The 59-year-old, who has worked with the franchise as their technical director, was a surprise pick to take over as manager, has experience of taking over the same duty was a decent enough sample size to win over the management.
The Gaurs are off to their worst Indian Super League start ever. They lost their opening three games of the campaign to Mumbai City (3-0), Jamshedpur (3-1) and NorthEast United (2-1), but fought back to beat East Bengal (4-3) and Bengaluru (2-1) in the next two games.
After a 1-1 draw against Hyderabad FC on December 18, which meant they had not kept a clean sheet for the opening six games, Ferrando was relieved of his duties as head coach of the club.
The last time Pereira was managing the club, he did so for a short period of time but ended up taking them to the top of the table in 2018/19. He is also well-versed with many players in the current team and has helped a lot of youngsters rise through the ranks over the years.
Speaking after the appointment as head coach, he said that he is very excited to lead the side in this season and is proud to be taking over the Gaurs, especially being a Goan himself.
“We’re pleased to announce that Derrick has taken over as the Head Coach of the team. He’s been ingrained into the fabric of the club and is well versed with our players and staff with a vast majority of them having worked with him.
A Goan taking over FC Goa is the perfect representation of what we believe in and we’re confident he will make his mark on this team and will continue to push the team towards its objectives,”
Ravi Puskar, director of football, said.
The experienced manager has worked with a lot of youth teams before, most recent of those assignments coming in 2019 when he worked with the Indian U23 team. When he was the head of Goa’s youth setup, he made them champions on three occasions at that level.
