Tutu Bose: Club traditions won’t be compromised by ATK-Mohun Bagan merger

The Mohun Bagan President also hinted at the budget of the new entity next season.

ATK announced a merger with fellow Kolkata club Mohun Bagan on Thursday, confirming that the two clubs will become one entity to play in the Indian Super League (ISL) from the 2020-21 season onwards.

With the deal seeing Sanjeev Goenka’s RPSG Group acquiring 80% shares of Mohun Bagan, 20% are to be retained by the Mariners' existing Board of Directors. Mohun Bagan President Swapan Sadhan Bose (Tutu Bose) is among those heavily involved in the development and has insisted that it was important for the Mariners to get the deal done.

[KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

“To continue operating at the highest level, we needed to get the investors on board. We are happy to get them (RPSG) on board as our investors. They (Goenkas) were a member of the club. We are really happy to get one of the biggest investors available with the club and on top of everything, a Calcuttan,” Tutu Bose said.

There have been plenty of reports about what the future holds for the Mariners, with ATK getting the majority of share in this deal. But, Tutu Bose insisted that nothing has been formally discussed or confirmed yet.

[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

"The jersey, name of the club hasn’t been decided yet. That will all be done after everything is sealed and done. But, we won’t play with the emotions of the fans. We know how important the traditions are for the supporters,” he revealed.

For now, only a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the two clubs. In the next 45 days, all the legal paperwork will be done to confirm the takeover from the RPSG Group.

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | Article Continues Below"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

But, Bose hinted that ₹40 crores will be the budget of the new team going into next season, to make sure that the combined unit can tough it out with the very best of the ISL. There is still a lot of uncertainty among the fanbases on which players from which teams will be retained for the next campaign.

Regardless, the biggest winner of this deal has to be the ISL, which will definitely see a spike in interest from the next season onwards. Kolkata football will also see a new giant emerging when the deal is completed, with these two heavyweights forming one single entity to make sure that Kolkata retains its pride of place at the pinnacle of Indian football.