Foreign coaches can not make drastic change in short span: Bhutia

New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) With the FIFA World Cup fever about to take the country in its grip, mercurial forward Baichung Bhutia feels it will take atleast another 10-12 years before India can make it to the world's greatest sporting event.

''The day we start working at the grassroot level, have good infrastructure and good coaches to shape the budding talent and a quality coach at the helm, may be 10-12 years after that you can scream for the Indian team which would be playing the World Cup,'' Bhutia said here today.

Although Bhutia welcomed the idea of a star foreign coach at the helm of the national team, he guarded against expecting too much too soon.

''Big star foreign coaches are not gonna change the face of Indian football drastically in a short span of time,'' the India captain said and added, ''but we can learn a lot form them and it will help in the longer run. And then we can pass on the expertise to the up and coming players.'' The AIFF has recently shortlisted 11 big names of the world football in its bid to find a successor to Syed Nayeemuddin, who was sacked after India's below par performance in AFC qualifiers.

''A foreign coach may not help us win an Asian Games gold medal or a berth at World Cup finals, even if he is producing one or two extremely good players from a pool of 1000 players, it will be a job well done,'' Baichung added.

The first Indian to play professional soccer in England, Baichung also stressed on the need of inviting CEO's of the top foreign clubs in India so that they can bring along the technical knowhow to run the sport professionally.

On why once mighty Kolkata clubs were lagging behind in the domestic football, the East Bengal striker pointed out the lack of trust between the players and club as the chief reason.

''There is no trust between the players and club in Kolkata. You have to be happy with the club, if you have to perform. On the other hand clubs like Mahindra Utd and Dempo are more orgainsed and professionally run. I think bad days are really ahead for the Kolkata clubs,'' Baiching, who was in capital to promote Defend Your Turf street football by Nokia, said.

Back to the World Cup, Baichung said it was an excellent opportunity for Indian referees to see and learn how t give quick and fair decisions.

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