Former Totenham Hotspurs player Teddy Sheringham seems to have followed in John Gregory and Steve Coppell’s footsteps, by becoming a head coach for a team in the Indian Super League (ISL). Atlético de Kolkata (ATK) was founded in May 2014 and has since won two of the three ISL seasons they have played.
India has very much remained in the shadows of China and America in its drive to acquire European football players, so we were surprised when it was announced on Twitter that Teddy would be their coach for their fourth season.
Sheringham will coach the team along with I-League winning Ashley Westwood. At a conference in India he said: “It’s lovely opportunity for myself and Ashley to combine a team that will hopefully progress and win the ISL…I’m looking forward to be the coach of ATK.”
After retiring from pro football in 2008, Sheringham had a relatively successful stint as a poker player. He competed in several competitions around the world, he even came 5th at the EPT Vilamoura, winning over €90,000.
Sheringham has previously been a coach for West Ham and a manager for Portsmouth. However, this managerial role with Portsmouth ended after less than a year after the team only collected 3 points in the 2015-2016 for the season after 8 matches.
Forgive the scepticism, but one does wonder how the lad from Walthamstow will fair with the cultural shocks of both a new league and a new country. The ISL 2017-2018 season starts on November 17th, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether Sheringham is a good fit for ATK.
Managerial statistics for Sheringham are as follows:
| Stevenage (21st May 2015 – 1st February 2016)
|
Record |
| Played | 33 |
| Win % | 21.2 |
| Lost | 16 |
