List of Kerala Blasters FC managers
Kerala Blasters Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala.The club was established on 24 May 2014.The Blasters competes in the Indian Super League, the top division league of Indian football. They play their home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi with an average attendance of 40000 in every season.
Managerial history
The club's current manager is Kibu Vicuña who took over the charge from Eelco Schattorie in 2020.There have been Seven permanent and One caretaker manager for Kerala Blasters since its inception. The club's longest-serving manager, in terms of both length of tenure and number of games overseen is,former England international David James
2014 season
On 13 August 2014, former England international goalkeeper, David James, was announced as the first head coach of the Blasters and the first marquee player in team history, thus coming in as a player-head coach. The Blasters finished at 4th position and qualify for semifinal. The Blasters won the first leg at home 3–0. During the second leg in Chennai, the Blasters suffered a massive scare. Despite entering the second leg with the three goal advantage, Chennaiyin managed to draw the tie level by winning in regular time 3–0 themselves. However, in extra-time, the Blasters managed to strike back and score the decisive goal in the 117th minute from Stephen Pearson to win the tie 4–3 and thus enter the final.
In the final, the Blasters took on Atlético de Kolkata at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Despite holding on for ninety minutes, it was Atlético de Kolkata that came out on top with a Mohammed Rafique goal in the 95th minute earning the Kolkata side the title with a 1–0 victory.
2015 season
After the 2014 season, it was announced that David James would not return to the club as head coach and marquee player. On 12 May 2015 it was announced that former England U20 head coach Peter Taylor would take over as the Blasters head coach.
The first match of the season was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, with the Blasters hosting NorthEast United. However, the Blasters followed that victory drawing their next match against Mumbai City and then losing their next four matches which eventually led to the dismissal of Peter Taylor as head coach. Assistant coach Trevor Morgan was in charge for one match before Terry Phelan was named head coach for the rest of the season. Fortunes failed to change for the Kerala Blasters as the club ended their second season in last place, failing to qualify for the Indian Super League finals.
2016 season
On 21 June 2016 Blasters announced the signing of former Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell as their head coach. After the first month of the season, the Blasters had one of the best defenses statistically in the league but struggled to find the back of the net. In the second half of the season, after the return of C.K. Vineeth from loan with Bengaluru FC, the Blasters managed to surge their way into the finals.
In the final, the Kerala Blasters would play host to Atlético de Kolkata.The match went into a penalty shootout, Despite taking the lead early in the shootout, the Blasters lost 4–3 and thus were defeated in their second final in three seasons.
2017-18 season
On 14 July 2017, René Meulensteen was appointed as head coach of Kerala Blasters. Dimitar Berbatov signed with Blasters on 23 August 2017 on a one-year deal for a salary of ₹7.5 crore (approximately £900,000). On 2 January 2018, René Meulensteen step back from head coach position due to personal issues. David James was signed on 3 January 2018, for the rest of the season.Kerala Blasters finished at 6th position on the table and did not qualified for playoffs.
2018-19 season
Blasters signed three and a half years agreement with David James. But was sacked due to poor performance, discontinued from 18 December 2018. Ex NEUFC head coach Nelo Vingada was signed for the rest of the season.Blasters finished at 9th position on the table with only 2 wins from 18 games and did not qualified for playoffs.
2019-20 season
Blasters brought in Dutchman Eelco Schattorie as their new manager for a long term. Having previously coached other indian clubs like East Bengal, United S.C. and Northeast United. Eelco will be looking to bring back the old glory of Kerala Blasters, that have been missing for previous 2 seasons. Blasters started the season with a win against ATK FC at home but then had a 9 winless run and inconsistent performance and injury issues at the end Blasters finished the season at 7th position with only 4 wins in 18 matches.
Managers and statistics
- As of 20 February 2020
Only Competitive Matches Are Taken into Account.
- Table headers
- Nationality – If the manager played international football as a player, the country/countries he played for are shown. Otherwise, the manager's nationality is given as their country of birth.
- From – The year of the manager's first game for Kerala Blasters.
- To – The year of the manager's last game for Kerala Blasters.
- P – The number of games managed for Kerala Blasters.
- W – The number of games won as a manager.
- D – The number of games draw as a manager.
- L – The number of games lost as a manager.
- GF – The number of goals scored under his management.
- GA – The number of goals conceded under his management.
- Win% – The total winning percentage under his management.
Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
David James | 13 August 2014 | 20 December 2014 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 35.29 | |
Peter Taylor | 12 May 2015 | 28 October 2015 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 16.67 | |
Trevor Morgan (caretaker) | 28 October 2015 | 1 November 2015 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | |
Terry Phelan | 1 November 2015 | 20 December 2015 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 28.57 | |
Steve Coppell | 21 June 2016 | 12 July 2017 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 17 | 41.18 | |
René Meulensteen | 14 July 2017 | 2 January 2018 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 14.29 | |
David James | 3 January 2018 | 18 December 2018 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 26 | 22 | 26.09 | |
Nelo Vingada | 18 January 2019 | 17 March 2019 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 14.29 | |
Eelco Schattorie | 19 May 2019 | 22 April 2020 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 29 | 32 | 26.67 | |
Kibu Vicuna | 22 April 2020 | Till Date |
Assistant Managers
Trevor Morgan (2014–2015) Jamie McAllister (2014) Ishfaq Ahmed (2015–2017) (2019–) Wally Downes (2016–2017) Wim Suurbier (2017) Iain Shaw (2017) Thangboi Singto (2017–2019) Hermann Hreidarsson (2017–2018) João Arnaldo Correia de Carvalho (2019) Shaun Ontong (2019–2020) Guillermo Sanchez (2020) Tomasz Tchórz (2020–)