Shree Cements has been the investor of East Bengal for the last two years as they participated in the Indian Super League. But their visions didn’t seem to be aligned as for the last two years there have been doubts about their ISL participation till the last moment.
After entering the ISL in the last stage, the team has finished at the bottom place due to a lack of planning and having not enough time to form a good team. This has been the case for the last two years for the famous Red and Gold brigade.
East Bengal are also going through a lot of problems off the field regarding their player salaries. FIFA recently ordered East Bengal to pay Rs 1.65 crores to Iranian player Omid Singh for not paying the salary earlier.
However, East Bengal had already started planning for life without Shree Cements as it was obvious they will not be on board for this season. So East Bengal held talks with Bangladeshi conglomerate Basundhara Group. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has also confirmed that East Bengal and Manchester United are in talks over a potential takeover.
OFFICIAL: Emami Group comes on board as the new investor of East Bengal
In the midst of all these rumours or proposals, the only thing which has been confirmed is that Emami Group has agreed to become the investor of East Bengal. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has once again played a key role in finding an investor for East Bengal.
CM Mamata Banerjee said: “Both sides came to me for tea today. Both sides have agreed. As a result, the problem of East Bengal playing in the ISL will be solved.”
East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said: “We can’t thank our honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal enough for what she did for East Bengal in the past two or three years. She was always there for various activities related to the club.”
“I thank Emami Group for getting associated with us and we hope to move forward hand in hand in future. We also hope that along with the Emami group we will be able to bring success to the club and make our fans happy.”
Emami Director Aditya Agarwal said: “We are glad to be get associated with East Bengal and we hope to meet the expectations that surround this club and together with East Bengal and with the blessing of everyone, we will make this association a huge success.”
