- – Snow Leopards sack Mehrajuddin Wadoo
- – New boss, Gifton Noel-Williams, takes charge
- – Noel-Williams has coached England under-17s
SRINAGAR- Real Kashmir FC are set to take on Sudeva Delhi today, Wednesday, February 8, at Synthetic Turf TRC. The match is slated for a 2:00 PM kick off.
This will be the Snow Leopards’ first game without head coach Mehrajuddin Wadoo, as former English footballer Gifton Noel-Williams was given the charge in late January. Wadoo’s sacking came after Real Kashmir failed to impress in 2023; the club has endured a woeful away form and is yet to win a game in the I-League since the start of the new year.
Noel-Williams is a UEFA Pro Licence Coach and will bring a wealth of experience to the Srinagar-based football club. He has played as a striker for Watford, Stoke and Burnley among other European clubs, scoring 85 goals across 416 appearances.
As far as Noel-Williams’ coaching career is concerned, the new Real Kashmir head coach was appointed interim manager for Watford Women in 2020. He was named an Assistant Coach for England’s Under-17 national team in 2022 by the English FA.
While Srinagar’s chilly weather won’t bother the London-born coach much, it will be Real Kashmir’s opponents today who could put the squad in a spot of bother. Noel-Williams won’t be taking Sudeva Delhi lightly, that’s for sure.
“We’ve been on the road for quite some time, so it’s homecoming for me as well as the boys,” Noel-Williams told AIFF on the eve of the match.
“With a new manager comes new philosophy, so I won’t think about what has happened so far. I’ve watched the videos of those games and spoke to some individuals about changing some things,” he added.
When asked about how his preparation for the match, Noel-Williams said:
“I might be making some changes, some players who have not played so much may get to play but I don’t believe in changing everything. Because this team with this set of players won match after the match earlier in the season, so they couldn’t have become bad in a matter of few matches.”
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