MSC replace Evans with Nasir
Mohammedan Sporting Club has recently appointed Ali Asgar Nasir as the club's coach replacing Christopher Evans ahead of the 11th Bangladesh Premier League, which is scheduled to get underway from January 18.
Evans took charge of Mohammedan in the letter part of September last year and guided the Black and Whites in the Federation Cup before going back to England for treatment. In his absence, the Motijheel-based outfit played the Independence Cup and failed to score a single goal before being eliminated from the group stage like the Federation Cup.
Nasir, who once coached Muktijoddha Sangsad, Rahmatganj MFS, Team BJMC, Chittagong Abahani and Khulna Abahani in the professional league, has already started training with the club after having been without a job in the last three seasons.
Although the 55-year-old from Khulna is little-known at the top-tier football, he did draw attention as coach of Khulna Abahani, who beat defending champions Abahani during the 2nd Bangladesh Premier League, playing without a single foreign recruit. He also held sides like Brothers Union, Mohammedan and Sheikh Russel KC to draws and guided Rahmatganj to the semifinals of the Federation Cup.
“I sat idle in the last three seasons because there was no good offer from the clubs. But this time around, I accepted the offer from Mohammedan manager Amirul Islam Babu and started coaching from December 22,” said Nasir.
“The Mohammedan players were once good, but they are aged now. The fitness of the players is not good and I am trying to bring them to a position so that they can fight on the pitch and entertain the spectators,” said Nasir, who completed his AFC B license in 2017.
Meanwhile, departing coach Evans recently alleged that Mohammedan did not pay his two months' salary and threatened to lodge complaint with the FIFA. However, an official of the club refuted the allegation.
“He trained the boys for barely a month. I have no problem to pay him if he is stays here and conducts training. But the club doesn't have any agreement with him [Evans],” Mohammedan's director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan said. “My team has been losing in tournaments while he is in England. Does the club have any obligation to send his salary without getting his service? Despite that we have already paid him one month's salary.”
Lokman even alleged that Evans did not train the players regularly during his stay because of his ill health.
“If he comes back, we will talk to him,” Lokman said, adding that the Englishman is likely to come to Dhaka on January 4.
FIFA had, last season, punished Mohammedan by deducting three points from their league tally while forcing the club to pay the dues it owed to its former Nigerian coach Emeka Ezeugo.