Renowned footballer and coach Subhas Bhowmick passes away

Kolkata: Renowned former Indian footballer, Asian games medallist and well-known coach Subhas Bhowmick died in the early hours of Saturday, PTI reported. He was 72 years.

The former Indian midfielder and part of the team that won the 1970 Asian Games bronze, Subhas, was suffering from kidney diseases and diabetes for long, sources from family informed, adding that time of death was around 3:30 am. He was hospitalized after a chest infection.

Subhas had undergone dialysis treatment for the past three and half months and was subjected to bypass surgery 23 years ago.

After he retired as a player, Subhas donned the coach for Mohan Bagan. Later he joined East Bengal, where he became a success in the role after the team won ASEAN Cup in 2003. He led East Bengal to win consecutive National league titles. As the technical director of the team, he was known as the "Jose Mourinho" of Kolkata Maidan.

Subhas entered the Rajasthan club when he was 19. He was blessed with impressive dribbling skills and was well able to deceive the opposing defence. He played one season for East Bengal and joined Mohun Bagan. He played there for three years and returned to East Bengal. After playing for India in the 1970 Asian Games, where the team won Bronze, he played for India in the 1974 Asian Games too. In 1971, he had scored a hattrick against the Philippines in the Merdeka Cup.

There were dark patches, too, in his career. He was arrested for being guilty of bribery and got imprisoned in 2005. The bribery incident had been a controversy.