Ex-Germany sporting director Dutt open to coaching in India

Indian-origin manager Robin Dutt, who has coached in Bundesliga, has said he is open to the prospect of coaching in India if an opportunity arrives his way.

Dutt started playing professionally in 1983 but at the young age of 30, he became the manager at TSG Leonberg where he joined as a player-coach. However, during his stint with former Bundesliga club Stuttgarter Kickers, he led the team to victory in DFB-Pokal in 2006 and thus he rose to prominence.

Besides managing Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, Dutt previously coached SC Freiburg after taking over from Volker Finke in 2007. In 2018, he joined VfL Bochum.

"I had plenty of meetings with teams between the job in Stuttgart and Bochum. The idea was to bring me there. We spoke about certain teams. But before anything could happen there, I took this job in Bochum," Dutt said when about a possibility of working in India.

The former Bundesliga manager also emphasised that he doesn't want to become a football coach just for the sake of money. "In this whole world, there is a lot of money. I'm 55 and money is not a reason for me to be a football coach and I won't just go to any club for six-seven months."

"I have been at the job in Bochum for 19 months, which is more than the average tenure for a manager in Germany. The next time I get a break, I could go to India. I am open to the possibility of coaching in India. But it is maybe better for me to go there and give my experience to the coaches. I don't have any concrete plans," he said.

However, his stint with Bochum came to an end after he was removed as manager on August 26.

Born in Cologne to a German mother and a Bengali father from Kolkata, Dutt has also served as the sporting director of the German national team.

Dutt believes that four-times champions Germany, who were ousted in the group stage in 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup, once again needs to invest in youth football.

"We have to go back to the past to find the answer. Before 2000, football in Germany was not good to watch. It was just strong and tough. Then we changed and set up academies at every club to encourage the youth to play a certain style of football. As a result, we started getting a lot of young players with good technique and skill. We were on a good path and became champions in 2014."

"But we have now forgotten what made us have that success. It was the way we worked with our young players. The top Bundesliga players have started buying players from outside rather than develop youngsters. We need to go back and start doing a good job with young footballers in the country," he added.

He also praised Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp with whom he completed his UEFA Pro License in 2005. We earned our UEFA Pro License in 2005 together. He was coaching Mainz in the second division. He comes from south Germany. I have grown up there. So, I know a lot about him. At the moment, he is the biggest coach from Germany," Dutt said.

( With inputs from IANS )