Tweet
Boxhill should shape up or get out
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, August 17, 2006
In the ongoing soap opera that the Jamaica Football Federation's administration has become, yesterday's appointment of many-time recycled national coach Carl Brown to take over from Wendell Downswell in an interim capacity signals that it is simply groping in the dark. The return of Carl Brown for what. his sixth or seventh stint? shows that this administration does not have what it takes to guide Jamaica's football forward.
A few days before Downswell's resignation was announced, we heard him defiantly saying he had no plans to leave the job. Why would he make a complete 180 degree turn a few days later?
The conspiracy theorist in me suggests he was nudged towards the door as the JFF succumbed to the weight of repeated calls for him to be fired. A series of poor results against world class teams had signalled the end for Downswell.
So what can Brown do with the same players he had failed with before, that Downswell could not do in the next few games? Are we swapping sacrificial lambs here?
Wouldn't it have been better to just keep Downswell for the few remaining games?
The search for a coach was a great platform for the Boxhill team to redeem themselves but they have dropped the ball badly.
For the record, my rejection of the Boxhill administration, is by no means a vote for the return of his predecessor, Captain Horace Burrell.
The goodly army man has done his time and moved on to bigger things and should try to serve Jamaica's football from those lofty heights.
Those calling for Burrell's return seem to forget that he presided over at least one failed World Cup campaign and resorted to firing a coach after a game in Central America without even consulting the technical committee.
I find it mind-boggling that in a country with 2.7 million people and another maybe five million in the Diaspora, we can't find someone between the overbearing style of Burrell and the way too laid-back style of Boxhill.
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, August 17, 2006
In the ongoing soap opera that the Jamaica Football Federation's administration has become, yesterday's appointment of many-time recycled national coach Carl Brown to take over from Wendell Downswell in an interim capacity signals that it is simply groping in the dark. The return of Carl Brown for what. his sixth or seventh stint? shows that this administration does not have what it takes to guide Jamaica's football forward.
A few days before Downswell's resignation was announced, we heard him defiantly saying he had no plans to leave the job. Why would he make a complete 180 degree turn a few days later?
The conspiracy theorist in me suggests he was nudged towards the door as the JFF succumbed to the weight of repeated calls for him to be fired. A series of poor results against world class teams had signalled the end for Downswell.
So what can Brown do with the same players he had failed with before, that Downswell could not do in the next few games? Are we swapping sacrificial lambs here?
Wouldn't it have been better to just keep Downswell for the few remaining games?
The search for a coach was a great platform for the Boxhill team to redeem themselves but they have dropped the ball badly.
For the record, my rejection of the Boxhill administration, is by no means a vote for the return of his predecessor, Captain Horace Burrell.
The goodly army man has done his time and moved on to bigger things and should try to serve Jamaica's football from those lofty heights.
Those calling for Burrell's return seem to forget that he presided over at least one failed World Cup campaign and resorted to firing a coach after a game in Central America without even consulting the technical committee.
I find it mind-boggling that in a country with 2.7 million people and another maybe five million in the Diaspora, we can't find someone between the overbearing style of Burrell and the way too laid-back style of Boxhill.
Good move.
:
Comment