Goal by Subhash Bhowmick [Hardcover]

When death loomed in the sky, Pradip Bandopadhyay reminisced about his beloved students, particularly Shyam Thapa and Subhash Bhowmik. Even when PK had just stepped away from coaching, he spoke of these two without hesitation as worthy successors: Subhash Bhowmik and Subrata Bhattacharya. If you asked who the best Bengali footballer was internationally during the emotionally charged 1970s, the names that would emerge from the mouth of India's greatest football personality would be Subhash Bhowmik and Sudhir Karmakar. Like PK, his beloved “Bhomlababu” frequently graced the two eternal fields of Bengali football as a sharp sword—on the footballer's jersey, near the penalty box; in the coach's jersey, in front of the reserve bench. Just like PK, his swift and graceful football was marked by an international flair, eloquently conveying the landscape of international football in his speeches. Even after Subhash retired, he remained a close figure to the next generation of footballers, with his heart, veins, and arteries forever flowing with the stream of football thought. That indomitable football flame seemed to merge Subhash with his mentor, Pradip.

Recently, close associates of Supriyo Mukhopadhyay have discovered multiple similarities between him and the late singer Piyushkanti Sarkar. It was written in the inlay of Piyush’s debut cassette that the artist first gained fame at the age of fifty-eight. Similarly, Supriyo entered the spotlight of the College Street stage just months after becoming a senior citizen, after more than three decades of journalism in the number one daily. Following "Guru," "Gol" became his second significant co-authored work. Although he holds a master’s degree in chemistry, his magnetic attraction to the sports field has eternally bound him to the realm of sports journalism. He has covered events from the Cricket World Cup to the Derby, from the Davis Cup to Kolkata football. Undoubtedly, his place is secured among the all-time greatest sports teams at Anandabazar Patrika. However, in journalistic terms, his bylines are few, as he has done much of the work from behind the scenes, specifically in the sports desk. In the slogovers, the ultimate poetic justice of recognition may have been due to Supriyo.