KBFC’s new coach Stahre eager to fly on fans’ amazing wings

New Kerala Blasters head coach Mikael Stahre aims to win over fans with energetic football and high-scoring games.

Ivan Vukomanoic had an amazing connect with his fans during his three seasons at Kerala Blasters. The fans loved the Serb and stood by him through thick and thin, the coach also guided the team to the ISL playoffs thrice.

Blasters’ new head coach Mikael Stahre has tough shoes to fill and the Swede is eager to get the fans on his side as soon as possible.

“It’s a huge privilege to be a member of this club. We’ll play good and energetic football, score a lot of goals and win. You will see us give our 100% at every single game,” said Stahre at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday, ahead of Blasters’ ISL season-opener against Punjab FC on Sunday, the Thiruvonam Day.

“I think that’s what football fans want in general. They have high expectations, want players to score a lot of goals, see positive football, energetic players and they also want to see fighters out there. That’s my message to the fans... we want to please them.”

The fans have been Blasters’ strength, they often fill up the Nehru Stadium here to the brim and this in turn strengthens the team.

Blasters are arguably the team with the biggest fan base in the ISL but the fans are also a hungry lot.

With Blasters having come tantalisingly close to the ISL Cup by reaching the final thrice and losing twice in the tiebreaker, the fans are now desperate to lift the trophy. While they will expect the inspiring Adrian Luna to come up with his magical touch, they will also be eagerly looking at the new stars like Moroccan Noah Sadaoui, who won the Golden Boot at the recent Durand Cup, and Spaniard Jesus Jimenez to score goals aplenty.