East Bengal goes into damage control mode

Kolkata: Amid speculation that coach Subhas Bhowmick`s days were numbered, East Bengal which suffered two humiliating defeats in the start of the season in IFA Shield, went into damage control mode.

The executive committee members of East Bengal including president Pranab Dasgupta and football secretary Santosh Bhattacharya met in an emergency meeting this evening and formed a core comittee that will sit with Bhowmick tomorrow. The 27-time IFA Shield champions conceded seven goals from two matches to exit from the tournament at the league stage. The club management has given the charge to the football secretary to assess their performance and talk with the coach to discuss their next course of action.According to sources, East Bengal think-tank will give the coach `an ultimatum` ahead of their campaign in the Durand Cup in New Delhi. The team management is said to be unhappy with the coach after their Shield debacle as this time they had given sole charge to Bhowmick who had an extensive pre-season training in Puri before going for a four-match exposure trip to Myanmar. But the club maintained that they were with Bhowmick. "We have full faith in him. This was just an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation. We will talk to him tomorrow and discuss about his next plans," East Bengal president Dasgupta said. Bureau Report