Death of a Club

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48 at death, young at heart, Mahindra United hit the strike zone after the 2000 revamp. But deserted by followers and the association, it had to pay the penalty, find Shivani Naik and Bharat SundaresanMoney can't buy me love, sang a famous quartet of Liverpudlians once. A few time zones away, in a different era and under a more pragmatic set-up, Mahindra United — a club that once fancied being called Mumbai's Manchester United and never flinched from loosening its purse-strings — gave up on trying to woo a city whose loyalty it could never completely and convincingly garner.Before the announcement on April 30 to disband, Mahindra United were a successful football unit — second on the I-League table at present — and known for their professionalism as good paymasters to a happy bunch of players who received salaries on the 5th or 7th of each month. But even at the height of their success — the 2005-06 season, when they clinched the Federation Cup and league double — these players craved for the sort of fan loyalty that clubs in Goa or Kolkata, and even their predecessors at the Mahindras in the '70s and '80s, took almost for granted.While a shocked city felt let down by the Mahindra management's sudden pullout, the club had been imploding for some time, hurting from Mumbai's indifference to its presence and consistent success of the last decade. No wonder, the Rs 8-10 crore burden of running a professional club suddenly seemed to pinch the deep pockets.Post April 30, the Internet was flooded with commiserations and outrage from Mumbaikars shocked with the club's death. But Anand Mahindra promptly tweeted: "So many Mumbai voices lamenting our pullback from professional soccer. Never heard them when we needed their attendance and support at our matches."The steady climbMahindra might be a 48-year-old club that built its way up steadily while emerging from the shadows of the Tatas and Mafatlals in the mid-'80s — when both similarly shut shop suddenly — but the dream in the current avatar that has crashed is exactly a decade-old after the football team were revamped in 2000.As the millennium dawned, the Orange Brigade turned red, and emblems and jerseys smartened up. Mahindra — Mahindra United now — threw their entire might into topping the football charts. Prior involvement with other sports — cricket, tennis and kabaddi — was cut down, and the M&M Sports Club decided to centre their focus solely on football from 1990.The decision had a lot to do with what the company stood for, says Alan Durante, managing director and chairman of Mahindra United since 1991. "We were looking to concentrate on a game that would represent the sturdy vehicles that we were renowned for producing. Football seemed just perfect," he says.Served by an array of inspirational coaches like Raghavan, Derek D'Souza, Harish Rao, World Cupper Karel Stromsik, Syed Naeemuddin and David Booth, it was with the young and relatively inexperienced Derrick Pereira that the club's glory period coincided. Pereira, who took over in 2005, says the team were "excellent" at the time. "They had the cream of Indian football in addition to the best strike force: Jose Barreto and Yusif Yakubu."Jeepmen on a rollPereira started off by winning the national title, the Mumbai league title and the Federation Cup in the first season, as Mahindra put an end to the domination of Kolkata and Goan clubs. The IFA Shield and a decent show in the AFC Cup group stage followed the next season.Mahindra were the most attractive club for players and nothing seemed like shaking the Mumbai champions off the helm. They brought home every conceivable silverware between 2003 and 2007.The beginning of the endStarting with Mahesh Gawli's move to Dempo, they lost seven or eight star players in a mass exodus before the 2007 season. Barreto was hot property and, along with Yakubu, shifted base to Kolkata. A number of players from the North-East followed suit."The others started emulating Mahindra and raised salaries," Pereira, now with Pune FC, explains. "When Kolkata and Goa clubs began to provide similar salaries along with the atmosphere, Mahindra could do little to stop the players."But the huge gap left by the multiple transfers left the door open for youngsters like Steven Dias and NP Pradeep to join Mahindra. The club won the IFA Shield in addition to the Durand Cup. They also reached the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup during Pereira's most rewarding season.The bane for Mahindra, though, proved to be the lack of support at the Cooperage, Pereira says. "We were doing great in away matches but kept losing points at home, which hurt us in the long run," he says.Grounded at home"Two years ago we played a final under floodlights and the crowd that turned up was sensational," Pereira says. "But everyone has forgotten about that because the federation hasn't shown enough interest."Once a cradle for football, Cooperage — the 12,000-seater and an apology for a football stadium in this day and age — continues to be an embarrassment. Football viewing here means ensuring you don't topple off a stand on to one below.The hardcore followers, residing around the stadium three decades ago, have also moved to the suburbs and travelling four hours to watch a football match at a sub-standard facility simply doesn't appeal enough."Mahindra were the most successful club after Dempo but infrastructure has not grown and the fan base has declined. It will be a sad end with most players busy on phones, negotiating contracts," says football writer Novy Kapadia.The endThat Mahindra have not won a single national title this season — a first in many years — may have triggered the shutdown but Durante believes it was inevitable. "Unfortunately, we reached a stage in Indian football where the same 300 players were being rotated around by 16 or so elite clubs," he says. "There was no real new talent coming up and most of these players were just spending three years each with different clubs."We were only increasing their salary, which was hitting the roof."But revenue channels for the clubs were not bringing in funds. There was also no perceptible change in the standard of infrastructure, which needed to be improved by at least two levels, says Durante."There were grandiose plans but they never took shape," he says, "and there was was no push from either the government or the associations to improve maintenance. TV hasn't done its job, and the poor quality of stadiums ensured there was almost no revenue from ticket sales and advertisements."Harish Rao, associated with Mahindra for 30 years as player, captain, coach, manager and treasurer, will travel to Cooperage in the middle of next week to watch his team play their final I-League fixture. "I am emotionally attached to the club. But how many others are?" asks the man who first came up with the dressing room pre-match chant of 'United We Stand', to which the players would chorus: 'United We Win'.It would now seem that united they have fallen — also a damning indictment on Mumbai's failing football ethos.

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