ISL 2017: Ranko Popovic, the man to turn tables around at FC Pune City?
Mumbai: Having been appointed as the coach of Indian Super League (ISL) franchisee FC Pune City, Ranko Popovic comes to India with a huge task in hand. Following fruitless stints in three years, under three different managers – Franco Colomba, David Platt and Antonio Lopez Habas – the Stallions are aiming to taste silverware now that they have got the Serbian tactician on board.
When questioned about the pressure to extract results given the demands of the management, Ranko Popovic clearly puts forward his goals.
“One thing is what you want, other thing is what you get. If there is a big gap between these two things, you have three times the problem. You must be realistic about what you can get. There have been no results in 3 years and you want it now in 30 days? No! You first have to make the base for this through training, building strong mentality and other factors.”
“When you have an idea and a philosophy, you need to start from scratch. You have to build the foundation and then it’s easy to build what you want. I have played football all my life to win and I want my boys to learn the same,” the 50-year-old said during a media interaction here.
Popovic knows how cruel the sport can be to managers. Slavoljub Muslin, former coach of Serbia, was ousted by the national team despite leading them to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“In my modest opinion, the way managers are getting sacked without any respect these days is very terrible for football. Muslin is my friend and I’m happy not only for him, but for the national team. He knows what’s happened there but you cannot reach somewhere if you change managers day-to-day or year-to-year. You must have some way and you must devote some time. Things will click at the right moments, but it’s difficult for teams to know this,” the former Buriram United boss asserted.
With the Maharashtra outfit failing to qualify for the knockout stages in the past, Popovic will be raring to reach that mark in the upcoming season.
