Kolkata: Fresh from their flop show at the Federation Cup football tournament, city football giants East Bengal Sunday banned the media from attending the club's practice sessions and interacting with the players or the coach.
"Henceforth no media personnel (including photo-journalists) would be allowed entry into the training sessions of the East Bengal football team. No media interactions would be held either with the coaching staff or any player," said a club release.
Eight-time Federation Cup winners East Bengal were knocked out from the group league stages in the latest edition of the tourney. They won one, drew one and lost two matches.
Coach Armando Colaco has come in for strong criticism in the media which took him apart for not fielding the right combination and failing to infuse the right spirit in the team.
"The club management's decision was arrived upon after a meeting with coach Armando Colaco and the clubs administrators, where their recent performance was reflected on," the statement read.
The East Bengal management accused a section of the media of working against the club's interest with a "personal agenda".
"We have done badly in the Federation Cup. Not only that the I-League has not come to Kolkata for the past eight years. We are all dismayed, worried and dejected over this. But the way a section of the media is writing purposefully against the club, that is deteriorating the atmosphere.
"We are all for friendly and healthy relations with the media. But why write things which are harming the reputation of this age-old institution," East Bengal assistant general secretary Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta told IANS Sunday.
