Amid all the flak for his allegedly dictatorial administration, Hockey India (HI) president Narinder Batra has found support in former India coach Michael Nobbs, who says he is the "only person who can do this job".
With coach Paul van Ass's association with Indian men's hockey team likely to end under bizarre circumstances, Nobbs disagreed with the notion that Batra runs HI according to his own whims and fancies.
"Dr. Batra is just so passionate and wants the best," Nobbs told IBNLive from his home in Canberra, Australia. "I never had an issue with him at any time. Batra is the only person who can do this job."
On Monday, Dutchman Van Ass told that he is no longer wanted by HI and that High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, who incidentally is also from the Netherlands, has told this to him via an e-mail.
According to Van Ass, who broke the news about his sacking to IBNLive, the decision was based on a spat he had with Batra after the quarterfinal against Malaysia at the FIH World League semi-finals in Belgium.
"I haven't quit, I have been fired by Mr. Batra, and it was done one week after the World League semis in Belgium," Van Ass informed before elaborating on the incident.
"He came onto the pitch and said something in Hindi to the players. I thought he was saying things like 'Well done' and 'Well played' but the tone was not such. Then I asked him to leave the pitch, it's not right," the 54-year-old said.
But Nobbs suggested a clash of egos was always on the cards.
"[it was] always going to be a problem. He is a Dutchman, that's what they are like. Batra used to do that to me, [but] it was never a problem. I never had an issue with him at any time," Nobbs said, adding that Van Ass's way of coaching was also a bit "weird".
"Watching Van Ass coach, he used to speak at all the breaks in his broken English and yell at the boys. No translator, how weird." the Australia said.
However, Nobbs did have a suggestion for Batra.
"I think Dr. Batra needs to think outside the box. India needs to bring in specialists for short periods and build up Indian coaches and specialists. Bring back the specialists again and review. Continue this until you have a fully working programme."
Until then, the former coach said, India should hand over the team to the combination of Harendra Singh and Oltmans.
"Oltmans has coached the team a few times. Reasonable results. Harendra brings excellent language skills in translation, knows all the players very, very well," Nobbs said in an assured manner.
"He [Harendra] was working with me initially, has had very good results with the junior programme. It's a really easy decision. A dumb decision would be bringing in another foreigner," the Aussie said before hanging up.
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