Chennai City to stay at Kovai for next 5 years

COIMBATORE: Even with less than 24 hours to go before the city hosts Chennai City FC (CCFC) and East Bengal for its maiden I-League match on Friday, preparations were on in full swing to get the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ready in time. While the last-ditch efforts might raise questions about the preparedness of the venue, CCFC – who shifted base prior to the start of this season – have shown their commitment to the stadium by deciding to make it their home for the next five years.
“We have spoken to Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) and got permission to stay in Coimbatore for the next five years. We communicated our desire to All India Football Federation (AIFF) and they have agreed as well,” CCFC co-owner Rohit Ramesh told TOI on Thursday.
Going forward, the fact that the stadium is located in the heart of the city is a big positive, but a lot of work remains to be done to get it up to standard.
On Thursday, a crew of approximately 15-20 people were working on levelling the grass while some sections of the stands were being painted in an effort to spruce up the stadium. The AIFF match commissioner and a team of officials keeping a close watch on the proceedings only added to the intrigue.
“It seems like work will have to be done till late in the night to get everything ready. It’s being done at the eleventh hour. The situation is obviously not ideal but it is what it is,” sources in the know of things said.
“The dressing rooms for the two teams are ready and everything else has been put in place now. The pitch too needed watering and then a machine roller will have to go over it so that the grass is levelled and the pitch is even to play on,” the source added.
When asked about the situation, CCFC’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) R Krishnakumar felt there were mitigating factors at play and the conditions will only get better in the days to come.
“We were given the go-ahead to start work on the stadium only in the second week of November after getting approval by SDAT. It’s been 17 years since a football match was played here. Given the shortage of time, we have done the best we could. Considering this will be the first match, I believe there will always be some bottlenecks. We have some more time before we play our second home game against Neroca on January 9. That should give us enough time to bring everything further up to speed,” he said.
According to Krishnakumar, the fact that the stadium was in a very poor condition when they took it over didn’t help matters. “The stadium has been poorly managed in the past. Even basic facilities were lacking. So, we approached the TN rural development minister SP Velumani. He asked the local corporation to get to work and his help has been essential,” the club official informed.