FC Goa have appointed technical director Derrick Pereira as the new head coach to replace Juan Ferrando who joined ATK Mohun Bagan.
CLUB STATEMENT
FC Goa are delighted to confirm the appointment of Derrick Pereira as the club’s new head coach.
Pereira, who is currently with the Club as its Technical Director had taken charge of the Gaurs along with Clifford Miranda and Roma Cunillera during the fag end of the 2019/20 season after the departure of Sergio Lobera.
The former Indian international during his little time at the helm of the Gaurs, took the side to finish top of the Indian Super League table at the end of the 2018-19 league table – paving the way for FC Goa’s qualification for group stages of the 2021 AFC Champions League.
The 59-year-old has extensive experience working with the majority of players from the present FC Goa squad. A number of them have played under him in his stints before his time with FC Goa while many more come through the youth ranks under his guidance
Speaking of the task ahead, new FC Goa head coach Derrick Pereira said, “It is a great honour to become head coach of a club I have been part of for so many years. It is a very proud day for both me and my family.
“This is a wonderful opportunity, but there is also a lot of work ahead of us and I am eager to get onto the training ground to start working with the players.
“I would like to thank the club management for this opportunity and thank the club’s supporters for the incredible welcome they have already given me. I am very excited to begin our journey together.”
Speaking on the appointment, FC Goa’s Director of Football, Ravi Puskur said, “We’re pleased to announce that Derrick has taken over as the Head Coach of the team. He’s been ingrained into the fabric of the club and is well versed with our players and staff with a vast majority of them having worked with him.
“He will settle into the day to day workings of the team seamlessly and we’re certain he’ll continue to push our brand of football. A Goan taking over FC Goa is the perfect representation of what we believe in and we’re confident he will make his mark on this team and will continue to push the team towards its objectives.”
Derrick Pereira has been with the club since 2017, serving as the Assistant Coach in 2017/18 before taking up the role of the Technical Director at the beginning of the 2018/19 season.
In this role, he headed FC Goa’s Youth Development, with three of his teams finishing as Champions. He was also in charge of the India U23 team in 2019.
He has previously managed Mahindra United, winning the National Football League in his maiden season. That established him as one of the premier coaches of the country as he went on to manage Pune FC, Salgaocar, DSK Shivajians and Churchill Brothers.
Further announcements on Derrick Pereira’s first official press conference and first-team coaching appointments will follow in due course.
This press release was originally published on FC Goa’s website.
The President of FC Goa, Akshay Tandon, posted a thread on Twitter explaining the rationale behind the decision.
Derrick and @FCGoaOfficial: A thread…
When we took over in 2016, we didn't make any changes. We let Zico and the previous management do their thing. At the end of the season, it was clear that we needed to make many changes.
Hardly a handful of people from the previous management were left by early 2017.
Derrick was the first person we brought on board in early 2017. We wanted to build a local youth focused approach and there was no one better suited for this.
Derrick played a key role in the ISL draft in 2017 to lay the foundation of this team which still continues to exist. Identifying players like Brandon, Seriton, Naveen and Ali that continue to play for us till today. He then went on to set up our Youth teams and Dev team.
Being involved in recruitment, trials, and coach selection and development for everyone thats been through our system.
Derrick has also played a key role in developing young players, which includes Princeton and Gama (promoted in 2018/19) Devendra, Sanson, Leander, Flan (2019/20) and Papuia, Hrithik, Christy, Danstan (20/21). Doesn't include players who have joined other ISL/I-League teams.
Derrick has ensured that the philosophy of the club, which has always been to produce players for the first team, remains intact. He ensures that our style of play is never compromised. This is why our Dev team players seem to fit in to the first team so easily.
There are countless days when Derrick will start his day with overseeing U-14 practice at 6 am and U-18 at 8 am. Then doing curriculum design for the grassroots at 11 am, before being in the dugout for the Dev team at 330 pm, then he will drop in to the Women's team practice@6pm.
Selfishly, I haven’t wanted him in the first team role because he is so important to the club. He represents @FCGoaOfficial ‘s vision better than anyone and I am grateful to have him and too scared to lose him. But things don’t always go according to plan.
Even though the circumstances aren't ideal.
Once again, we turn to him to guide us out of a mid-season crisis and graciously, he has accepted. He will fit like a glove, cause he pretty much built most of it. I am sure he is going to do a great job as Head Coach of @FCGoaOfficial
Originally tweeted by Akshay Tandon (@akshaytandon117) on 21st December 2021.
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