To Sir With Love: How PK helped Bhowmick, Sarkar rediscover themselves

Subhash Bhowmick was down in the dumps with no visible light at the end of the tunnel when Pradeep Banerjee gave his career a second lease of life, something he is grateful to this day.

As Banerjee finally lost his battle against prolonged illness, his students wanted to celebrate an accomplished life that their "beloved Pradip Da" lived.

A robust and dreaded right out of 1970s, Bhowmick, who later became an accomplished coach owes his stardom to Banerjee's skills as a coach that brought out the best in him.

Or Gautam Sarkar, an absolute feisty character who would send those picture perfect passes to Bhowmick as Banerjee watched it from the dugout with a sense of satisfaction.

His best students were stars of 1970s Kolkata maidan and it was a day when they took a trip down memory lane.

"I was kicked out of Mohun Bagan after we lost the Durand Cup final to East Bengal (in 1972). He was the person who picked me up from 'gutter' and told me 'you're the best player in India, come and play for 'East Bengal'," Bhowmick went down the memory lane in an interaction with PTI.

Bhowmick was one of the key faces of East Bengal's 5-0 demolition of Mohun Bagan on that fateful IFA Shield final on September 29, 1975.

Just before the tournament, the newly-wed Bhowmick was sent to Darjeeling for a "short break" to rejuvenate.

Known for his vocal tonic, Banerjee spurred Bhowmick about the insults hurled by Mohun Bagan officials and the rest is history as he played like a tiger on the prowl handing Bagan supporters a day that they have lived to regret even after 45 years.

Bhowmick did not find his name in the record win but he was instrumental in setting up the first two goals scored by Surajit Sengputa and Shyam Thapa.

"Death is always sad. His demise has left all of us sad. But the way he was suffering, he did not deserve this pain. For me, Pradipda was dead since the day he left talking about football with me," an emotional Bhowmick concluded.

Banerjee also fashioned memorable treble for Mohun Bagan two years later in 1977 and this time it was Subrata Bhattacharya, who attained stardom after three quiet years.

The Mohun Bagan captain was a big let down in the 1977 Calcutta Football League derby, losing 0-2 in front of a packed Eden Gardens.

"The fans would not let us enter the field in protest... Such was the atmosphere," Bhattacharya recalled.

"The practice would begin at 7.30 am at the Eden Gardens but he would come one hour before and pay extra attention on me, he made him do some different trainings."
"We went on to defeat East Bengal thrice that season and won the Shield, Rovers and Durand. Nobody dreamt of such a turnaround. Only Pradip Da could do it. He was ahead of his time and crystal clear in his thinking."
"I was given an extra responsibility to stop Pele. The whole team put up a vibrant show. He would sit and plan with us wfith a board. He was way ahead of his time."