His move to Dempo was expected to raise the standard of the game in India. Instead, former Arsenal and Tottenham midfielder Rohan Ricketts alleged on Tuesday he was asked to ‘lower his standard of game in order to match his Indian teammates’.
Ricketts lashed out at Dempo team management via his Twitter account, saying he was suffering a ‘headache trying to comprehend such a bizarre statement’. “My game and style of play is too advanced for my team mates and I have to bring my level down so I can adapt??? This is what I’ve been told!” the 29-year-old wrote. “I’m absolutely speechless! Had a headache just trying to comprehend such a bizarre statement!”
Ricketts, who has played professional football in England, Canada, Hungary, Moldova, Germany and Ireland, joined Dempo this summer in one of the most high-profile transfers the I-League has seen. And considering that the national champs are considered the best in India, Ricketts’s allegations, if true, will come as a harsh reality check for the standard of the game in the subcontinent.
“You sign someone because they are different an(d) of a higher level and then you tell them to lower the football intellect so they can adapt! The funny thing is the so-called higher level of thinking in their eyes is actually basic football knowledge. So I do not know how to dumb myself down on the pitch! Absolutely head loss,” Ricketts added.
Dempo coach Armando Colaco said Ricketts was told just to adapt to the team’s style of play. “Which coach will tell a player to lower his standard? He has been told to adapt to our style of play and there’s nothing wrong in that. He should realise where he is playing rather than making these unwarranted comments,” Colaco told DNA.
Asked if the club would take any action against the player, Colaco, also the club’s secretary, said: “We’ll decide in a day or two. What he has done is wrong.”
