In one of the worst kept secret, East Bengal Club will have former England international and Liverpool FC legend Robbie Fowler as their head coach going into their inaugural Indian Super League season.

Shree Cements’ Hari Mohan Bangur, principle owner of Shree Cement East Bengal Foundation, on Friday told PTI from Dubai, “We have signed the contract last night (Thursday) and Robbie Fowler is expected to join the side directly in Goa within a week.”

“As of now, we have offered him a two-year contract which could be extended in due course,” Bangur further stated before adding, “We have already lost some valuable time but I’m not bitter about it. It’s a process and it takes time. We are handicapped as we are short on preparation, but hopeful about making up for it. We will put up a competitive squad which will be announced in a couple of days.”

Joining Robbie Fowler’s backroom staff will be former India and East Bengal captain Renedy Singh as one of his assistants, which will be so valuable for Fowler.

The owner and managing director of Shree Cement Limited, who has acquired a majority stake of 76 percent, further revealed that the team will be known as SC East Bengal as they along with archrivals ATK Mohun Bagan make it an 11-team ISL.

“It could be Sporting Club East Bengal or Shree Cement East Bengal as per your interpretation. We as a corporate group and as per the guidelines we cannot prefix ‘Shree Cement’ to East Bengal so we have decided to name the team as ‘SCEB’,” he said.

The new coaching staff at SC East Bengal will look like:

Head coach: Robbie Fowler, Assistant coach: Anthony Grant, Indian Assistant Coach: Renedy Singh, Set piece coach Terence McPhillips, Goalkeeping coach: Robert Mimms, Sports Scientist: Jack Inman, Physiotherapist: Michael Harding, Analyst: Joseph Walmsley