USFC gets Australian Nathan Hall as new head coach

GANGTOK, 11 Dec: United Sikkim Football Club [USFC] has appointed a new head coach for the remainder of the I-League 2012-13 season. Australian Nathan Hall was officially presented as the new USFC coach here at Paljor Stadium today.
USFC senior manager Arjun Rai presented the club’s official jersey to the 27-year-old Australian who took charge as the new head coach yesterday.
Introducing the new coach, Mr Rai informed that Hall was with clubs in Australia, Thailand and Indonesia before coming to India on the USFC assignment.
“The club was giving poor performance under the previous coach and the club’s CEO Bhaichung Bhutia was the interim coach for five matches. The club did well under him but since he is also a player and had other responsibilities also, we needed a full time coach and we are happy to have Nathan as our new coach,” said the United Sikkim senior manager.
Hall is coaching in India for the first time though USFC is his fifth club in Asia.
“It is a new and exciting challenge for me to help United Sikkim to stay in I-League. Sikkim has been waiting for I-League for a long time and the team needs to stay. The target is to make sure that at the end, we are still in the I-League for the next season”, said the new head coach.
Hall’s contract with the Snow Lions is till the end of this season which concludes on April last. USFC is at present in a relegation tussle languishing in the 12th position of I-League table with four losses, five draws and one win.
“The season so far has not been particularly good for USFC but we still have a long way to go. I don’t know much about Indian clubs but I know that we are a small club with less experience in I-League. We have potential in our squad and my first job is to improve our players and train them hard to be very competitive”, said Hall.
Hall’s first assignment is to prepare the team for this weekend’s clash against Mumbai FC at Pune. United Sikkim is leaving tomorrow to play three away matches before returning to Gangtok on 30 December.
The new coach trained the players yesterday and believes that he requires 3-4 weeks to know the strengths and weaknesses of each player. “Obviously the shape and organization of the team needs to be better. Each player has to understand his role and position but you cannot give them too much in a short span of time. We will have to take small steps. It will take 3-4 weeks for me to know each player”, he said.
Commenting on his relatively young age as a coach, Hall said he is not bothered about what people are saying about his age. “I was the youngest professional coach in Asia and I don’t care what people have to say. For me, performance matters”, stated Hall.