football – The Hindu

Aidy Broothyod
| Photo Credit: K. RAGESH

Aidy Boothroyd is impressed with the young talent in Indian football. And he is someone who has worked with some of the brightest stars of English football, like Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Dominic Solanke when they were juniors.

Boothroyd was the manager of the England youth teams for seven years. He worked with Gareth Southgate, the much respected England manager, for five years. And he was the man who once took Watford to the Premier League from the brink of relegation.

He could not achieve something quite like that with Jamshedpur FC, his first team outside England. The team had a poor ISL, but it reached the semifinals of the Super Cup, here a few days ago, playing some attacking football.

Could do better

Boothroyd believes India could do better than its current FIFA ranking of 101. He is particularly impressed with Sunil Chhetri, Ritwik Das and Sandesh Jhingan.

“From what I’ve seen India could be better than where they are now,” he told The Hindu. “The most important and the most positive thing about the Indian players is their character. They are willing to learn and want to be better. It’s about getting them to believe in themselves.”

Will he consider coaching an Indian junior or senior team at some point of time in the future?

“I would consider anything,” he said. “I think my time in Europe has been well spent. Coming here has opened my eyes to a brand new way of playing the game, a brand new way of living. It has a different, vibrant culture, India has got me going again.”

He is not surprised that the Premier League is followed passionately in India. “It is so exciting, it is fast, it is furious,” he says. “The build-up to it all is, is huge. And you have got packed out stadiums. People are doing all that they can to get to the games.”

He believes the Premier League has changed for the better over the years. “Over a period of time, more foreign coaches have come in, and the English coaches have caught up now,” he says. “Even the FA Cup is very competitive, and everyone wants to win it.”