Age should not be a problem for any coach, you've to build trust

East Bengal's 29-year-old coach speaks about his third IWL title and why he had to prove himself

- Dhiman Sarkar

KOLKATA: Here's a stat: In four seasons as head coach in the Indian Women's League (IWL), the worst performance for Anthony Andrews has been a second-place finish. Here's another: With an 85% win record, Andrews is the most successful women's team coach in the top flight in India. Not bad for someone who will be 30 next January and started coaching as a side hustle.

"Age should not be a problem for any coach," Andrews told HT after his third IWL title, this time with East Bengal.

"You get respect for what you do on the pitch. If that is helping the players, you have earned their respect."

It is evident Andrews has, at East Bengal. A club official told HT that as they overhauled the roster with India internationals (Ashalata Devi, Soumya Guguloth, Anju Tamang, Panthoi Chanu and Sandhiya Ranganathan) and foreign players, some of them said they were signing because he was coach. Explains why East Bengal paid Gokulam Kerala to get Andrews who had a year on his contract there.

Put that to Andrews and he said: "I think we have built that trust. And the players know how I work. And everybody wants to win."