Video:John Barnes on international management

[Sir X]

Video:
John Barnes on international management with Jamaica.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid958992159/bctid12729747001

[Sir X]

Video:
Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant has plenty to say about his former club's plight.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...tid12726435001

[Mosiah]

Good link, X!

I watched with some trepidation, thinking he was going to talk down about us again. He didn't!

The host was right about showing up for Jamaica. It looks like Johnny is ready to check anyone's family tree for eligibility. Apparently, he has already done that and knew the fellow was Bajan or Trini!

[Sir X]

This fear we have about being talked down to , is defensive in not understanding the British professionalism system .We need to educate ourselves with books .I recommend Barnes and Jamie Lawarence autobiography.

Here we have two individulas coming from two different social backgrounds coming to the same conclusion about our football culture.Its laid back and archaic.Lawarence beats us to a pulp in his assesment of our culture from a familial to a professional football point of view.He is as we say a common man , where John Barnes family ties are from a middle class.

The good thing is they both stress discipline in all facets of thier development.

An example Lawarence said the english lads could hate each other off the field and get on with a disciplined game on the field while the local ones could not.

Also they work in a racist system and are much more alert of how situations and world play are percieved and know how to deal with it.

[Sir X]

What I like about Lawarence autobiography is how the writer expresses the written language in Jamaican english .It wasnt raw patio but mixed comfortably well like we do on the site everyday.

Barnes auto was more methodical , i like his insight into training , coaches and teams.

[Mosiah]

Give me a break, X! When Johnny talks about us liking flashy players and not appreciating the other parts of the game, that is nonsense. I go to matches every week, and yes, everyone likes the flair player, but if it's all flair and no substance that player is yelled at and told of him mother in no uncertain way.

I think Johnny might be remembering his Georges days a little too much.

Johnny is right when he says we like direct football. Make one back pass just to keep possession and restart the attack and you will also be told about your parts.

So, I guess Johnny is right about some things, but downright wrong on others!

[Sir X]

Jamie said the same thing he went into to detail about our football culture I will get the quotes later.He basically said we would rather see a salad than a ugly goal.

So Jamie and Barnes are both talking down or is it our football culture on par with one of the world best ?

[Sir X]

Europe's the way for Reggae Boyz - Barnes

Published: Monday | February 16, 2009


Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport

Jamaica technical director John Barnes gestures to his players during their international friendly soccer match against Nigeria at the New Den London, last Wednesday. - AP

FOR a brief moment, a portion of a football press conference became a mathematics class. Well, without the actual figures.
It might sound a bit weird, and at times the explanations appeared a bit contradictory, but when Reggae Boyz coach John Barnes had finished connecting all the dots in the post-game interview following their 0-0 tie with Nigeria's Super Eagles at The Den (Millwall FC stadium) in London on Wednesday, his formula for the general improvement of the sport in this country was spot on.

Simply put, its base lies in the migration of top local talent into European leagues where participation in professional settings with the game's best intrinsically engenders advancement. And like any formula, solving it brings a peculiar set of problems.

"For Jamaica's players to improve they've to come to Europe, not only for themselves and they can support their family," he noted.
Pointing subtly to the heavy influx of Reggae Boyz now contracted to clubs on that side of the Atlantic, Barnes reflected on the generally decent performance of the Jamaicans against Nigeria - a team which going into the match was ranked 47 places above them at 17th in the world - as well as other previous results.

Improvements
Jamaica upended Mexico, a noted giant in CONCACAF, their Central American counterparts Honduras and Canada in World Cup qualifying before championing the regional Digicel Caribbean tournament.

"You see the improvements in the Jamaica players," he went on. "And I'm not talking about the old days with the Robbie Earle's and the English players who played for Jamaica, I'm talking about the local players."

Earle numbered among four original England-based professionals, who on the basis of generation ties, qualified to represent the country and aided its climb into the 1998 World Cup Finals in France. He also scored Jamaica's first World Cup, a header off Ricardo Gardner's cross in a 3-1 loss to Croatia which eventually placed third. The others were Fitzroy Simpson, Paul Hall and Deon Burton, who got some minutes on Wednesday night.

Continuing, Barnes added: "The local players have the quality, it's only right for them go to a higher league, but the only way that can happen is if the work permit situation, which is very important, is okay. And now that we're under 70, we want to move up the ladder so that Eric Vernan who came on, a pretty good player who plays in Jamaica, we want to get more Jamaica players involved. But the most important thing is really the quality, not where they're playing."

Jamaica-born Barnes, who emigrated to England as a teen while in his early years at St George's College, officially took over the reins as head coach in November last year. He spotted Vernan playing for Portmore United during a Digicel Premier League match and drafted him into his squad.

Vernan, quite small, won the Most Valuable Player award for the Digicel Caribbean Championship and will leave Jamaica this week to join United States Major League outfit DC United in preseason training. The American club is looking to sign the 21-year-old right-sided attacking defender, who was not so long ago a member of Jamaica's Under-20 team.

Transition
A similar age group unit, as well as an Under-17 national team, qualified for World Cup Finals in 1999 and 2001, respectively, but not many of those players graduated into the senior team. Thus came the question of transition.

"First of all, it's important to have a continuity from the Under-17 and the Under-20s, that's what development is all about - the integration of junior players into the senior squad," Barnes pointed out. "I think that what had stopped that happening was the necessity to move up the FIFA rankings.
"So while we can say yes, we can give Under-17s and Under-20 opportunities and we want to blood them, if we don't win matches, then the FIFA rankings won't be what it should be, which the Captain (Jamaica Football Federation president Captain Horace Burrell) has always said, so they won't get the opportunities to come and play in Europe," explained Barnes, a Liverpool legend who has won the English League Premiership title twice.

Last year, Jamaica's rankings plummeted to all-time low proportions beyond 100 and during that period, midfielder Rudolph Austin lost an opportunity to play in England because the league does not cater for players from countries outside Europe whose rating stays below 70 for two years.

"If we were already high enough to get those players work permits, then we could've blood a few players, lose a few games because you're blooding players to give them experience. But then it's a must-win situation to improve in the FIFA rankings."

The rankings are now up to 64 and could improve if the country continues to produce good results in international matches, especially against opponents as highly rated as the Nigerians, who have now slipped to 23rd. In the meantime, Barnes will continue looking to streamline the local talent he truly believes in into his equation, hoping they justify that confidence with superb performances like that of goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers, who made a few magnificent saves in a game where Jamaica also produced some real outstanding chances. In the scheme of things, such quality could all maths out with a move in the direction desired by the coach of the Reggae Boyz - to Europe

[Mosiah]

Like I said, I disagree! Of course there are some like that, but not most. And it's probably like that all over the world.

Have you seen Portmore play recently? All they care about is goals. Salads is di least in dere books. They will fake out an entire match to ensure a victory and their fans don't mind one bit!

Still, I would like Johnny to find himself back in Jamaica and quit with the obvious job search in England. He needs to take a good look at Jamaica's product and be familiar with it from top to bottom!

[Sir X]

OK sah

[Jangle]

Very good post Mr. X. it's good to see that you can put up substantial posts besides your usual diatribes of Livafool and anti-Fuller posts.

I think the Jamaican footballing public's opinion of good football is changing given the increased viewership of European football. Right now the Jamaican public has more access to world football than us here in America and that is helping to change how we rate our footballers. Mosiah, what do you think needs to be done to increase the attendance to NPL matches?

X, the indiscipline in our players is just an extension of our culture. It is something that permeates throughout our society and can be seen in our people in all walks of life. Jamaicans are just one word or incident away from an emotional explosion regardless of our position in the society.

[Sir X]

Indiscipline in our players related to our culture ? Dont mek mi laugh how do you explian it in the prem where all the rum heads , physical abusers , wife beaters , alleged rapist and drug users reside? I guess they emotionally explode up in england alot.

We have issues like anyone else , but how we apply our daily work ethic is our problem with our development and it has little to do with indiscipline but moreso a lack of knowledge to get the job done.

[Jangle]

Bwoy, me should a realize that me and you can't agree pon one point. We have a fundamental difference of opinion like the Democrats and the Republicans. I believe our indiscipline is deeply rooted in our culture and how we view ourselves. I don't care about the other miscreants in English football, I am talking about Jamaicans as a people.

[Sir X]

Like I said to Mo higha ..OK sah

[Sir X]

A gwine gi yuh a joke bout indisciple inna england , when Jamie guh try out fe a side dem say im too short and skinny guess wha the gaffer tell im fi duh fi gain ht and wt ?


Drink guiness ....lolol... our culture , please .Mi tell unnuh fe read.