Firstpost Exclusive: Mumbai City coach Petr Kratky reveals his vision for the club and young Indian players

Mumbai City FC’s new coach Petr Kratky has a difficult job in front of him. It’s tough being handed over the reins of a club midway through the season, and now the Islanders have lost arguably the best player in the Indian Super League - Greg Stewart. Currently busy with the Kalinga Super Cup, Mumbai are fourth in the ISL 2023-24 points table, four behind table-toppers Kerala Blasters. Last season, Mumbai won the League Winner’s Shield by breaking the records for points and goals scored. The expectations are the same for this season. At any club owned by the City Football Group (CFG), which also controls the Premier League giant Manchester City, winning trophies while playing an attacking brand of football is always the target. Kratky has to manage the same expectations but it’s nothing short of a baptism by fire. The former Melbourne City youth and assistant coach is in his first job as a manager of a club. This means he has to try to achieve many things at once - win trophies, play an attacking brand of football, develop Indian players which has been one of the club’s ambitions and make a solid first impression as a head coach. There will be questions about the coach, his system, his plans for young Indian players and what he can achieve. Kratky spoke exclusively to Firstpost as he explained his vision for Mumbai City, what the possibilities will be for young Indian players, who can be a replacement for Stewart and how difficult it is to be a manager. Excerpts: Q: This is your first job as a head coach. Can you tell me how much things have changed for you? Have you had to untrain yourself and learn new things? Kratky: It’s a little bit different role than what I did in Melbourne, but, all that I did in Melbourne was to prepare myself for this role. I have to change because it’s more about management and starting to interact with directors and CEOs. It’s more about communication and management than training and tactics. So far enjoying the role, but again, it’s different. When we do our licenses and pro diplomas, we are trained about what to expect. I knew what to expect, obviously the experience wasn’t there. It’s different, but again, it’s nothing that scares me or makes me uncomfortable, but it’s challenging me actually to be better at football. Q: How much extra do you have to work in the new role? Kratky: To be honest, it’s not extra work because as a head coach or manager, you rely on your staff. I have a very good staff and it has made it easier for me. I think I worked more physically when I was an assistant coach than now as a head coach. Now it’s more about management and making sure that all department works well together. So I have read this earlier also, and you said that you always prepared yourself to become a head coach, but how difficult is it to become a head coach midway through the season and then lose one of your best players? Can you tell me what is going on behind the scenes in Mumbai City? What can we see in this transfer window?  Kratky: Look, it’s always difficult when you go mid-season because you have to know all the players, you have to know the staff and then you have one of your best players leave. But again, these are the challenges that I embrace. If I find the solutions or when we find the solution as a team, as a club and make it work with or without the players (who left), it will make us stronger for the future. These obstacles will come, you know, players pick up injuries, you have players right now away with the national team. There is always something in football. From the club’s point of view and my own, I want good players and good characters. I don’t know if the transfers will be at end of the January or later on at the end of the season. As you know, everything happens always at the end of the transfer window. We’re working hard behind the scenes to make it work for our club and our team. And we just have to wait a little bit for what actually will happen.

📽️ LZ Chhangte speaks on coach Petr Kratky settling into the club and sheds light on the gaffer's efforts to balance his own ambitions with the club's culture 🗣️

Watch the full #InTheStands episode from @IndSuperLeague here: https://t.co/K8C08Exj9g#MumbaiCity #AamchiCity 🔵 pic.twitter.com/bg3UccJjYu

— Mumbai City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) January 12, 2024

Q: What is your impression of Indian football now that you have had a good amount of time here? Especially if you compare to Australian football. Kratky: Yeah, look, I’m very impressed, to be honest. It’s very, very similar to Australia and the only difference is some rules when you can’t play all six foreigners. So I have to get my head around it. But in terms of quality, the foreigners and even local Indian players, especially in Mumbai, are very good. They have potential, they have room for improvement, which makes me excited about the work here. We have players in the national team. We have six players with the national team. The more you play, the better you get, but with our system and in our way. Indian football has massive potential and I believe if we do good jobs for years and years in development and help the young players, there will be few Indian players in a period of five or 10 years, knocking on the door in the big competitions, like in Australia. So we just need to do a good job and support the young players. Q: Will developing young players be area of focus for you? Kratky: Yeah, we want to work with young players. We want to give them opportunities. But we have to balance it. Because we need to perform. We need to win as well. We are in a club where we want to win. We want to have trophies. So we have to support young players. We will give them the opportunity. But as I said multiple times in media, if they deserve it, they work hard, the opportunity will come. I don’t know when. I can’t promise you will play next week or the week after, but the opportunity will come. If they work hard and have good character and good attitude, they will get opportunities. And they’re showing it on a daily basis. So I’m not afraid to play young players. I’m not afraid, you know, to change foreigner. If they deserve it, they will play. I’m here to support them, support the youngsters, because my background, it’s in junior development. I spoke with the national team coach as well, a little bit about this. I said, if he needs any support, we are here to support the Indian players as much as we can. But again, it needs to be a balance of how we want to perform. We want to win and also improve players. Q. If you have to give a message to your squad through this interview, what will it be? Kratky: Yeah, the message will be - we have to stick together. We need to work for each other and play the way how we want to play football and everything else will be taken care of. You know, the attitude is everything and the mindset. Through highs and lows, just keep working and stick to our way, how we want to play.