Over the last 15 years, you worked with both Vijayan and Bhutia. Who did you find more difficult to replace?
Comparing Vijayan and Bhaichung would be an injustice to their contribution to Indian football. When Vijayan retired six or seven years ago, we had a huge problem, I realised how much of a difference there was between him and the players replacing him. We had managed without Bhaichung when he was away playing in England, but couldn’t find an alternative to Vijayan.

What do you feel is the reason behind the decline in quality strikers?
It’s not that the number of talented players has gone down. In fact, there are more players like Bhaichung, Vijayan and Sunil (Chhetri) — who have that little bit extra — than there were five years ago. But the number of opportunities they get at the club level has fallen drastically as most teams play foreign strikers. At JCT, Sunil Chhetri scored 12 goals in 2007, eclipsing his Brazilian strike partner Edu. Even today, the club plays two Indian forwards — Baljit Sahni and Balwant Singh. Unfortunately, this is not the case with most other teams.

But hasn’t the presence of foreigners lifted the standards? Climax Lawrence has credited his improvement to playing alongside Beto for Dempo...

There’s no doubt about the positives of having foreigners in the I-League. Apart from skills, it helps Indian players rub shoulders against bigger and stronger opponents, which they need at the international level. But how many foreigners playing in India currently have the quality? Most clubs are playing three foreigners, but how many are household names apart from Ranty Martins, Odafa Okolie, Beto and Chidi? It’s more sensible to play an average Indian than a substandard foreigner. Effectively, in playing five foreigners, we are losing out on at least three Indians per team.