'Any team would miss Thapa': Chennaiyin FC manager Owen Coyle makes big revelation

Chennaiyin FC haven't been at ir best in last couple of seasons. Owen Coyle has again reunited with sourn franchise as he will mark his return to ISL next season. He led Chennaiyin FC to final when he was in charge last time. This time expectations will be huge.

ISL outfit has been quite busy in transfer window having added likes of Jordan Murray to side. upcoming Durand Cup which is set to commence next month, will kick-start season. Chennaiyin FC coach sat for a candid chat with republicworld.com and shed light on matters related to Indian football.

You led Chennayin FC to final in your last stint. What is your target this time?

target very simply is that we have to improve first and foremost to give ourselves a chance to reach final. A lot of work needs to be done. club reached playoffs once in last five years, that was year I came halfway through.

re is a lot of hard work ahead. So looking forward to grow and develop our young Indian players. We also have some good foreign players in mix. We will look to build, look to add on and furr grow and develop a team fans can be proud of.

Jordan, Farukh obviously y were my signings. Also, re are a number of players club signed previously. I will give those an opportunity because y are young. y will get chance to show me what y can do. 

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Chennaiyin brought up a number of players with likes of Jordan Murray, Farukh Choudhary and Ankit Mukherjee this time. How team is shaping up?

In terms of Jordan a player I kw is a champion already. He is a champion in India. Farukh is an outstanding player. I watched him last season. He's back to his best. 

Rahim Ali I kw from my time before. We kw exactly what we have got and we look to build,m grow and develop our team from re.

Are you targeting any particular player in this transfer window?

A number of players I would love to bring to club. Obviously, I can only do that if y are available. Some of clubs are paying big transfer fees. We will t go that way. We want to bring young players and develop m. Those who are my type I will certainly try and bring m to this football club for sure. Four or five or clubs were interested in Farukh but since I spoke to him he wanted to join Chennaiyin FC. brilliant to get him in. fans have been brilliant. welcome I have had has been very humbling. I thank m for that. 

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How big a miss Anirudh Thapa will be?

Any team would miss Thapa. He is an outstanding man, an outstanding player. Thapa, Chhangte se all are sensational players. But you also have to remember when y were re those boys never made it to playoffs.

What we have to do is to build a team,a mentality a quality team. An awful lot of things we need to implement. 

Raheem Ali has been linked with a number of clubs. Is he a part of your project?

Rahim was re with me last time. I grew and developed Rahim because I recognised when I walked in that this young kid is going to have a big big future. I'm excited to work with him again. I had a chat with Igor Stimac last night. We also spoke about Rahim. For me, re is more to come from Rahim.

Igor Stimac recently said he needs a four month camp ahead of Asian Games. Will Chennayin FC release players as Asian Games is scheduled to take place in midst of season?

I totally understand where Igor's coming from. ISL is a very important tournament. You always have to get balance right. When you get balance right n of course you have to take te that league doesn't get totally disrupted. 

When re is a stop start, n re is continuity fluidity. But I totally understand where Igor is coming from. re is a TV contract so re are different things. 

So it's t a simple thing to say how much time you need. Because re are lot of things that need to be taken under consideration. So I think it's worth having a dialogue for sure and best way forward is an amicable solution.

best thing for me would be when India reaches a World Cup which I think is achievable.