Carvalho gets a promise

Carvalho said Charlesworth called him to say: “We are on the same wavelength. I will not interfere with your coaching methods and I have no intention of taking away whatever good you have done with the Indian team.

“Ric has confirmed to me that he will not interfere with our preparation for the Beijing Olympics and the qualifier prior to the Games,” Carvalho said.

“It will also be difficult for Ric to involve in coaching of the team at such a short notice and his appointment is not considered by me as any worry,” he said.

Carvalho, however, made it clear that it would not be binding on his coaching team to accept Charlesworth’s advice. “He (Charlesworth) has his stature as a coach and administrator. As far as I am concerned, my coaching staff will remain undisturbed. We have MM Somaiya as our technical director.

“Any inputs by Ric for the betterment of hockey will be accepted only after the whole team management has discussed those. Our (the senior team’s) interest has been put down firmly to Ric. We will not accept interference from any quarters,” Carvalho said.

“We welcome him in any capacity and theoretically, we want his inputs and all his plans to aid the betterment of Indian hockey. We have played alongside in the past. He is no stranger to me. We recognise him as a great player of repute,” he said.

Carvalho said Charlesworth might be useful for the men’s team in arranging some practice matches with foreign sides before the Olympic qualifiers next year.

“Ric will not be interfering in my coaching methods and skills of the players. We will decide before accepting his inputs but we will greatly appreciate his services in arranging a couple of matches away from India before the Olympic qualifier as already discussed between us,” he said.

Carvalho said Charlesworth was aware about the unpleasant episode Indian hockey went through during the stint of German coach Gerhard Rach with the national side and could restrict himself while performing his duty.

“What happened prior to and after Athens (Olympics) under Gerhard was not good. I remember those uncomfortable incidents when he was the coach and its bad effects,” the Aussie told Carvalho.

Citing examples of Paul Lissek and Terry Walsh’s stints with Malaysia and Roelant Oltmans’ association with Pakistan, Carvalho did not back the idea of hiring foreign coaching staff for any national side.

“There was no appreciable improvement in the Malaysian standards and Pakistan winning the World Cup with Oltmans as its coach was not because of the latter since he was given little leeway in preparing the team,” he said.