Rozario in pursuit of coaching excellence

“I would say I’m lucky to have handled different kinds of challenges in such a short time. This is something all aspiring coaches yearn for and I have learned everywhere,” says Stanley.

As the national team’s assistant coach,Stanley’s decision to move to professional football was purely for monetary reasons,but there hasn’t been too much of a difficulty in shifting gears. “I got a lot of confidence from coaching the national team. It stemmed from working with the best players in the country. It helped me a lot to begin with club football.”

He identifies the challenges as distinctly different,but refuses to pick his best destination as a coach. “Everywhere you have different targets to work with. You have to study the strength of the team and analyse the mental attitude of the players. The experience varies with places,” Stanley adds.

On that front,Kolkata seems to have edged Goa in terms of demands. “In Kolkata a coach is always under pressure,from the fans,management and media. The result is much more important than in Goa. In Kolkata,I remember getting phone calls from fans in the middle of the night. This will never happen in Goa.”