Sheikh Jamal's recipe for success

Good management, proper training facilities, team spirit, timely incentives and quality players are undoubtedly the off-field ingredients behind Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club's back-to-back success in the professional football league, but the real architects in their on-field success are the three foreigners – Haiti's Wedson Anselme, Nigeria's Emeka Darlington and Gambia's Landing Darboe.

The three musketeers have racked up a total of 46 goals -- Wedson (17), Emeka (17) and Landing (12) -- out of 56 Sheikh Jamal scored in 18 matches so far. Wedson (26), Emeka (20) and Sony Norde (13) had also played the key role behind the club's premier league success last season league as they scored 59 out of 78 goals in 27 matches.

However, the three of them did not perform too well in the first phase of the league and bagged only 14 goals. But things turned dramatically in the second phase, corresponding to Joseph Afusi appointment in place of veteran coach Maruful Haque.

The Nigerian was, however, not ready to draw the line between the foreign players and the local players, rather he was happy to give credit to all of the team members.

“Football is not a game of one or two players. It is a game of 11 players; so if the local players did not perform well and assist the players upfront, the foreign players could not have scored,” said Afusi, after the win against Mohammedan on Thursday night confirmed the title.

Skipper Mamunul Islam, though, gave the three foreigners 50 per cent credit behind Sheikh Jamal's success.      

“To reinstall the confidence of the three foreigners, the club president brought a change in the coach's position and that paid dividends. They were inspired in the second leg and proved their worth by some sparkling performances,” said Mamunul at the club tent yesterday.

Mamunul believes Abahani were the main challengers for the title and displayed eye-catching football under George Kottan, but failed due to lack of a proven goalscorer like Wedson or Emeka.

Having enjoyed the party at the club tent early Thursday night, Wedson soon left for United States in midnight, promising to return next season while the others partied till late night.

Emeka didn't want to take the credit himself, rather praised all of his teammates including the reserve bench and termed the professionalism as the key behind Sheikh Jamal's success.    

“Sheikh Jamal is a professional club and much organsied than the other clubs playing in the Bangladesh Premier League,” said Emeka. “I have played in Nigeria, Tunisia, South Africa and Saudi Arab where I never won back-to-back league titles. So it is a big achievement in my career,” said the Nigerian.    

Mamunul informed that the club president, Manjur Kader, had declared Tk 20 lakh bonus for the players and the coaching staff and announced to keep the champion team intact for the next season.