Kolkata: SC East Bengal announced the arrival of former English goalkeeper Leslie Cleevely as the goalkeeping coach of the club ahead of their second time in the Indian Super League on Sunday September 26.
“I have experience of working in this part of the world. Being part of the Bangladesh national team setup where fans are also very passionate about their football, I understand the sentiment well. SC East Bengal is a massive football club and I am proud to be part of that.” said the UEFA ‘A’ License holder.
“I have done my homework on the goalkeepers we have and I will do what needs to be done to bring the best out of them. All three goalkeepers are experienced and I am sure they will come out with flying colours.” added he.
Cleevely joined SC East Bengal after a successful stint as the boss of the Bangladeshi Nation football team. The 56-year-old has plenty of experience as a player and coach. Cleevely’s most prolific spell came at Southampton as a backup goalkeeper, while he also had featured for Crystal Palace and Notts County. However, much of his playing career was at English clubs such as Farnborough Town, Carshalton Athletic and Sutton United.
Cleevely’s coaching experience is much more impressive and consists largely of spells with multiple top English teams. The list includes the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and Fulham. Cleevely worked with the great Edwin van der Sar at Fulham and coached the likes of Petr Cech, Hilario and Carlo Cudicini during his four-year spell with Chelsea.
Cleevely will be joining SC East Bengal in an endeavour to make Arindam Choudhary, Sankar Roy and Suvam Sen better under the bars.
