THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

Susanna Steptoe: The Brandon Fernandes Media Machine

The Fan's Column - Susanna Steptoe

At the beginning of October 2012, Brandon Fernandes was a relatively unknown Indian U19 footballer, who hailed from Goa and was developing his trade at the ASD Cape Town Soccer Academy in South Africa. Fast forward two weeks to October 14th, and an estimated audience of over 500 million people not only knew who Brandon Fernandes was, but so too that the young Goan was on the brink of making soccer history by becoming the first Indian player to sign a contract in the EPL.

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PLEASE NOTE:
The views expressed in any of the published FAN’s COLUMN do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publication www.chrispd.de and/or its editor Chris Punnakkattu Daniel. The FAN’s COLUMNS reflect the opinion of the particular guest columnist and they are solely the responsibility of their author.

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The Fan's Column - Susanna SteptoeWhilst Brandon trained with Reading FC, and then Championship side Leicester City, the international soccer press went into overdrive, with news items about Brandon’s progress appearing hourly on the worldwide web. Brandon was no longer the relatively unknown young Goan – he was now ‘the Indian Messi’, ‘Goa’s hope for the future’, and according to ESPN’s sources, had even been offered a ‘$1million professional contract by Reading FC’, making him an ‘Indian Superstar’.

As Brandon’s Commercial Manager, I had the privileged yet delicate task of handling this enormous interest, whilst also ensuring Brandon did not fall victim to the intense pressure such scrutiny brings. From the moment Brandon’s Agent and I met Brandon off the plane at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, the workload was relentless, and 35 days blurred into one.

To his credit, Brandon was the consumate professional – completely unphased by the journalists lining up outside the gates of the training grounds, and deliberately ignorant to the letters being given to clubs by rogue agents wanting a piece of the action. Quite simply, Brandon was focused on the football.

ASD work so diligently on developing each player holistically, and Brandon was educated enough to realise that the hype, although hugely flattering, was actually meaningless without the end result – a senior pro-contract.

Frustratingly, after 35 days there was no definitive answer on Brandon’s future. He was the ‘best trialists’ one of his coaches had ever seen; he was labelled ‘technically superb’ by another, and applauded for having ‘an amazing first touch for someone of his age’. Whilst there was no question Brandon had made a phenomenal impression, now was still not quite his time.

Did Brandon get frustrated? No. Angry? No. Despondent? No. Was he disappointed? Of course. When something is within reaching distance you want it there and then. Crucially though, Brandon had succeeded in making a name for himself in the very small world of professional soccer, and his time in the UK had ensured several top clubs would now monitor his progress.

Although none of us know what 2013 holds, Brandon knows his dream is still well within his reach. For now, he has rejoined ASD’s SAFA 2 squad where he is making his mark as a prolific goalscorer, netting two against Ajax Cape Town upon his return.

Brandon is a unique talent, and this is matched by his determination. He is fortunate in that he has an excellent infrastructure of support from ASD, his family, and his UK based Management Team, Kemp Thornton. All who work with Brandon are inclined to concur with Indian Journalist Siddharth Sharma, who said: “Brandon will [one day] give every footballer in India a chance to dream”.  He is most certainly already paving the way.

Are you interested to write your very own guest column and get it published to a broad audience? Let’s go… just [click here] to know more about it!

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PLEASE NOTE:
The views expressed in any of the published FAN’s COLUMN do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publication www.chrispd.de and/or its editor Chris Punnakkattu Daniel. The FAN’s COLUMNS reflect the opinion of the particular guest columnist and they are solely the responsibility of their author.

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