He told reporters today at the Yuba Bharati Kriragangan: “Staging the IFA Shield now won’t help the players at all to improve their standard. More importantly, the selected players for the senior national camp won’t get adequate time to recover from tiredness and injuries and that will finally affect the national team’s performance in the international arena.”

Houghton suggests that championships like the IFA Shield and Durand Cup should be staged before the Federation Cup and the I-League as preparatory tournaments for the two serious championships. Asked about the dearth of Indian strikers, Houghton blamed at the attitude problem of the Indian premier clubs.

He said: “The clubs must begin to think of not roping in foreign strikers for one or two seasons. They should find quality Indian strikers and give them proper exposure. Otherwise, strikers like Manjit Singh and Abhishek Yadav, despite getting opportunity to play as strikers with the national team, won’t be able to flourish as they do not get exposure as strikers while representing club teams.”