Jamshedpur FC head coach Cesar Ferrando was left baffled by the winter signings of some teams. He was unable to understand how can some teams afford so many quality players if all had the same budget.

            Jamshedpur FC were held to a 0-0 draw by John Gregory’s Chennaiyin FC who have woefully underperformed this season, finishing bottom of the table. Yet the defending champions were able to bring in quality reinforcements in Halicharan Nazary and CK Vineeth in the winter break to bolster their squad for Asian competition.

            The draw ended any hopes Jamshedpur FC harbored of qualifying for the knockout stages, confirming a maiden qualification into he final four for NorthEast United FC. And head coach Cesar Ferrando had some stern words after their 9th draw of the campaign:

"The problem here is that I was told all teams start with the same budget and we signed players like Tim Cahill and our budget was full. Then we had Cahill injured. But I see a lot of teams sign new foreign players and cheap Indian players. With a set budget, this is impossible. Our budget is full. You have to tell me how the other teams could sign so many players.”

            Ferrando praised his players but also outlined injuries to key players along with a three match ban to Carlos Calvo at the wrong time as one of the main reasons for their shortcomings:

"At this moment, We have to think about the players and the coaches. I think a lot of players injured and we face such results. We wanted to win the match. There will be moments to analyse the sides. I'm happy with both Indian and international players. Every manager likes to say I signed a player when he does well and then keeps quiet when he does not. I do not want to do that. I'm happy with all of my players.

We had a striker endure a ban. Then you have to try to win with the rest of the players. We have to play with what we have. We wanted to stay alive and get to the last minute of the match and to nick a goal but I think we did very well. The next match is against Bengaluru and I hope we can win in front of our home crowd.”

            Jamshedpur FC take on Bengaluru FC in their final game of the season and Ferrando will be hoping to send the home fans packing with a smile on their faces as the future of ISL and I-league is still up in the air like it has been before the start of every season.