Reports : Mohammedan Sporting Club and Investors Bunkerhill part-ways
Hero I-League side Mohammedan SC and Gurgaon based company, Bunkerhill Pvt Ltd. have parted ways according to the reports emerging out of Kolkata.
In a letter accessed by Bengali sports portal, ‘XtraTime’, the Investors can be seen voicing their displeasure over the happenings at the club.
Under Bunkerhill, the club had achieved quite some success as they won their 12th Calcutta Football League title after a 40-year gap in 2021. They also finished runners-up in the Durand Cup 2021 (lost to FC Goa) and the inaugural Futsal Club Championship in the same year. They also won the second division I-League in 2020 to return back to the first division after a seven-year hiatus. The club also put up a brilliant show in the following season where they ended up being the runners-up, the club entered the season 2022–23 with an aim to earn promotion to the Hero ISL but were dealt with several blows which resulted in a season to forgot as the ‘Black Panthers’ finished 8th.
In the letter, Dipak Kumar Singh — the Director at Bunkerhill Pvt Ltd. can be seen alleging non co-operation from the side of the club officials despite the investors having, “put in tremendous efforts both in terms of efforts and money (more than Rs 7/8 crores every year) to turn around the fortunes of the Mohammedan Sporting Club.”
Dipak also quoted that the investors where being limited in terms of functioning the club, “we are not allowed to function freely with the Youth team and there has been no revenue model for us to work.”
As the non-cooperation from the club officials continues, the investors have decided to “exit the arrangement.” The letter indicates the unwillingness from the part of investors to continue for next season and they are expected to “clear their commitments for the current season.”
The Mohammedan-investors fiasco is not a new sight at the Maidaan, their long-term rivals ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC — who form the Big 3 of Kolkata have also gone past through the same in last few years.
East Bengal had in fact to change investors three times (Quess, Shree Cements and Emami) before somewhat settling in for a stable Investor (Emami).
It’s to be seen what happens next at the Mohammedan Sporting Club tent…