Sandip Nandy: the ageless wonder.Goalkeepers, like good wine, seem to get better with age. Dino Zoff skippered Italy to FIFA World Cup glory in 1982 at the age of 40, while Peter Shilton played with distinction right into his late forties.Sandip Nandy best exemplifies this maxim on the Indian football circuit. The 39-year-old ageless wonder began his professional career with Mohun Bagan in 1999 on a winning note as the maroon & green brigade went on to win the National Football League. Fourteen years later, he picked up his fifth NFL/I-League title with Churchill Brothers under Subhas Bhowmick, whose all-conquering East Bengal squad he was part of in the early noughties.Nandy’s scintillating form during the 2012-13 season earned him the distinction of being named best goalkeeper by the All India Football Federation and a recall to the national squad after a gap of seven years at the sprightly young age of 38.Now, the Burdwan-born shot-stopper embarks on perhaps his most audacious footballing adventure as he plays under-study to marquee player-manager David James at Kerala Blasters FC in the upcoming Hero Indian Super League (ISL). He will also be reunited with Trevor Morgan in Kochi as the English-Australian gaffer was in charge during Nandy’s second stint at East Bengal. It’s an endeavour the Oliver Kahn fan has assiduously prepared for, as he is hugely excited about the prospect of “playing with and against our dream stars”.“Training alongside them in the ISL will teach us so much more. According to me, the ISL will change the face of Indian football for the future, and I hope it is successful,” he said.Ironically, Nandy’s early dream was to become a striker, as he possessed great goal-scoring ability as a kid. It was his guru, Gautam Shankar, who shaped and guided his career as he evolved into a goalkeeper, and Shankar also drilled into him the ambition to play for India and the big clubs. “He is the one who guided me. He is not just my inspiration but means everything to me. I still consider him to be my guru and without Gautam Shankar I would be nowhere,” he told indiansuperleague.com during an exclusive conversation.His greatest achievement is representing the national team for 10 years. Of the hundreds of matches that he has figured in, one will never be erased from his memory. He was playing for Shonali Shibir in a Kolkata league match against Mohun Bagan, coached by the redoubtable Amal Dutta, in 1997. Nandy kept the powerful Mariners’ attack, spearheaded by the legendary Chima Okerie, at bay for all of 90 minutes till the Nigerian broke the deadlock in time added on and Mohun Bagan sneaked out 1-0 winners. “That is the day the name Sandip Nandy came into the limelight, and there was no looking back after that,” he recalled.Nandy has been there and done that in domestic football, winning several honours and titles along the way in a 15-year-career that has still not run its course. But he wishes that he was born one generation later as he too would have ventured abroad like Subrata Paul, Sunil Chhetri and several others did. “I’m only sad about one thing though; I didn’t get to go abroad and try my luck. I thought I was good enough for international football. It wasn’t like that in our times,” he sighed.With the ISL set to kick off next month, Nandy will now get a chance to show the world what could have been.
