Subrata Paul questions Indian players' attitude and team spirit: 'My responsibility to point that out'

Former India goalkeeper and current national team director Subrata Paul has raised serious concerns about the Indian football team’s attitude and team spirit. Paul made these comments after India’s disappointing 0-0 draw against Bangladesh in an Asian Cup qualifier in Shillong earlier this year.

In a meeting with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) technical committee on 17 April, Paul reportedly said that the players showed a lack of desire and spirit. According to the minutes of the meeting accessed by the Hindustan Times, Paul said the team had issues with player attitude, team unity, and even “patriotism.”

“Paul highlighted several key challenges faced by the Senior National Team. These included issues related to Player’s attitude (sic), patriotism and overall team spirit,” the minutes read. However, Paul later clarified that he did not talk about patriotism and that he didn’t know how the word got into the minutes.

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Indian football legend and current executive committee member of AIFF, Bhaichung Bhutia, said Paul should explain what he meant and name the players who weren’t giving their best. Bhutia and Paul were teammates during India’s successful run between 2007 and 2011.

“And he should name the players who he felt had not given their best so that they are not chosen anymore,” Bhutia said.

Paul explains his comments

While speaking on the matter, Paul said that he didn’t see the same hunger to perform for the country during the Bangladesh clash that players like Bhutia, Climax Lawrence, Deepak Mondal, and Sameer Naik had shown in the past.

He added that it’s his job to highlight these issues, even if some people don’t like it. He also said that the team is in a transition phase with a mix of experienced and new players, which could be why they haven’t gelled as a unit yet.

“I missed the desire that I saw in so many of my seniors and contemporaries such as Bhaichung bhai, Climax Lawrence, Sameer Naik, Deepak Mondal to name a few. The desire to play for the national team overrode everything including injuries,” Paul was quoted as saying by HT.

“It is my responsibility as national team director to point that out. If this makes me unpopular, so be it,” he said.

“Even there, the performance was not what was expected and I pointed that out to the technical committee. This is a team that has some players with a lot of experience and some with little. It is a team in transition and maybe that is why it did not gel,” Paul added.

The match against Bangladesh was Paul’s first official game in his new role as director. Since that match, India lost two more games - a 0-2 defeat against Thailand in a friendly and a 0-1 loss to Hong Kong in another AFC Asian Cup qualifier.