An Open Letter to John Abraham (NEUtd FC Owner)

Dear John Abraham,

I am just a Football enthusiast from the high lands of Assam who wishes the better and the best of Indian football and North East Indian football in particular.

First of all accept my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for buying the Guwahati based North East franchise of the Indian Super League and being a torch bearer of development of football in this football crazy region of India. On behalf of the entire North East football fan community, I can reassure you our full support for the team on Media, Social Media and most importantly in Stadium.

The purpose of this letter is to just offer you some recommendations for the benefit of the team (NEUtd FC) and football in NE India.

1)      Set up an academy with top class facilities:

It is very important for the club to have an own academy so that we don’t get solely dependent on a single club for our players forever. Since the franchise is from Guwahati- an academy in Guwahati will be very much appreciated to attract and nurture young footballers from the region. For that I request you take guidance of European clubs which have successful academies like Sporting Lisbon or Southampton FC.  I would also like to inform you that I had heard that Reading FC, a premier English club were interested in setting up academy in NE India and tried to do the same in Arunachal Pradesh.

2)      Collaborate with other NE clubs too :

While Shillong Lajong is the best club from North east, there are other good clubs as well like the Royal Wahingdoh (I league club), Green Valley(Assam’s best club),Reitlang FC (Mizo Premier league top club) and United Sikkim(club of  Bhaichung Bhutia). A collaborated effort will ensure a better pool of local players and our squad will surely strengthen with the best players from these clubs like Erikson Lyngdoh ,Gouramangi Singh, Nadong Bhutia, Khelemba Metei ,Joseph Lafukzuala(IndiaU23) and many more who are absent from the ISL or playing for other ISL outfits away from what should had been their ‘home’ club.

3)      Suggestion for another Marqee player:

We do need a more creative and experienced midfield in lines of ATK’s Luis Garcia so allow me to suggest  some retired maestros which we can contact and will be surely very helpful for the team’s progress :

1.       Deco(Portugal)

2.       Pablo Aimar (Argentina)

3.       Juan Sebastian Veron (Argentina)

4)      Take better care of the players :

Lastly, I would like to draw your attention towards the fact that most of our local players are not from economic sound background and pursuing a career in football doesn’t seem a livelihood prospect in India. So I request you and the club to financially take care of the club’s footballers and their family as far as possible so that they can concentrate solely on football. We as fans are definitely behind the team and promise to do our best to support our team by buying shirts and filling up the stadia.

In conclusion I would like to say that NORTHEAST UNITED FC has shown the footballers and football fans of North East a dream and we are grateful that you are involved as a pioneer of that dream.

Wishing success for you and your family:

A diehard fan of NORTHEAST UNITED FC.