The process of selection of the Indian team head coach for the upcoming U-17 football World Cup has not
gone down well with a few members of the committee tasked to make the recommendation as they felt "bypassed" by the national federation.
The All India Football Federation has named Portuguese Luis Norton de Matos as its "number one choice" to succeed Nicolai Adam who was sacked earlier this month following complaints of physical and verbal abuse by the players.
But a member of the special committee constituted by the AIFF to recommend the coach has alleged that the national federation has bypassed the panel in naming de Matos.
"We have never recommended any coach as number one choice. AIFF has bypassed the special committee constituted by the president to select the coach of India U-17 team," a member of the special committee said on Thursday.
"There were more than 70 applications and we had pruned it down to eight and then to three-four candidates. We were to have a final meeting to select the coach. But this final meeting never happened and the AIFF on its own has now named one coach (de Matos) as their number one choice without consulting the committee. This is not right," he added.
Indian football legends Baichung Bhutia and I M Vijayan, another former India international Abhishek Yadav (also Chief Operating Officer of the U-17 team) and AIFF Technical Director Savio Madiera were among the members of the committee to shortlist the coach.
"We know the technical matters and who can be the best coach for the U-17 side but we have been bypassed by non-technical people in AIFF. The same thing happened at the time of Nicolai Adam's appointment. The AIFF officials announced his (Nicolai's) name on their own without advice from the committee. After two years what happened (to Nicolai) is for all to see," he said.
Another member also confirmed that the committee members have been told by the AIFF that there would be a final meeting to select the candidate (out of the final three or four) best suited for the job.