'Let's finish what you have left': How East Bengal coach Anthony Andrews turned down ISL job for AFC dream

Earlier this year, Andrews had received an offer to join an Indian Super League team as its first-team assistant coach, but the desire to build on his work in the IWL forced him to turn down the offer.

Anthony Andrews improved his stature as a coach in women's football after leading East Bengal to a historic knockout qualification in the AFC Women's Champions League, making it the first Indian club to reach this stage in the tournament's history.

After opening the group stage with a 2-1 win over Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam, the double Indian Women's League (IWL) defending champion suffered defeats to South Korea's Hwacheon KSPO WFC and North Korea's 4.25 SC. However, its goal difference was enough to take the Kolkata club through as one of two best third-placed teams.

After sealing the last-eight berth, Andrews was promptly propped up by his players on their shoulders as the bunch soaked in the atmosphere created by the scant fan-base presence at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata. But, the 30-year-old almost didn't stay on to experience this red-letter moment.

Earlier this year, Andrews had received an offer to join an Indian Super League team as its first team assistant coach. The talks were initiated back in January and went deep till around June-July. The interested ISL team is one of the five sides in the ongoing season which have been part of the league since its start back in 2014. However at the eleventh hour, he decided to not leave East Bengal.

"Whoever spoke with me from the ISL club was very professional. They were very clear with my plan and never said no to me for anything. I really wanted to go there, but one thing which was holding me back was the East Bengal team we have built with a lot of hope and trust and the players who have been with me since I joined. My team also said, 'Let's finish this, what you have left'. We also had a goal that we have to be in the top eight in AFC," Andrews told Sportstar on Monday.

The talks for this new role were happening in the backdrop of uncertainty around ISL, with no start date for the new season in sight. Stability, that was present at his current role with the IWL champion, was missing from the ISL job, at that point in time. That was another reason for Andrews and his team to not go ahead with the move.

"One last time, I had a focussed conversation with Anthony to weigh the pros and cons of this move before going forward with it. Here [at East Bengal], he has full control of the team; he can go around making decisions which are beneficial for him. At the end, I told him staying is the better option because he has already built something which nobody has done before. There is something left in AFC for him to prove. He has proved everything in India now," Mizpha Richards, a member of the talent agency associated with Andrews, recalled.

"His profile in women's football has moved to bigger heights where there have been enquiries for him from foreign clubs also. With them, it was all initial level of talks and there was the element of skepticism attached to moving to a new country. So we dropped that plan and the ISL offer seemed to be a better option, but eventually we discussed and thought there is some job left to do here," Richards added.

Come November 13, East Bengal will begin its title defence against Andrews' former side, Gokulam Kerala FC, with which he won back-to-back titles as well. This time, he would hope to better his best yet: go for a three peat.

But Andrews quite frankly revealed that a combination of his desire to coach in men's football -- the reason behind his venturing into coaching -- and the many obstacles dotting the path in women's football have made him look out in recent times.

"There are a lot of things which you have to take care of. And I'm not saying that I have to run with the responsibility, but I think whoever is involved in the game has to be a little serious about the development of the women's game. It's not a one-person job. So if that happens, I'll maybe stick to women's football. But yeah, I have another year with East Bengal. We see how things work in the future," Andrews concluded.