It's all about the desire and the commitment: Stephen Constantine

He picked up U-23 players from Santosh Trophy, from team benches of I-League Clubs and even players who have hardly played at all during the previous season. In an exclusive chat, Constantine defines his coaching ideology, the logic of looking into 'obscurity,' the lifespan of a team and the need for the change.

Constantine spoke on the composition of the team, "Off course you need the experience and need to learn from the senior players but that can sometimes lead us to a bit of stagnation. It's extremely important for senior players to need to work hard to keep their positions as much it is important for the kids to learn to take their positions."

"At the moment, I feel we have the right balance as even the young players have some 8-9 matches under their belt and you cannot call them inexperienced anymore."

On picking up players from university tournaments, Santosh Trophy, local leagues, he expressed," It's all about the desire and the commitment and their willingness to go the extra mile. If the attitude is right, I can improve him but if the attitude isn't right, he won't ever reach the level."

"I have always said that there is talent all over in this country. But talent will never spot you; rather you need to walk to discover them. It's because I am looking around that I am finding players from obscurity and here we are, speaking about it," he commented on his quest for new talents.

The Head Coach elated on his knack of picking youngsters from nowhere," Having been through trials as a kid, I felt they can at times be extremely unfair simply because the kid never gets enough chance to showcase his potential. When I see any player, and from all levels, I just try to find out whether he can play the brand of Football which I want him to play."

The 54-year-old Briton quipped on his emphasis on youth in the squad," As long as I will be the Coach, I will always try and develop youth players and give them opportunities. The lifespan of any team is around 4-6 years. When you are in the 4th year, you need to keep searching again? you need to look for change. So why not do it all the time?"