"I was not supposed to trust these people. They don't have time to run football and they don't know how to run. I'm sorry to say that. Having a president like that, whose most important thing is how many clicks he's got on his social media and how to get pictures with some famous football people instead of taking good care about his own institution... it's a ridiculous thing."
Speaking for the first time after his sacking by the All India Football Federation, Igor Stimac went in two-footed on the federation and the bosses within. Wearing an orange India training kit and looking calm, Stimac spoke for two hours with the passion and eager earnestness that has characterised his interaction with the Indian media over the past half-decade. And he was outspoken as ever, telling the journalists, "your football is imprisoned."
There was no visible anger after his abrupt sacking, but his evident dislike of AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey and his associates were bared for all to see. "Sooner [Chaubey] leaves this position and disappears; Indian football stands a chance. It's very simple," he said.
This personal dislike underlined almost everything Stimac said of his time at the helm of the Indian team, especially when outlining how little support the new administration gave him.
He also did speak openly about his struggles here, including a serious issue that had not been public knowledge before Friday. "No one knows this," said Stimac. "I was in the hospital [in December 2023]. I was really disturbed with everything that was going on, stressed, and suffering from obvious problems at that time. I had immediate surgery on my heart, getting two stents."
"I was putting myself on the line and going to the Asian Cup to organize the camp for the team although I should have been at home resting, but I wanted to give my best shot with my boys and that's what we did."
He explained that's why he got Trevor Sinclair on board just for the Asian Cup: "I needed to make sure that someone is there with me if anything happens to me, so he can help Mahesh [Gawli, assistant coach] also and organize the work. We couldn't let anything there happen unexpectedly," he said.
The AIFF, meanwhile, have said they will issue a statement on Stimac's remarks in the next 48 hours.
What, then, did Stimac talk about? We try and pick out the main topics the coach touched, and those that he perhaps left untouched.
On the sacking:
Stimac said that AIFF general secretary Satyanarayana had got in touch with him to discuss holding the Intercontinental Cup in July (Here Stimac would also go on the attack, asking how they could do an international tournament out of the FIFA window and while the ISL clubs start pre-season preparation). He then asked Stimac to present a report at the next technical committee meeting. He was then suddenly asked, "'coach would it be okay for you to receive three months' salary and to leave your position'," he said.
"I said to him 'dear Satya, no it wouldn't be okay, but I will give you good reasons. One reason is there is no rush because there is no game coming soon to Indian football team. The second reason is I am negotiating with two parties my job for the future so... [once he accepts an offer] you will not need to pay more than one [month's] salary. So just be patient and let me let me agree the terms and that will be it.'"
"On the other hand, I told him if you want to do it earlier then I need someone else to take responsibility and accept that there are other parties involved in the huge disappointment which we had, because this team didn't deserve to be abandoned at the crucial moments of its possible success and glory which was ahead of us at that time prior to the games against Afghanistan and Kuwait."
He also said, "They decided to terminate the contract which cannot be terminated by their side, because they need to pay full amount once the charges are pressed at the FIFA court. That was not something which should happen in a serious organization led by serious people."
An 'I said, they said' situation now, it's important that the AIFF clarifies the situation and how liable the federation would be for this decision if FIFA were to arbitrate on it.
Meanwhile, Stimac also said that his mind had been made up to leave before this. "I had decided to leave my position even if we qualified for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers because it was impossible for me to keep going on in this way without a proper support, just listening to lies, promises and people who were more worried about their own private interests instead of taking a proper care about the football house and its own national team."
On the lack of support from the AIFF:
Stimac spoke about how while he, Gawli and his Croatian assistant had gotten their extended contracts in October 2023, none of his other support staff had. He also mentioned a lack of support for equipment: "Working without GPS equipment, not getting video cameras which I requested a long time ago prior to the Asian Cup... which me and my analyst Joy Gabriel arranged for AIFF for $1000 to purchase for one year so we can have and obtain a normal work and analyse our training sessions. I even told them if you have problem with the budget I will pay, but AIFF [said they] will do it that."
"Of course, it was not done once again, so working without any equipment whatsoever not even platforms like wyscout. Throughout the time we were renting match analyst from Goa. Always having problem 'is he going to come or not going to come', 'is it possible for him to be with the team'.
"We were stealing the platforms from FC Goa wyscout and... and that's how we operated, and no one knows this."
On the domestic football scene:
The "your football is imprisoned" quote comes from here, while talking about the conditions and understanding with which he had taken up the job (which included ensuring OCI/PIO players would be allowed to play for India). But how exactly is the football imprisoned? He mentioned the contract between FSDL and the AIFF was not a favourable one for Indian football and that "certain rules need to be followed."
"Rules like why we still don't have relegation in our leagues when even AFC accepted the football (road)map. Without relegation there is no competitive football in the league and there is no pressure on the players. We cannot expect our players to do better while there is no high tense football or pressure football in the games in the league. That's one of the weakest things in our domestic competition at the moment."
He would repeat the point later on, more emphatically, and for good reason. "My God! Without relegation battle what kind of a league is that? What kind of a competition is that?"
He also said, "the top tier cannot be run by the corporate business. It needs to be run by the football federation. So, until that doesn't change it will not get any better. It needs to be run by the football people, not by the cricket people."
While the PIO/OCI issue was never within the ambit of the AIFF, Stimac's observation on the ISL needing relegation are certainly with merit.
On the struggle ahead of the Afghanistan World Cup qualifier:
Stimac said that Afghanistan's travel arrangements were much better than India's even for the game in Guwahati. "The [fact that] Afghanistan players slept all night, and they reached Guwahati before us tells you [about] who is in charge of our organisation and what kind of a people [they are]. Even the new coach will have to deal with [this], but nothing will change, believe me."
The preparations were far from ideal, and the coach's comment should lead to questioning of the Federation's conduct. But the team's display on the pitch wasn't good either and Stimac never really addressed this on-field performance issue.
On changing the Indian football calendar:
"Of course, the calendar needs to be adjusted to satisfy everyone, not to prioritise the national team. I never insisted on such a thing," he said.
He had, of course, on multiple occasions previously insisted more or less on this very same thing, asking the domestic leagues to tailor their calendar to maximise the team India players would spend at national camps ahead of big matches.
He also added, "India needs to invest to have possibility of having a normal football calendar which will go on for 10 months. It needs to go on for 10 months. Simple as that. Because if you organise the calendar in that way then there will be enough time between the games for coaches and players to work on the various things not only for travel and playing games."
You can see a lot of hassled ISL and I-league coaches agreeing with this remark.
On fixture finalisation:
"Whatever they have done arranging Kings Cup and Merdeka Cup was hurting our team." Stimac said that these tournaments were entered into without consultation with him and this hurt them because he had earlier gotten into an understanding with FSDL.
"I offered to them to give up October and November FIFA windows in replacement to having good preparation camp for the Asian Games, bigger and more days camp for before the World Cup qualifiers in September against Kuwait, and four-week camp prior to the Asian Cup, but as I told you already once the new people in the football house decided to arrange games without consulting me and talking to me [that couldn't be done]."
On national team success being more important than clubs':
"The thing which is not understandable to me," he said, "is that the people who are running the football and decision-making don't understand that no club success in India will help Indian football. No. Only success of the Indian national team can make football explode. Only that. So everyone should be working in that direction."
On expectations around the Indian team:
He would go on a tangent here, and say if Indian clubs couldn't beat Bangladeshi and Maldivian ones, why is there surprise when the national team loses one game to Afghanistan. "Why is that surprise? We don't have foreign players in our national team. And our clubs do."
"Why are we surprised that national team sometimes slips down and loses game(s) against lower [ranked teams]? Why are we surprised that we sometimes don't do well, if we don't have U16, U18, U19, U23 qualifying for the Asian Cup? Where is this hope coming from? How realistic we are about what's going on in India and Indian football?"
Now, this in no way should absolve him of his responsibility to the national team winning very winnable games, but his point of the age group teams performing and qualifying for big tournaments in merit is something that we've always maintained that the Federation should be prioritising.
On his impact as India coach:
"We did our best to be honest," he said. "The football we played, I will repeat myself, I'm very proud of."
"Because to enter India football five years ago and to see how the football was played, and to change everything, to turn things around, to believe in youngsters, to open the door to them, to give to so many of them debut, to insist on playing fearless football, intelligent football, vertical football, to insist on quick passing and moving, and to reach that level...
"In most of our games I need to be proud and satisfied with what we have done. And we did it because only because we trusted each other we created an environment of trust and belief and faith. And we were never letting our belief let us go. We stayed on our path, good or bad days, we believed in what we do. And if others were following us the way we were and supported us, we would be far, far better with the results at the end of the day."
Our view of this isn't as rosy as Stimac's and it's covered in detail here.