ISL 2024-25: Post Vukomanovic, Stahre looks to instil fresh hopes among Kerala Blasters fans for its maiden trophy

With Blasters having come close to the ISL Cup by reaching the final thrice and losing twice in the tiebreaker, the fans are now desperate to lift the trophy.

Mikael Stahre, head coach of Kerala Blasters and Pritam Kotal during their pre-match press conference, before their match against Punjab FC. | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat/The Hindu

Ivan Vukomanovic had an amazing connection with his fans during his three seasons at Kerala Blasters. The fans loved the Serb and stood by him through thick and thin, the coach also guided the team to the Indian Super League (ISL) playoffs thrice consecutively.

Clearly, the Blasters’ new head coach Mikael Stahre has tough shoes to fill and the Swede is eager to get the fans on his side as soon as possible.

“It’s a huge privilege to be a member of this club. We’ll play good football, energetic football, score a lot of goals and win and you will see us give our 100% at every single game,” said Stahre at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday, ahead of the Blasters’ ISL season-opener against Punjab FC on Sunday, the Thiruvonam Day.

“I think that’s what football fans want in general. They have high expectations, want players to score a lot of goals, see positive football, energetic players and they also want to see fighters out there. That’s my message also to the fans, we want to please them.”

The fans have been the strength of the Blasters; they often fill up the Nehru Stadium here to the brim and this in turn strengthens the team.

Football fans fill up the JLN Stadium in Kochi -- a sight that has been consistent for Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League. | Photo Credit: H. Vibhu/The Hindu

With Blasters having come close to the ISL Cup by reaching the final thrice and losing twice in the tiebreaker, the fans are now desperate to lift the trophy.

While they will expect captain Adrian Luna to come up with his magical touch, they will also be eagerly looking at the new stars like Moroccan Noah Sadaoui, who won the Golden Boot at the recent Durand Cup, and Spaniard Jesus Nunez to score goals aplenty.

While the ISL Cup will be Stahre’s big goal, the Swede is now focused on the first task at hand. And he is aware that the Blasters had lost their ISL home game to Punjab 1-3 last season.

“It will be a hard game but hopefully we can beat them,” Stahre said, “Probably, they will sit back a little bit and wait for counters than play direct...that’s my guess.”