'Academy shouldn't be used to gobble up funds'

Manjur Kader. A name that evokes praise and controversy in equal measure. Since taking over the Dhanmondi Club in 2009, this veteran sports organiser has turned the small club into one of the most successful ones of the country, helping revive the country's fledgling football scene. But he has also earned a fair share of detractors, both due to on-field and off-field activities. In the wake of Sheikh Jamal's King's Cup success, The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman and Atique Anam caught up with this organiser to talk about the club's history, present football activities and the current state of football in Bangladesh.

DS: Tell us briefly about the history of Dhanmondi Club and how it turned into Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.

MK: Well, I have been associated with sports, especially football, for more than four decades, with clubs like Abahani and Muktijoddha Sangsad. I left football for a while, but when my friend Kazi Salahuddin was elected as the president of Bangladesh Football Federation in 2008, I thought I could return to football again. The Dhanmondi Club was a small club, playing in the second division, when a few officials of the club came to me to form a team. I told them if I take charge, I would form a big team and I would like to name it after Lieutenant Sheikh Jamal. The first AGM was held on April 28, 2009 where the name of Lieutenant Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Limited was unanimously passed.

DS: There are whispers in sports arena that if Awami League goes out of power, Sheikh Jamal may get down to the relegation zone.

MK: It's not right. Kamal bhai (Sheikh Kamal) formed Abahani. But even after his death, Abahani has remained as a pioneer club in all sports. Awami League doesn't give us money. We have political people of all parties in the club, but they are all sports related people.

DS: Does your club run with its own source of income?

MK: No sports clubs in our country has its own source of income. We all have to 'beg, borrow, and steal' and also use our own money to run day-to-day activities of the club.

DS: Other clubs accuse you of distorting the balance of the transfer market by buying players at a high price.

MK: This is not a fair accusation. Everything has its own market price.  After I arrived, players are getting paid regularly. I am not crazy that I would splash the cash like that. I am giving the players what they deserve.

DS: Despite forming a big-budgeted team in professional league's debut season in 2010, success didn't come right away. It was only by one point that they secured the league title, which too, was later deemed to have involved 'compromised matches'. A host of stars left the club in the following year and Sheikh Jamal only finished sixth in the league. Did the controversy surrounding the previous league title make you feel less encouraged?

MK: Not at all. It didn't demoralise me. The players who left the club after the first season might have done so as they were not getting enough chances to play since there were better foreign players available. The problem was that our own players couldn't score.

DS: Why is it that most of the foreigners in the Dhaka football scene, even in your club, are African, despite many of them being sub-standard?

MK: We prefer Africans because their physical fitness is good and they adapt easily with the weather and food culture here, which the Europeans don't.

DS: There are allegations that our players don't always give the same level of effort for the national team that they do when playing for clubs. Why do you think that happens?

MK: Maybe the football authority lacks enough people to motivate players of the national team. We should do everything to discipline the players as much as we should do to motivate them. They should be encouraged with soft words; they feel good when they get incentives.

DS: But do you think the infrastructure provided to them is good enough?

MK: You see, we don't have a gym or a swimming pool for the national team. These things are very much required for the physical fitness of sportsmen and are prevalent in modern sports entities elsewhere. BFF should get support from the government, from the sports ministry. Those in the BFF and the sports ministry need to be serious. You have to spread the game to villages, to schools to find and groom talents. You have to have a good youth academy. Now we have a so-called academy. But academies need to be run by professionals. The academy shouldn't be used to gobble up funds.

DS: Talking of academies, you had taken an initiative to build a youth academy in your club. Why did you give up the idea?

MK: I built the infrastructure, but found that it has no value. The professionalism needed to run academies is not present here. My players were being poached away by other clubs, and the federation could do nothing. So I gave up.

DS: But according to AFC guideline, all professional league clubs must have a youth team. Your club still does not have one and did not participate in two successive youth championships.

MK: You see it's not possible to run a youth team without the infrastructure and with a tiny amount of money provided (by the BFF). BFF should first provide the infrastructure and a standard amount of money to clubs for running youth teams. They have failed to do so. Still I will call for a youth team and we will have a youth team running by next season.

DS: Where do you want to see Sheikh Jamal in the future and which trophies do you want in your cabinet?

MK: IFA Shield is definitely a trophy I would like to have in my cabinet. Apart from that, considering the level we are operating in, it would be foolhardy to think anything beyond South Asian level.