Chennaiyin FC got over) with COVID and everything else. It was a huge shock to everybody. Football I think, when we get it going can be a release, but it pales an insignificance when you lose family members.”

Decision to sign for Jamshedpur FC  

The 55-year-old explained what led to him staying in India and signing for JFC after his contract with CFC got over. He said, “When Jamshedpur made their approach, I listened to what they had to say. I remember as I said earlier about the facilities they have. Jamshedpur is the only club that have their own facilities and I love to be on the training ground with the young players. When you look at the facilities at Jamshedpur, because you felt obviously the league was in a bubble, but we didn’t know that at the time. That (having access to a training ground and good facilities) was a huge attraction.

“Mukul (Choudhari) and particularly the chairman were very aggressive in their approach and they outlined how the club runs, what the facilities are and I was really taken by the attraction of that,” he further spoke in this regard. 

Importance of signing Nerijus Valskis

Owen Coyle brought in striker Nerijus Valskis from Chennaiyin after he scored 15 goals and provided six assists during the 2019/20 season. Talking about the move, he said, “When you look to sign players for your club, you want to have focal points. Obviously, Valskis had been the Golden Boot winner previous year and I was sure of his qualities. There was no doubt he was a quality player.

"That (signing Valskis) in itself sends out a message that Jamshedpur had never been in the playoffs. Nobody had taken less points in last 10 games than what Jamshedpur did. It showed there was a lot of work to be done. A signing like Valskis sends a message out that you are going to look at bringing good players and make Jamshedpur a real force to reckon with. Look to grow the team, build it and make it better and that’s what we’ve done,” he further explained. 

Thinking behind signing foreign players

Coyle also opined on what was the thinking behind bringing foreign players to the club last season. He said, “There were a lot of players I inherited at Jamshedpur. What you have got to do is make the best of that. If you look at my domestic signings when I came into the club, those boys have been outstanding."

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Praise for domestic players

The tactician sounded very proud of his domestic players and heaped praise on them for showing great determination. “Rehenesh in goal had an outstanding season. Laldinliana (Renthlei) is one of, if not the best, right full-backs in the country. Laldinliana is outstanding, had some injury problems last year, but still wanted to play as did many of those boys. So, he deserves huge credit for that.

“I have so much admiration for them (Indian players) and Dinliana was one of them. With Farukh Choudhary coming back, Len (Seiminlen Doungel) coming in, Boris (Thangjam) coming in, every one of those domestic players I signed had a big impact...and that helps Jamshedpur move forward,” the tactician further added. 

A word on six-game unbeaten run

Owen Coyle also talked about the six-game unbeaten run with JFC and if he did something different after losing the opening game. He said, “Having lost the game (to Chennaiyin FC), its not the start anybody wants but its not a disaster. What we had to do then was to focus, get the boys a little bit fitter, the bubble was a challenge to get everybody match-fit. The boys responded and we went on a six-game unbeaten run. We saw really good signs and we knew we were on the right track.”

The ramifications of the break & season of two halves

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The tactician pointed towards the mid-season break, which sort of derailed JFC’s form and led to a downward graph in their performances. “We played our first nine games in something like 26-27 days and then all of a sudden we had a 12-day break. From playing all those games then having no games, we were the only team that had that length of time. It came at a time when we were in good form, certainly that did not help us when we came back we lost a couple of games,” he said.

“You had a rhythm, you had a continuity, playing a game every three days. If you think, those 12 days we never played, the previous 12 days we played four games. That is something which was new to us,” he summarized in this context.

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Regrets from 2020/21 campaign

Talking about if there were any regrets regarding decisions taken during his first year with JFC, Owen Coyle was rather content with how the season went. He said, “We don’t have any regrets, what we had was what we had. You are in a bubble, you’re not able to change things, there was no doubt there were little bits that did not help us.

“All you have to remember is Jamshedpur have never been in the playoffs, you are not inheriting ATK...what we did last year was we setup defensively, we were outstanding, eight clean sheets, the club had never done that. We showed so much improvement. We are certainly on the right track to do that (represent JFC fans and improve next season),” Coyle concluded on this subject.

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