KOLKATA: After months of foot-dragging, East Bengal officials announced Wednesday the signing of the final agreement of their joint venture with investor Shree Cement Ltd (SCL).
With the agreement signed, the joint venture of Shree Cement and East Bengal is now legitimised. It also means that the investor will now finally be able to focus on team building and complete other formalities which are needed to make East Bengal play in the Indian Super League (ISL) season eight.
The change of heart by the till now intransigent management committee of the iconic club came after some not so gentle prodding from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who brought the two parties “face-to-face” at the state Secretariat Building.
Shree Cement Ltd was represented by their company secretary SS Khandelwal, chief finance officer Subash Jaju and senior manager Sandeep Kumar, while East bengal had top executive official Debabrata Sarkar and Sadananda Mukherjee.
“We want to play. There were some differences so we could not sign the agreement. But since you (Mamata Banerjee) have requested, we have decided that we will participate in ISL,” said Jajoo.
Speaking on the development, Sarkar said, “Mamata Banerjee has helped us (East Bengal) to play in ISL this season. I also thank Sree Cement for their co-operation.”
The meeting was called by Banerjee after SCL shot off a letter to Banerjee on Monday, expressing their decision to hand back East Bengal’s sporting rights after EB management were adamant in not signing the final agreement.
The deadlock lasted for about eight months and there were statewide fan protests.
“East Bengal played the ISL last year owing to Shree Cement. This time things were a bit uncertain because of which I too became a bit hostile (on Monday).
“Where will the crores of East Bengal fans go, I thought, if they aren’t able to play? East Bengal have a brand value in world football. I had requested them (SCL) and they agreed,” she said.
She added: “I think EB fans are happy today. Even MB (Mohun Bagan) will be happy because they want their opponents to play. I had received many calls, voicing their concern about East Bengal’s fate in ISL. So, everyone would be happy today.”
Banerjee further said SCL would invest heavily in West Bengal in the coming days.
“They are bringing up a lot of cement industries in West Bengal. We can discuss other things later on, at the moment time is very short, the priority is football now.” she said.
A spokesperson of SCL thanked Banerjee and said: “We also want the games to happen. Due to certain reasons, we couldn’t sign the final term sheet. We were trying since the past year to make things work. However, since you have requested we will be participating in this year’s ISL.”
Sarkar also profusely thanked Banerjee. “Didi has always been with us. For her, we could install floodlights at the club grounds. Just like last year, this year too Didi has rescued us. I just cannot thank her enough. ‘Khela hobe’ slogan couldn’t have been more apt today.”
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