A football coach invariably stands out from the troop he commands, predominantly because of a significant age gap between him and the players, but Des Buckingham, the 36-year-old Mumbai City FC coach, defies this convention. On physicality, there’s not much to distinguish between his players and him. He resembles an active athlete, despite his playing career having concluded soon after his teenage years. But his youthfulness shouldn’t be conflated with inexperience; he boasts almost two decades of coaching experience. The youngest manager in the Indian Super League is also the most astute and adroit one and, under his stewardship, Mumbai City FC has soared to new heights.
In his sophomore season, Buckingham oversaw his team tumbling records for fun as they went on to clinch their second ISL League Shield title in an emphatic fashion. They set up the record for most goals, most wins, and fewest losses in the season, and at one stage they were on an unbeaten streak of 18 games. The benchmark has already been set, but there’s always a scope for improvement. Buckingham seems optimistic about replicating the highs of last season as his team prepare to kickstart the new season with a game against NorthEast United FC. “It’s not about starting afresh but building on from what we did last year,” says Buckingham. “This is my third season at the club, and with that comes the consistency and understanding. We went to Thailand in the pre-season, and won all our league games in the Durand Cup, and we are now ready for the ISL,” he adds.
Although the 3-1 defeat against Mohun Bagan SG in the Durand Cup quarter-final raised some questions over their preparation, Buckingham admits he is satisfied with how the players have turned up. “We’ve done as much as we could, with what we have. Surely we should have come away with a better result against Mohun Bagan, if not for the missed chances and a contentious penalty call but I’m happy with what we’ve shown as a unit.”
While the results are for everyone to see, what usually goes under the radar is their intense and ruthless playing style that has won many converts. Buckingham has shown great tenacity to stick with his principles, even when the ship seemed to be drifting southwards, and any manager would be tempted to make changes. He came to the club with well-laid plans, and had clear ideas of how his crew would build the game, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the profiles to execute his vision on the pitch.
Consequently, his first season was a nightmare. Mumbai struggled to score and conceded rather easily. Undeterred by his turbulent start in the league, Buckingham went back to the drawing board, identified the areas where they needed an upgrade, and filled the gap. The signing of Greg Stewart, Alberto Noguera, and Jorge Pereyra Diaz provided them the cutting edge on the field, while already existing players slowly got attuned to their roles and responsibilities. The trio not only added an incredible attacking flair to the side – scoring 22 goals collectively – but their work-rate also helped the defensive organisation of the team.
Rahul Bhekhe, the right-back who made history by becoming the first Indian to score in the AFC Champions League last year, tells how the coach led the turnaround by putting greater defensive responsibility on attackers. “We rectified our mistake after the first season. Defending was no longer just about a goalkeeper and four men in front of him. Everyone had to contribute in different ways, and we got the result,” says Bheke, who was rewarded with a contract extension this year.
Bheke is one of the many players, alongside Noguera, Diaz, Rostyn Griffiths, and Mehtab Singh, the club managed to retain for this season. But it’s clear Buckingham wants to build up with the same set of players that performed exceptionally well last year. “The biggest achievement is retaining 90% of the squad from last year. We have a great mix of young and experienced players in the team,” he quips.
The biggest beneficiaries of Buckingham’s reign have been young Indian players. Lalengmawia Ralte, fondly known as Apuia, has evolved into a very calming presence in the midfield, triggering the press alongside two strikers, breaking the attack with slides and tackles, and also showing great composure with the ball at his feat. Jahou’s presence at the base of midfield offered greater positional flexibility to Ralte. It would be interesting to see how Ralte adapts in the absence of Jahou, who moved to Odisha FC last year. Other young players like Vinit Rai, Vikram Partap Singh, and Mehtab Singh, Gurkirat Singh also had their moments. One of the main objectives at Mumbai City for Buckingham was to oversee the development of the youngsters. It’s safe to say he has done a tremendous job so far, and nothing testifies this as emphatically as this numerical nugget: 46% of the goals Mumbai City scored last season came from the Indian players.
“I’ve got a big history of working with young players, he says. “We try to set up a nice and comfortable environment for the players, where they feel safe and secure. Whether they’re young or old, they need to be themselves. They are who they are. Our job is to make them feel comfortable and secure in the position so that they can express themselves without any hesitation on the pitch.” Buckingham draws a parallel between teaching and coaching, sharing how both these jobs are about “taking initiative, getting people on-board, and help them in their journey”.
The work Buckingham did with the winger Lallianzuala Chhangte is well documented. Struggling to reach his potential at Chennaiyan FC, Chhangte forced a move to Mumbai FC on a six-month loan, after Buckingham promised to help him realise his ambition. Thanks to a better environment and the committed coach of Mumbai City, the long-stagnant career got wings. Chhangte scored ten goals and recorded six assists last season. Buckingham, however, pins this to Chhangte’s own hard work.
“We just put in the correct framework but the drive to succeed came from him alone,” he says. “We’ve got lots of measures that we didn’t have when I arrived. We know the physical demands of the league. We’ve got a gym program for groups and individuals, and a personal development program for each player, to help them understand their role. We have done our best to provide a platform that gives players the best chance to succeed,” he adds.
Mumbai City’s success is not theirs alone, though. For the second season in a row, they qualified for the prestigious AFC Champions League (ACL). Last year, they became the first and only Indian club to win a match in the most competitive football tournament in Asia.
They have been drawn with Al Hilal SFC, FC Nassaji Mazandaran and PFC Navbahor Namangan in Group D of the ACL 2023-24. On the major difference between ISL and ACL, coach Buckingham says, “The standard in Champions League is much higher, the game is quicker, and the players are stronger. They make decisions a lot faster, and the margin for error is very low.”
But he is confident of the team’s ability to play toe-to-toe against some of the best Asian teams. The major highlight of this season’s ACL is going to be their much-awaited match against Al-Hilal, a star-studded team featuring one of the biggest football stars, Neymar Jr. While the possibility of playing against players like Neymar, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrović might be a bit intimidating, but Buckingham’s Mumbai City FC is ready for the challenge. “We need to be very clear with our plan. We have the skillset and players to not only compete but get results at that level,” he adds. Irrespective of how the game turns about, big clubs like Al-Hilal coming to India is a great thing for Indian football, feels Buckingham.
