TOUGH START BUT ROBBO’S KARL SINGING
DAVID ROBERTSON admits his only piece of research before agreeing to take charge of Real Kashmir was watching ‘An Idiot Abroad’ star Karl Pilkington buffoon his way around India.
But in the week the former Rangers, Aberdeen and Scotland star took charge of the club’s first ever home game in Indian football’s top flight, he quickly realised there was nothing funny about arguably the hardest job in world football.
The disputed territory of Kashmir is the most militarised zone on the planet. Nuclear superpowers India and Pakistan have fought for decades over the region and it’s estimated there are more guns in Kashmir than in Syria at present.
Srinagar - the chaotic city where Real Kashmir are based – is a nerveshredding assault to the senses from the moment you land at the military airport.
Robbo took charge of newly-formed Real Kashmir last year and led them to promotion to the I-League in his first season.
The 50-year-old said: “Winning the league here was as good as anything I’ve ever done in my career. At Rangers and Aberdeen we won things but that was as part of a team.
“Because we are a brand new team that was only an idea two years ago, to win the league was an incredible achievement.
“There’s momentum. When we won I-League second division, we started getting decent crowds.
“There’s a population of five million here and the people love football.
“There has been a lot of publicity, adidas are on board and there’s a film BY ALAN MARSHALL been made that millions have seen on YouTube.”
Despite an afternoon kick-off on a Tuesday, the excited locals saw Kashmir frustrated against their 10-man rivals Churchill Brothers in a 0-0 draw.
Robertson – who signed his son Mason for this campaign – was heartened by the game, which followed on from defeating champions Minerva 1-0 at their own ground.
But he revealed it was nearly over before it started for him.
He said: “I’d never been to India before and decided to take it. I did no research into Kashmir. You get to New Delhi and you think, ‘This is OK.’ I’d watch ‘An Idiot Abroad’ on TV and I thought that was what India was all about.
“It was very difficult but it was my own fault because I didn’t do any research on the place at all. After two days I just thought, ‘I can’t do this.’
“But the owners took me to one side and told me I couldn’t leave because if I left the whole thing would fall apart. There was a big announcement that they had hired me as manager and it wouldn’t have looked good for them if I had left after two days.
“So I went for lunch with the owners and they persuaded me to stay.
“And it wasn’t until it was time to go home I thought to myself, ‘I actually quite like this.’
“I like the people here, they are fantastic people. They did everything they could for me.
“Now every time I go home to Scotland it gets easier. In fact the last time I was back I was thinking to myself I couldn’t wait to get back to Kashmir. I was missing it.”