Mumbai: Indian Super League franchise Kerala Blasters parted ways with head coach Rene Meulensteen after a string of poor performances in the ongoing fourth edition of the competition.
“Kerala Blasters and head coach Rene Meulensteen have decided to mutually part ways with immediate effect due to the latter’s personal reasons,” said an official press release by the ISL on Tuesday.
“I’d like to thank the management, staff, players and amazing fans for this experience and wish them well for the future,” said Meulensteen in a statement.
The decision to step aside for former assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester Untied came after the Blasters’ 3-1 defeat against the ISL newbies Bengaluru FC at home on the final day of 2017. The coach seemed to have lost the faith in his players as was evident in the post-match conference, where he pointed out human errors that led to the three goals.
“All goals were self-inflicted. You can’t legislate for human error, it is as simple as that. We have ourselves to blame,” said the Dutch tactician after the match.
For a team that missed the title by a whisker last season, Kerala have so far failed to replicate their performances from the previous season with just one win from the seven games, despite possessing the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Wes Brown, Iain Hume and CK Vineeth in their ranks.
Currently positioned eighth, the team played out four draws in seven matches, including two big losses that prompted Meulensteen to step down as the coach. Although hugely successful at Manchester, his campaign in India has been a disaster so far and perhaps the immense pressure put on him by the fans and management alike may have played a major role in his resigning as the head coach.
“The club likes to thank Rene for all the hard work in his time at the club. The replacement would be announced soon,” said Varun Tripuraneni, CEO of Kerala Blasters in a statement released by the club.
Menwhile, assistant coach Thangboi Singto will take charge of the team as an interim coach until the club can find someone suitable to replace Muelensteen.
This is however not the first time that Blasters are parting ways with their coach in the middle of an ISL season. In 2015, the club had sacked Englishman Peter Taylor after the team had suffered four consecutive losses. Former East Bengal gaffer Trevor James Morgan was then appointed to look into the affairs until the end of the season that year.
Kerala Blasters next play Pune FC on January 4, before travelling to Delhi to take on fellow strugglers Dynamos.