With the fourth season of the ISL set to begin in November, a number of teams have already made big changes to their coaching structure.
Debutants Jamshedpur FC have signed former Manchester United star and England international Steve Coppell as their head coach; Coppell coached Kerala Blasters in the 2016 season and led the team to the final, which they narrowly.
"Tata Steel has a long and enduring commitment to sports, especially football. Our foray into ISL is in line with the commitment to develop Indian football. Jamshedpur Football Club's association with Steve Coppell and Ishfaq Ahmed is yet another step in this direction," TV Narendran, the managing director of Tata Steel India & South-East Asia which owns the Jamshedpur franchise, said.
Incidentally, Coppell will be replaced in Kerala by another coach with strong ties to Manchester United. Dutchman Rene Meulensteen, who worked under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford in several coaching capacities in two different spells, was announced as Kerala's coach for the upcoming season by the club's official twitter handle, which highlighted his "prolific coaching career" - Meuelensteen has managed the likes of Brondby, Anzhi Makhachkala, and Fulham over the course of his career.
Another former Manchester United servant who has been tasked with ISL coaching duties for the upcoming season is Teddy Sheringham, who will take over the reigns at Atletico de Kolkata, the defending champions. Sheringham, who spent four memorable years at Manchester United as well as at a number of other clubs like Tottenham Hotspurs and West Ham United, said he came to the ISL as he felt it was "a great place to follow your football dreams and ambitions".
"I am glad to welcome our new coach Teddy Sheringham to ATK family and strongly believe that it is going to be an enriching experience for him and the boys. Our endeavour to retain expertise and map out a compact team structure has been enhanced with Sheringham joining the team this season," Sanjay Goenka, the principal owner of the Kolkata franchise, said.
"One of the top goal scorers and an exceptional player himself I am hopeful Teddy will bring his fine planning skills to lead the way for ATK,"
Mumbai City FC, meanwhile, have retained Alexandre Guimaraes as their head coach. Guimaraes led Mumbai to top spot in the group stages last year, and helped the club reach their maiden semi-finals, where they lost to eventual champions Kolkata.
"We achieved some of the objectives last year by finishing top of the table and reaching the semi-finals but I'd like to continue this project and finish the job I came here for," Guimaraes said.