The player now reckons that Rider has played more of a role than just encouraging him right throughout.

And now with Rider’s absence from the Indian football circuit, Jayanta reckons that his career has started to get stagnant in the recent past.

Otherwise, the young midfielder reckons that his career would have taken off on a high note as the Belgian coach had promised him about a placement in a second division Belgian team.

“I cannot forget about Rider’s promise. But I feel he also hadn’t thought of such a sudden departure from Indian soccer. If he had continued his coaching stint in Indian football, maybe I would have surely obtained the opportunity to take part in Belgian’s lower division circuit,” Jayanta said.

Looking back at the disastrous season where East Bengal finished sixth in the I-League, Jayanta, the the only consistent player among the all the other failures, doesn’t hesitate to give his own side of the story.

“The team spirit crashed totally. Later, however, Manoranjan Bhattacharya joined the club as the coach for the last seven matches. I won’t able to tell you exactly what are the reasons. We failed to come up with the needed combination in most of the matches. Secondly, our pre-season training wasn’t good enough. That is why our poor physical fitness was exposed gradually as the I-League progressed. Thirdly, an inconsistent show by the foreigners in the team throughout the I-League also played a part in the poor performance,” Jayanta explained.

Commenting on the team’s comeback in the coming season, Jayanta firmly believes in coach Manoranjan Bhattacharya’s presence.

“The players generally should not have any say in giving advice on appointment of the coach. But I believe Bhattacharya’s presence was able to unite the players’ determination. So, if Bhattacharya continues, then it can surely be a better I-League for us next season,” Jayanta remarked.