The first-of-its-kind Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) Club Coaches’ Forum concluded on a successful note on Monday with head coaches from Hero ISL clubs providing their opinion on how to improve the fundamentals of the game in the country. The meeting was attended by ATK FC’s Antonio Lopez Habas, Bengaluru FC’s Carles Cuadrat, Chennaiyin FC’s Owen Coyle, FC Goa’s Sergio Lobera, Jamshedpur FC’s Antonio Iriondo, Kerala Blasters FC’s Eelco Schattorie, Mumbai City FC’s Jorge Costa and Odisha FC’s Josep Gombau.

Football Sports Development Ltd (FSDL) CEO, Martin Bain and former Fulham manager Kit Symons also attended the meeting, with Symons joining as a guest advisor. A lot of positive discussions regarding the development of young talent and improvement of the league took place.

While summing up what took place at the meeting, Symons said, “There’s a lot of experience within the group of coaches that are there in the league, and it’s very important to utilize that, and gain a full benefit from the experience that all the coaches have got. So, it went very well today. People gave their opinions on lots of things. It was a very good meeting.”

The constructive initiative saw eight coaches contribute with their feedback and opinion on a variety of topics like youth development and the progression of the league. Odisha’s head coach Gombau was all praise for the idea of organizing such a collective discussion. “It’s a very positive idea. It’s good that all the coaches came to this meeting. It’s important that everybody brought their talks. It’s something that should happen, and I want to congratulate the Hero ISL for this initiative,” said the 43-year-old.

Owen Coyle echoed similar views to Gombau and felt the initiative would especially benefit the development of Indian players. “The development of the Indian players is very important. So, we had a chat about that, the number of games, as coaches what we can do to make that better. If we make the Indian players better to go with the foreign players, then as a football club for Chennaiyin FC, we become a better team. But also, the national coach then has a better pool of players available for the national team because ultimately in the big scale, we’d all love in the coming years for India to qualify for the World Cup,” said the Marina Machans head coach.