Kolkata: With their season tumbling over after a fruitful Indian Super League (ISL) campaign in the last three years, ATK has decided to sack Teddy Sheringham as it’s head coach, who will be replaced by another Englishman and former Bengaluru FC gaffer Ashley Westwood for the remainder of the season.
“Sheringham is no more the coach. Westwood has taken over as interim coach and will interact with the media today. I will speak to (CEO) Raghu (Iyer) and we will shortly make an announcement,” ATK co-owner Utsav Parekh told PTI.
Fomer Manchester Untied great Sheringham was appointed with the task of carrying out the good work at the Kolkata based franchise that saw the team clinch two titles in three years. But after 10 games into the season, ATK stands on 12 points with just three wins, three losses and four defeats.
Although his time at the club has not been helped by crucial injuries to important players, the Britisher has repeatedly failed to grind out results depite possessing a strong team at his disposal.
“We have got our best player out injured in Robbie Keane and our best Indian player out injured in Eugeneson Lyngdoh. We are missing our top players. Add that to the fixture list; we have had seven of our first 10 league games away from home. For any team, that is going to take its toll on a team,” Sheringham had said after the 0-3 defeat to Pune.
Westwood on the other is not new to Indian football and was also the Technical Director of ATK before being elevated to the head coaching role. A former Manchester Untied academy product both Teddy and Ashley were at United in the late 90s era when Sheringham starred for the senior side, while Westwood played in the youth teams.
The 41 year-old joined Kettering Town in 2012 as player-cum-coach, but left the very next year to join former I-League club Bengaluru FC. He guided Bengaluru FC to two I-League titles (2013-14, 2015-16) in three years along with a Federation Cup in 2014.
He had also coached Malaysian club Penang FA in 2016, but was later sacked by mutual consent after a poor start to the season.