Bhaichung Warned Me Against Chaubey Before AIFF Elections: Former Secretary General Shaji

All India Football Federation: Kalyan Chaubey mauling Bhaichung Bhutia in the race for the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) president post made headlines all over in September 2022. And the man who was considered to have played a crucial role in Chaubey’s win was former general secretary Shaji Prabhakaran.

But with things taking an ugly turn in less than two years, Shaji believes it was his biggest mistake in professional life to back the former goalkeeper for the top post.

“I made the biggest mistake of my professional life. I must admit with responsibility and sense, that I made the biggest mistake of my professional life in supporting Kalyan Chaubey’s election in the AIFF and then assuming the position of the Secretary-General.

“I thought since he is a former player, who played club football for more than a decade, he would always stand for the game and at least passionately engage himself to bring change in Indian football. But sadly, my assessment was 100 per cent wrong. The only person who cautioned me before the election was Bhaichung Bhutia,” he wrote in a letter to the Presidents and Secretaries of AIFF Member Associations and Members of the Executive Committee, in possession of IANS.

“On the eve of the AIFF elections, he told me, “Shaji be careful, he is using you and you will be the first casualty after a few months of elections. He was proved right, and I was completely wrong in trusting Chaubey for football reasons.”

Shaji in this scathing letter has brought to light a number of issues including a case of undue favor shown by the president towards a production vendor and the national men’s team head coach contract issue.

In the letter, Shaji also reminisced how the members had worked hard for the election and how plans were made to take Indian football forward if the team got an opportunity to serve the federation.

“I don’t have to remind you as you are fully aware, how hard we worked, amongst most of the State Associations, to prepare ourselves for the elections and our plans to transform football in India if we would have got opportunities to govern the game in India.

“However, all such plans got derailed with the entry of this man as he was not in our scheme of things. When I look back, it is something like a movie, where one of the characters forced himself on us with his fancy stories and game plan to get elected in the prime position where he can rule with no responsibility and accountability resulting in the production of streaming platform series on AIFF, reflecting chaos and daily examples of mediocrity and not anything positive on the pitch for Indian football,” Shaji pointed.

“I don’t have to remind you as you are fully aware, how hard we worked, amongst most of the State Associations, to prepare ourselves for the elections and our plans to transform football in India if we would have got opportunities to govern the game in India.

“I didn’t ask for any of those roles but he offered me first and then began lying to members after 7th November 2023 that he didn’t know how I got elected in AFC and SAFF, and how I became part of different standing committees within AFC and SAFF. He conveniently forgot that I followed the process of elections in AFC and SAFF with his approval. His lies have only exposed himself and his sense of insecurity and ill designs,” Shaji wrote.