SC East Bengal have announced that they have parted ways with head coach, Manolo Diaz and his deputy Angel Puebla Garcia. Diaz took charge prior to this season and departs after only eight games in charge of the Kolkata giants.
Former India captain and the team's assistant coach Renedy Singh will take charge as interim head coach.
The CEO of the club Col. Shivaji Samaddar said in a statement, "We thank Jose and Angel for their contribution and support to the team in the ongoing season. I wish both of them all the best for their future endeavours."
Under Diaz, SC East Bengal endured a terrible start to the season and are comfortably bottom of the table, with just four points from eight games. In only their second ever season in the Indian Super League, SC East Bengal remain winless, with four draws and four losses so far this campaign.
Diaz was appointed following a mediocre first season under Robbie Fowler, with SC East Bengal finishing ninth in the table, just five points and two spots ahead of bottom-placed Odisha. Fowler departed ahead of this season, with Diaz taking over the reins after managing Hercules in the third tier of Spanish football.
The club endured a disrupted pre-season, as their participation in this edition of the Indian Super League was in doubt, until a late confirmation. However, Diaz struggled to get his side into any sort of form, with SC East Bengal's most notable defeat coming early in the season against rivals ATK Mohun Bagan. A 3-0 defeat in which Diaz' side failed to have a single shot on target placed early pressure on the Spanish manager's shoulders.
Big defeats against Odisha and FC Goa amped up the pressure on Diaz, as the former Real Madrid Castilla boss frequently claimed his side weren't good enough in his post-match comments. A 2-0 loss to NorthEast United was followed by a 1-1 draw against Hyderabad FC, which ended up being the last game for the Spaniard in the league.