John Gregory: I was honestly disappointed to hear Gurpreet’s post-match comment
John Gregory, the coach of two-time ISL winning team Chennaiyin FC, admitted that he was disappointed over opponent goalkeeper - Gurpreet Singh’s comment after the end of the final whistle. During a post-match interview, Singh said that "We won league stage and so we are champions."
The 2018 ISL final was a truly thrilling encounter which saw two of the better-performing teams of the tournament go head-to-head in a bid to be termed as ‘Champions.’ The boys from Chennai knew that the match would be a huge challenge, especially since they would have to face a vociferous home crowd at the Sree Kanteerava stadium, the home of Bengaluru FC.
The visitors, however, managed to keep their focus as they eked out a 3-2 win to have emerged as the 2018 ISL Champions. But, after the final whistle, Bengaluru FC and Indian national team keeper, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, claimed that theyr were the champions cause they won the league stage. This deeply annoyed Chennaiyin FC head coach, John Gregory, who said he was disappointed with the
"I was honestly disappointed to hear these words. We won the cup is what I know. A large number of countries use this format. Play-offs were introduced in the UK about 20 years ago. You could finish sixth in your division and still win promotion to the Premiership. You could finish 20 points behind the champion. In my years, we did it, we finished sixth well behind Portsmouth and then won promotion," said the former Aston Villa boss.
Bengaluru finished the league stage with an 8-point gap at the end of the league stage, ahead of Chennaiyin FC, who finished second behind the leaders and entered the finals after a semi-final win over Pune City FC.
"Everybody knows we finished first, eight points above Chennaiyin. We are human beings, the players did an incredible job. I am sad for them and the fans. But that's football," Bengaluru FC head coach Albert Roca said.
Roca added that it was up to others and the general public to judge if the rules of the tournament need to be altered in order to benefit the top four teams at the end of the league stage.
"It is too easy for him to say yes. I think even some of their (Chennaiyin) players came to us and said we should not have been in this situation. The tournament is like it is and we cannot change that. It is not for me to say that is fair or not. It is for you to say," Roca added.
