Jamshedpur FC coach Steve Coppell: My return to Kerala will be sweet and not bitter-sweet

New Delhi, Nov 13: Steve Coppell, the former head coach of Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters, now the current boss at newly added Jamshedpur FC has claimed his return to the Kerala as an opposing manager will be pretty much nostalgic to him.

ISL this season has added two new members in their family. After Bengaluru FC's jump from I League to ISL, newbie Jamsehdpur FC also joined the ranks earlier this year as a completely new franchise.

In their first step, this Tata-owned football franchise lured the Englishman from Kerala Blasters this season where he guided them to a second place finish last season.

And while talking about his return to his former side, Coppell heaped on his former clubs fan base and said that he expects his homecoming to be grand with good football.

"It won't be bittersweet. It will be sweet-sweet. Always good to go back to Kerala. It's a hotbed for football and they appreciate football. I hope on the night football wins but I am on the other side," said Coppell.

He also added that he left his Blasters job this season for the newly formed team only because he wanted to have a new challenge and creating a new history with the squad.

"There were rumours two new teams would join from this edition. Tata and Jamshedpur will be a healthy addition. When I spoke to them I felt it will be a massive challenge to start something new. It will be history whatever Jamshedpur FC does. That attracted me to come back. "

ISl this season inducted a new system where after retaining a couple of players, every franchise has to choose remaining players from ISL draft system. And in this process, Jamshedpur could only capture 3-4 first choice players from a list of around a dozen players as at the end of the process there were very few top players available. And while talking about the system, the former Manchester United player claimed that he is not at all impressed with the Indian Super League’s existing draft system and he would rather prefer an open auction for players.

“I would prefer an open market instead of going round and round. Hope the draft doesn’t take place next year, but I don’t know,” Coppell said at the ISL Media Day on Sunday.

The Englishman added, “We had picked number one as three.

“We got a good goalkeeper and a solid defender. We had a list of a dozen names, but we got only 3-4 of them. But we made sure we had players in the right positions. I don’t think it’s an ideal way of doing things.”

Jamshedpur will take on Blasters on the second match day of the tournament which will come to action from November 17th.