List of Kerala Blasters FC managers

Kerala Blasters Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala. The club was established on 24 May 2014 and competes in the Indian Super League, the top division league of Indian football. They play their home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi with an average attendance of 40000 almost in every season.

Kibu Vicuña is the current head coach of Kerala Blasters

Managerial history
David James is the first manager and marquee player of the club

The club's current manager is Kibu Vicuña who took over the charge from Eelco Schattorie in April 2020.[1] There have been seven permanent and one caretaker manager for Kerala Blasters since its inception. The club's longest-serving manager, in terms of both length of tenure and number of games overseen is former England international David James.

2014 season
Main article: 2014 Kerala Blasters FC season

On 13 August 2014, former England international goalkeeper, David James, was announced as the first head coach of the Blasters and the first marquee player in team history, thus coming in as a player-head coach.[2] The Blasters finished at 4th position and qualify for semifinal. The Blasters won the first leg at home 3–0. During the second leg in Chennai, the Blasters suffered a massive scare. Despite entering the second leg with the three goal advantage, Chennaiyin managed to draw the tie level by winning in regular time 3–0 themselves. However, in extra-time, the Blasters managed to strike back and score the decisive goal in the 117th minute from Stephen Pearson to win the tie 4–3 and thus enter the final.

In the final, the Blasters took on Atlético de Kolkata at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Despite holding on for ninety minutes, it was Atlético de Kolkata that came out on top with a Mohammed Rafique goal in the 95th minute earning the Kolkata side the title with a 1–0 victory.[3]

2015 season
Main article: 2015 Kerala Blasters FC season

After the 2014 season, it was announced that David James would not return to the club as head coach and marquee player. On 12 May 2015 it was announced that former England U20 head coach Peter Taylor would take over as the Blasters head coach.[4]

The first match of the season was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, with the Blasters hosting NorthEast United. However, the Blasters followed that victory drawing their next match against Mumbai City and then losing their next four matches which eventually led to the dismissal of Peter Taylor as head coach. Assistant coach Trevor Morgan was in charge for one match before Terry Phelan was named head coach for the rest of the season. Fortunes failed to change for the Kerala Blasters as the club ended their second season in last place, failing to qualify for the Indian Super League finals.[5]

2016 season
Main article: 2016 Kerala Blasters FC season
Steve Coppell, the most popular Head coach of Kerala Blasters FC

On 21 June 2016 Blasters announced the signing of former Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell as their head coach.[6] After the first month of the season, the Blasters had one of the best defenses statistically in the league but struggled to find the back of the net. In the second half of the season, after the return of C.K. Vineeth from loan with Bengaluru FC, the Blasters managed to surge their way into the finals.

In the final, the Kerala Blasters would play host to Atlético de Kolkata.The match went into a penalty shootout, Despite taking the lead early in the shootout, the Blasters lost 4–3 and thus were defeated in their second final in three seasons.[7]

2017-18 season

On 14 July 2017, René Meulensteen was appointed as head coach of Kerala Blasters.[8]Dimitar Berbatov signed with Blasters on 23 August 2017 on a one-year deal for a salary of ₹7.5 crore (approximately £900,000). On 2 January 2018, René Meulensteen step back from head coach position due to personal issues. David James was signed on 3 January 2018, for the rest of the season. Kerala Blasters finished at 6th position on the table and did not qualified for playoffs.[9]

2018-19 season

Blasters signed three and a half years agreement with David James.[10] But was sacked due to poor performance, discontinued from 18 December 2018. Former NEUFC head coach Nelo Vingada was signed for the rest of the season. The Blasters finished at 9th position on the table with only 2 wins from 18 games and did not qualified for playoffs.[11]

2019-20 season

Blasters brought in Dutchman Eelco Schattorie as their new manager with a long term. Having previously coached other indian clubs like East Bengal, United S.C and Northeast United.[12] Blasters started the season with a win against ATK FC at home but then had a 9 winless run and inconsistent performance along with injury issues. At the end, the Blasters finished the season at 7th position with only 4 wins in 18 matches.[13]

2020-21 season

On 2020 April, the Blasters announced that Kibu Vicuña has been appointed as their manager for the 2020-21 season.[14]

Managers and statistics
As of 27 January 2021

Only Competitive Matches Are Taken into Account.

Table headers
  • Nationality – If the manager played international football as a player, the country/countries he played for are shown. Otherwise, the manager's nationality is given as their country of birth.
  • From – The year of the manager's first game for Kerala Blasters.
  • To – The year of the manager's last game for Kerala Blasters.
  • P – The number of games managed for Kerala Blasters.
  • W – The number of games won as a manager.
  • D – The number of games draw as a manager.
  • L – The number of games lost as a manager.
  • GF – The number of goals scored under his management.
  • GA – The number of goals conceded under his management.
  • Win% – The total winning percentage under his management.
List of Kerala Blasters F.C. managers
NameNationalityFromToPWDLGFGAWin%
David James  England 13 August 2014 20 December 2014 17 6 4 7 13 15 035.29
Peter Taylor  England 12 May 2015 28 October 2015 6 1 1 4 7 9 016.67
Trevor Morgan (caretaker)  England 28 October 2015 1 November 2015 1 0 1 0 1 1 000.00
Terry Phelan  Ireland 1 November 2015 20 December 2015 7 2 2 3 14 17 028.57
Steve Coppell  England 21 June 2016 12 July 2017 17 7 4 6 15 17 041.18
René Meulensteen  Netherlands 14 July 2017 2 January 2018 7 1 4 2 6 10 014.29
David James  England 3 January 2018 18 December 2018 23 6 9 8 26 22 026.09
Nelo Vingada (interim)  Portugal 18 January 2019 17 March 2019 7 1 3 3 6 10 014.29
Eelco Schattorie  Netherlands 19 May 2019 22 April 2020 18 4 7 7 29 32 022.22
Kibu Vicuna  Spain 22 April 2020 Till Date 14 3 6 5 17 22 021.43

Assistant Managers

The following is a list of all the persons who worked as an Assistant Manager for the club.

Managerial Records

As of 10 August 2020

  • Most Matches Managed:
David James
  • Least Matches Managed:
Trevor Morgan (caretaker)
  • Most Wins:
David James
  • Most Defeats
David James
  • Highest Win Percentage:
Steve Coppell
  • Least Win Percentage:
Nelo Vingada
René Meulensteen
  • Most Matches As Assistant Manager:
Ishfaq Ahmed

See also

References
  1. "Kerala Blasters get Mohun Bagan's Kibu Vicuna". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  2. Mergulhao, Marcus (20 August 2014). "David James set to have a blast with Sachin Tendulkar in ISL". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  3. "ISL: Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 to win title". The Times of India. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  4. "Kerala Blasters appoint Peter Taylor as marquee manager". The Times of India. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  5. "Indian Super League Team Analysis: Kerala Blasters FC | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  6. "Kerala Blasters announce Steve Coppell as manager for ISL 2016 - Sports News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  7. "Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters 4-3 on penalties to win ISL 2016". Hindustan Times. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  8. "Indian Super League: Kerala Blasters appoint former Man United coach Rene Meulensteen as head coach | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  9. S., Narayanan (3 January 2018). "Kerala Blasters: David James returns as Kerala Blasters head coach". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  10. "ISL 2017-18: Kerala Blasters extend manager David James' contract till 2021 - Sports News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  11. "Kerala Blasters and David James - a 'three-year' project that went nowhere | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  12. "Kerala Blasters appoint Eelco Schattorie as head coach". OnManorama. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  13. "ISL 2019-20 Season Review: Kerala Blasters". Khel Now. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  14. "ISL 2020 Kerala Blasters Sign Mohun Bagan's I League Winning Head Coach Kibu Vicuna | The Fan Garage (TFG)". thefangarage.com. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  15. "ISL: Kerala Blasters FC counting on Trevor Morgan's fan base in Bengal". Zee News. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  16. "Jamie McAllister: The Indian people were superb". Indian Super League. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  17. "Ishfaq Ahmed pens new three-year contract with Kerala Blasters". Khel Now. 23 May 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  18. "Steve Coppell and Kerala Blasters aim for Indian Super League final berth". Sky Sports. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  19. "ISL 2017: Rinus Michel's student Wim Suurbier oversaw Kerala Blasters' pre-season | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  20. Scroll Staff. "Ex-Lajong coach Thangboi Singto joins Kerala Blasters as assistant coach". Scroll.in. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  21. "Kerala Blasters assistant coach Hermann Hreiðarsson - There is work to be done | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  22. "Kerala Blasters set to sign former NorthEast United assistant coach Shaun Ontong". Khel Now. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  23. "Kerala Blasters And Its Exemplary Youth System". IFTWC. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  24. "Kerala Blasters appoint Guillermo Sanchez as assistant coach". Indian Super League. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
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