Tied down by purse strings

Mohun Bagan8217;s glorious history is rapidly being sullied by its inglorious present, especially when it comes to financial settlement of ...

Mohun Bagan8217;s glorious history is rapidly being sullied by its inglorious present, especially when it comes to financial settlement of its players8217; dues at transfer time. Employing a simple tactic 8212; withholding salaries 8212; they virtually blackmail players into remaining on the rolls.

Star striker Asim Biswas is the latest to be caught up in this controversy. He spent a long time at the club tent yesterday arguing with officials over his payments for the season. The club owes him nearly 2.75 lakh and when Biswas asked for his dues, the officials told him that he would have to first sign the dotted line.

However, Biswas refused and began negotiations with Mohammedan Sporting. This prompted the Bagan officials to pay him a small part of that amount and an assurance that they will pay him his dues in full.

Biswas isn8217;t too optimistic. 8216;8216;Not given their record. But then, these are a different set of officials from the previous ones who had actually set the trend of non-payments to players. So let8217;s see8217;8217;, he says.

Mohun Bagan and East Bengal both receive the same 8212; about Rs 1.5 crore each 8212; for recruitment from the UB Group, an admittedly meagre amount when you realise that Jose Barreto reportedly charged in excess of Rs 50 lakh from Mohun Bagan and Bhaichung Bhutia received Rs 40 lakh from East Bengal in 2003.

However, East Bengal roped in private sponsors to offset the difference. Mohun Bagan didn8217;t, and saw the likes of James Singh and R P Singh moving over to Salgaocar in 2002.

The players don8217;t have a forum of their own when it comes to addressing such problems and are not very keen to take the extreme step, that of going to FIFA for foreign players or the AIFF.

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The AIFF treats such cases as internal matters of the club and conveniently chooses not to interfere. AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta admits: 8216;8216;In case there is a breach of contract, the Indian players do approach us and many from Bagan have done so. But I don8217;t remember anyone having gone home satisfied.8217;8217;

In short, Dutta8217;s admission proves that the AIFF has no control over any of its affiliated clubs. But in a particular case where FIFA intervened after the player complained see box, Bagan had to shell out Rs 11 lakh. Balram Chowdhury, assistant secretary of the club, ruefully says: 8216;8216;We had to pay for the sins of omission and commission by our predecessors.8217;8217;

CASH STUDY

8226; When Bagan8217;s Emeka Achilefu approached FIFA in 2003, in an unprecedented move the word governing body punished Bagan by ordering it to pay Rs. 11 lakh to the Nigerian, besides imposing a ban on recruiting foreigners for six months. The new set of office-bearers had to bear the brunt.

8226; Bhaichung Bhutia is also a victim of Bagan8217;s weird policies. He left the club in a huff in 2003 and joined East Bengal after they paid him only 65 per cent of his salary. The new set-up has cleared only a part of his dues.

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8226; The incident that takes the cake relates to Abdul Salieu, the man who helped Bagan win the NFL in 2001-2002 against Churchill Brothers with the title-clinching winner. The club held a reception in honour of the players who were given Rs 10,000 each. Salieu, too, was called on to the stage but wasn8217;t given the money.