Bhutia granted work permit

NEW DELHI, SEPT 15: The long wait ended this morning with an official statement that must have been sweet music to Baichung Bhutia. The 2...

NEW DELHI, SEPT 15: The long wait ended this morning with an official statement that must have been sweet music to Baichung Bhutia. The 22-year-old is now all set to become the first Indian to play in English professional football league.

According to sources, the official club statement this morning read, 8220;Bury Football Club had confirmation this morning, Wednesday 15th September, that Her Majesty8217;s Government has granted a work permit for Baichung Bhutia. The 22-year-old, captain of the Indian national team, has played forty games for his country, scoring 25 goals.8221;

Bury, a second division Club, popularly called as Shakers, currently lie in the lower half of the division with nine points from seven games.

For some weeks now, Bhutia8217;s fate hung in the balance as he awaited the work permit which is essential for all professional footballers before they can make an appearance in English leagues. Then the news that the initial application for work permit had been rejected had put a question mark on whether or not the Indian star would be able in England, at least for the present.

Given a period of just two days to make an appeal, the club reacted with alacrity and put up a fresh appeal. They applied pressure from various quarters, including local pro-India MPs and back-ups like video evidence of Bhutia8217;s football skills and a plea that Bhutia8217;s presence would help improve racial relations in the area, which has a large Indian and Asian population.

This morning, just as Bury were still recovering from the setback of losing their key player Lutel James to an injury 8212; a broken leg above his ankle 8212; came the news about the work permit for Bhutia. The team is also bogged down by injuries to some other players.

Bhutia may well be playing his first match as early this Saturday, when Bury8217;s face Wycomb Wanderers at home.

Story continues below this ad

Neil Warnock, the manager of the club, after announcing the clearance of the permit, said, 8220;We have done everything the right way. We have tried to obtain British players and have had loads of trials at the club since the end of last season. We just simply have not seen anyone who can compare to the class of this player.8221;

8220;The Professional Footballers8217; Association might think that we would be denying one of their members a job if Bhutia is employed at the club, but that simply isn8217;t the case; we have tried to obtain British players.8221;

When Bhutia played in a pre-season friendly game at Hyde United in July, he turned out under an assumed name, Andrew Jones. That was apparently done to conceal his identity and Bury8217;s interest in him for the fear of some other club poaching on him.