Chennai City FC welcomes new Indian football roadmap, unhappy with timing

Reacting to the new Indian football roadmap, Chennai City owner Rohit Ramesh said had it been implemented earlier, his club would've been in the ISL now.

Chennai City FC is the defending I-League champion.

Chennai City FC’s owner Rohit Ramesh hailed the All India Football Federation (AIFF) roadmap on Monday as a step in the right direction, but expressed skepticism regarding its implementation. “It’s a good deal,” he told Sportstar . “Everybody seems to be happy. [But] let’s not be overwhelmed by what is taking place. As you all know, the previous roadmaps [2010] recommendations were not taken into consideration. So, we prefer to wait and watch,” he said.

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Rohit said things could have been much better had these issues be raised at the end of previous ISL/I-League or at least the Super Cup, and not now at the last minute when league[s] schedules have already been announced. “My only concern was that it could have been raised before the closure of last season. [That way], we would have planned better. We know we are in second division. There is a cost factor involved,” he said. Rohit was upset that the new roadmap had in a way made his team the loser. “Personally, we as a club are the losers here. If they [AIFF] could had implemented the old road map in 2010, we would have [possibly] got into ISL [by now],” he said. “All the hard work we had done had gone for a toss. [Now], financially, we have to cut cost. We have no choice.”