The request for offering the Santosh Trophy players such hefty remuneration for the first time in the tournament’s history has come from Bengal’s new coach Krishnendu Roy, who reckons that with more and money getting pumped into sports in recent years, it’s high time the players should be motivated through high financial offers so that they can deliver their best in this tournament.

The IFA has decided to conduct a week’s residential camp at Bolpur to ensure the team combination grows stronger. And Roy, who was awarded with the coveted coach’s job following his success with the junior Bengal team a few years ago, feels that the Bengal squad, despite the absence of so-called stars, will still have enough strength to earn back the champion’s title after a span of eight years.

Roy has begun training the Bengal contingent from May 12 at the Mohammedan Sporting ground. Twenty-one probables turned out today including Debabrata Roy, Vimal Periyar, Vijay Basfore — all from East Bengal and Moun Bagan. The coach seems a little worried though on the goalkeeping front. East Bengal custodian Abhra Mondal hasn’t yet joined the preparatory camp. He has reportedly been forced to stay out of the camp due to illness. Arnab Das Sharma, the custodian from Bengal who has had a consistent showing with Air-India in the last edition of the I-League, has also been absent from the ongoing camp, surprisingly, without giving any explanation.

Coach Roy is also a shade anxious about the status of East Bengal striker Vimal Periyar on the fitness front. He told The Indian Express: “Periyar has got a serious injury on his right knee. He is not being able to run even. Let us wait and see how he improves over the next few days.”

The experienced coach is quite optimistic ahead of the Santosh Trophy, after getting a hang of the boys’ enthusiasm at the training sessions in the sweltering summer heat.