One who thought the ongoing Baichung Bhutia-Mohun Bagan impasse will be over in a few days, he is slightly mistaken. More so after Bhutia turned out for East Bengal practice for a couple of hours on Wednesday morning.
Anticipating that arbitrator Amarendra Sharan will give his verdict in favour of Bhutia, the green-and-maroon camp has already started chalking out their next move — to knock the Fifa door — which will be the last resort. Although taking the matter to the court is also an option.
“We will make a move to Fifa for justice, soon after getting the verdict which in any case is likely to favour Baichung,” Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra told DNA from Kolkata on Wednesday.
A fuming Mitra also made it clear that they would see the end of it since the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has violated the rule and termed the agreement between the club and the player as invalid.
“It’s a farce by AIFF to demean Mohun Bagan and to me it is the biggest blunder in the history of the Indian football. If they are not honouring the agreement, let them do whatever they feel like as we are forwarding the entire episode to the world body which may land AIFF in big trouble,” Mitra said in one vein.
He further questioned AIFF’s decision to send the matter for arbitration. “First, the matter shouldn’t have been referred to the arbitrator but the player status committee as it was done in cases of NP Pradeep and Steven Dais last season,” Mitra stated.
“Any matter is referred to arbitration when all the other avenues have been exhausted and with the concurrence of both the parties, but we were never consulted before moving the matter to arbitration. They should have followed simple protocols,” an agitated Mitra said.
According to him, the matter is no more confined to Bhutia and Mohun Bagan but it is the matter of concern for all the clubs in India as the club agreement has been termed invalid.
“If the agreement is invalid, no one will honour it in future,” he added.Meanwhile, Bhutia attending East Bengal practice has irked Mohun Bagan even more.
But it is learnt that Bhutia had the permission of the arbitrator to practise with any club of his choice to keep up the fitness level.
