EXCLUSIVE: Chris Beesley speaks to former Everton player Terry Phelan, who is trying to build football in India from the bottom up
05:00, 26 Feb 2026
Terry Phelan playing for Everton in 1997(Image: Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)
Former Everton player Terry Phelan has always been up for a challenge and when it comes to football, coaching in India appears to be the ultimate test.
Now home to over 1.4 billion people, it overtook China as the most populous country on Earth in 2023, but when it comes to the planet’s most popular sport, India has never once played in the World Cup finals. They did qualify once, for the tournament in Brazil in 1950, their first chance since independence in a competition when England finally made their debut, but that story is a saga itself.
Unlike the Three Lions, who despite boasting a side including the likes of Billy Wright, Tommy Finney, Stan Mortensen and future World Cup-winning manager Alf Ramsey, suffered the infamy of losing to the part-timers of the USA, India never made it to South America. One tale that did the rounds was that they withdrew because their players weren’t allowed to play barefoot, but this wasn’t true.
It was also suggested that they couldn’t afford to pay for the trip, but FIFA were apparently prepared to foot the bill for them. Instead, it seems that after qualifying by default without kicking a ball after Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines all withdrew, All India Football Federation chiefs simply didn’t have faith in their team to compete on a global stage.
They’ve never made it since, but by coincidence, the World Cup’s return to Brazil some 64 years later proved to be the platform for Phelan’s odyssey in the subcontinent. While his life in football has taken him to the likes of Yorkshire, south Wales and London, even before his globetrotting began and he was capped 42 times by the Republic of Ireland, the former left-back’s strong accent remains true to his Mancunian upbringing.
Phelan was a popular figure with supporters during his time at Goodison Park, but injuries restricted him to just 28 appearances for Everton. However, he was also the player who had battled back from being released on a free transfer by Billy Bremner at his first club Leeds United to being part of Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’ that stunned Liverpool in the greatest FA Cup final shock of all-time in 1988 before Manchester City brought him ‘home’ in 1992 in a £2.5million transfer that equalled the British record fee for a defender.
Once his time in English football came to a close though, the adventure began for Phelan. He told the ECHO: “When I was winding down, I went and played in America for Charleston Battery, and I thought I’d just end up sat on the beach. I wasn’t really thinking about getting into coaching if I’m honest, but I gave it a go and I really enjoyed it and then had a spell in New Zealand.
“My first stint in India was in 2010 at a residential academy in Goa, working with a group of Under-20s players and the first team and it was great. I was then back in England for a couple of years but then I’ve been out here continuously since returning to cover the 2014 World Cup for Ten Sports which is now Sony.
“It was an initial six-week gig and it was tough with the time difference (India is eight-and-a-half hours ahead of most of Brazil) and I was one of two analysts doing 12-hours shifts. But then I was offered the position of technical director at Kerala Blasters where Trevor Morgan ran all the programmes.
“He said to me: ‘You’ve been over to India before, so why don’t you come out?’ And I did and I’ve been here ever since.”
Terry Phelan immerses himself in Indian culture with some traditional costumes
Speaking while riding in a cab after checking his training facility was safely locked up for the night, Phelan explains how things have now come full circle for him. He said: “It was either go back to India or go to Mexico with a friend of mine who had a big academy over there linked to West Ham. I still do the TV with Sony Sports, but I’ve been in Bangalore since 2019 as technical director at South United.
“I also joined a group called Jain Sports, who are part of a big educational institute. They said: ‘Look, we want to set the football up, would you be willing to come on board?’ I told them yes, and then they revealed they had something very exciting happening, that they were collaborating with Manchester City.
“Growing up in Manchester, being a fan of Manchester City and going on to play for them, it was a no brainer. We’ve scouted 60 players from across the country to come in for four or five days to pick the best 20 and get them ready for when Manchester City do come on board.
“We’re thrilled about the project and I’ve come in as programme director with a good group of people who are trying to grow the model. We just had a meeting with City the other day about protocols and what they expect and it was fantastic.
“I started off as a boy in Manchester, wearing a City shirt and ended up signing for them for two-and-a-half million pounds as the dearest full-back in the world, and now I’m back there again, helping them run their programmes in India, which I’m very proud of. I’ve been here a long time now and I enjoy it.
“We’ve got some beautiful football players over here and if we can nurture them in the right way from the bottom of the pyramid, then they can go on to become successful at the top. That’s what we’re trying to do and I’m looking forward to the energy of doing something different and tackling a new challenge when I’m almost at the grand old age of 59, running around a football pitch with bright, young students – it’s going to be excellent.”
Terry Phelan gives young players some tactical instructions in India
While that quest for a World Cup place has so far proven elusive for India, even with an expanded tournament of 48 teams this summer, Phelan remains focused on building from the bottom rather than concerning himself with what the country is doing in international football. He said: “You’ve got to come in here with an open mind. If you drop yourself in and make it about selling shirts then it’s not going to happen, as we can go down to the market and get a shirt.
“We’ve got wonderful talent, it’s just about developing it and bringing it into an environment that is going to enhance the players on and off the field, socially, as well as physically. I think the social side is key, because they’re going to be leaving home and on a residential site but it’s also about the nucleus of what’s around them, let them be mini people with no pressure on them.
“Once we get that, I think you’ll see a lot of players emerging. More academies are starting up, and the infrastructure and coach education is getting better.
“We want to be up there with the leaders in world football. I’m not worried about the top part, the national team, that’s another entity, but what we can do down here is grow the game at the bottom and keep the ball rolling for the students.
“We want to get them really motivated and challenge them to be successful at a stage that will allow them to play football.”