KOLKATA: With a lifetime of memories, Subrata Bhattacharya slipped into nostalgia on Thursday. "In those days, it was common for Kolkata's big clubs to hold trials for aspiring footballers regularly in a move to catch them young. As the head coach of Mohun Bagan's senior football team, I was privileged to oversee such trials and recommend who would be offered a contract.
"There was a diminutive guy playing as a striker in one such trial match and he caught me by surprise when he scored from a bicycle kick. The goal was straight from the page of Shyam Thapa's skill-book. 'Sign him,' I told the club management after seeing that goal," the former Mohun Bagan defender and coach recalled.
