Poor infrastructure cost Indian football !

New Delhi, Dec 22: Most fans in India believe that football has not seen global success in the country due to the lack of infrastructure, a survey revealed on Friday.

According to the study, 47 percent fans felt that lack of infrastructure was the reason behind India's ibility to shine globally while 26 percent said poor recognition was the key factor affecting the growth.

"47 percent of the participants believe that football hasn't seen global success in India because of lack of infrastructure, whereas 26 percent believe it to be the lack of recognition," the espn FANtastic survey, which saw over 1000 Indian football fans voting said.

On the other hand, 48 percent of the fans voted for Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho as the best English Premier League (EPL) coach while 27 percent fans below the age of 18 voted for Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.

After 18 matches in the EPL, City lead the table with 52 points while United are seated second with 41.

Contradicting the choice of the Indian fans former Scottish footballer Craig Burley said: "Jose Mourinho may have the best CV in terms of trophies won, at various clubs, some smaller than the ones maged by Pep, obviously thinking towards Porto in particular, where Jose started.

"However, I think if 99% of club owners were to pick a mager, maybe even if a 100% were to pick a mager between the two, it would be Guardiola."

Former Venezuelan footballer Alejandro Moreno also backed Burley saying: "It is difficult to gravitate towards a Jose Mourinho team, when you have all that talent at your disposal and you choose to be defensive, you choose to be counter attacking and you choose to be very negative towards your approach to the game. It is more exciting and a whole lot more entertaining to watch Manchester City play."

When asked about the team to win Champions League, 48 per cent fans voted for English football giants Manchester United.

"48 percent fans are rooting for Manchester United to win the league. However, the youth, below 18 years old, strongly feels that Manchester City, also known as Pep Guardiola's 'The Unbeatables', are equally competitive and more likely to win the league given their successive run," the statement read.

Refuting the finding, Moreno said: "Well those older fans are probably hanging on to whatever they grew up watching -- Manchester United were a team which was always going to find a way to win games in Fergie's time. But that's not happening today. I feel, the younger generation has got it right. This season has run away with Manchester City, and United are just keeping up and that's all." IANS