Kolkata: Peeved at their Australian striker Tolgay Ozbey's misconduct, Mohammedan Sporting are set to issue him a show-cause notice tomorrow, a club official said today.
"We're all pained to see the way he behaved. Being a senior player, it really sets a bad precedent. What he did that day was beyond our imagination ... We'll show cause him," football secretary Iqbal Ahmed said today.
A wasteful Ozbey was replaced by coach Moshood Bola Abdul Aziz after the break in the I-League match against Dempo and the Australian showed dissent by not turning up to sit in the bench.
At the practice today, he he did not sit alongside Abdul Aziz, further hurting the Nigerian coach. "Despite the high reputation that Ozbey has, the club would not hesitate to take disciplinary action against him," Ahmed said.
Meanwhile across the Maidan, Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa too faced a similar quandary with Odafa Okolie's listless show, only in this case the Moroccan was fully backing the struggling forward.
Their biggest humiliation after the derby defeat came yesterday after going down to qualifiers Rangdajied United FC 0-2 as they are yet to win from five outings to be pushed to 10th in the 13-team table. Under severe criticism, Bencherifa, however, said it was not the time to quit and escape the situation.
"I take the full responsibility, but that does not mean I've to escape from the situation," Bencherifa said today. The Moroccan sounded positive and added, "It's not that we are playing bad football."
Giving his full support to Odafa, Bencherifa said, "He is doing well, but unfortunately for us opposition goalkeepers are coming out with something special. The players are just in need to be motivated at this hour."
