After a difficult 2017-18 season, where they suffered with injuries and poor performances, NorthEast United FC have undergone a host of changes throughout the summer in a bid to put up a sterner challenge for the 2018-19 campaign of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL). Prior to the onset of the season, indiansuperleague.com caught up with John Abraham, owner of the club franchise, to uncover his thoughts on the season ahead and what to expect from his new-look team.

Men-in-charge

NorthEast have appointed Eelco Schattorie as the new head coach for the season. After a merry-go-round of managerial changes last season, Abraham spoke of the factors which convinced him to appoint the former assistant coach as the man in charge, “Eelco is very diligent, hardworking and passionate. I think there is a kind of a lineage formula if you might say, that I’m using as he has worked with our team before. We have always had a new coach every season, but this season we want to continue with someone who has been with us in the last season. I think Eelco is the best choice.”

Avram Grant was in the running to take over as head coach but had to opt against taking up the role owing to other commitments. Speaking about him, the Bollywood actor said, “Avram’s going to be an advisor to NorthEast United for good now. He’s family to us, he’s like one of us and he’s in touch with me every single day. He’s briefed on players and he’s got his own set of scouts that go through the players that we select. So, this year, we’ve been not doubly but triply careful in selecting who we have to select.”

New faces galore

Among all the clubs in the league, the Highlanders have been one of the busiest in terms of recruiting players for the new season. Abraham shed light on some of the new players that have come in and the qualities they possess. “Well, I think each one adds a lot of flavours, but we’ve got two central defenders straight from the Croatian first division league. We’ve got (Jose David) Leudo who plays between six and eight and he can fall back and move in front as well. We’ve got (Bartholomew) Ogbeche who I think is a revelation for a lot of people coming straight from the Eredivisie - the first division Dutch League.”

“We’ve got a great set of advisors who are advising us in this space and we’ve tried to make sure we don’t make mistakes this time because unfortunately, we had a horrific last season and I wouldn’t wish that for the worst of my enemies. But we came out of it, we’re here. It’s a new season, it’s a new day and we’re going to fight to live another day.”

New season, new expectations

Abraham concluded by opening up about his expectations for the side coming into the new campaign. “I expect nothing now. I expect nothing from any season now. I just expect us to go out and try and play. I’m not here to predict and I’m not here to expect. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who don’t expect a lot from us. So anywhere we can go from here, anywhere NorthEast can go from here is only up and that’s the idea - to go up.”

NorthEast United begin their 2018-19 Hero ISL campaign at home against FC Goa on October 1.

To view their full list of fixtures, click here.