Whitmore’s frustration
The pressure to produce at least the equivalent results as Whitmore would be as immense on that new coach as it would be on the JFF leadership.
THE SUDDEN resignation of interim national senior football coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, in and of itself, is shocking, but the circumstances surrounding Whitmore’s bombshell decision are sad and depressing indices of the crippling lack of leadership coming from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).
On the face of it, Whitmore’s decision seems rushed, but no one knows his pain. The underlying issues that were frustrating Whitmore and culminated in the 1998 World Cup hero throwing in the towel via that long and emotional letter of resignation are quite instructive. The uncertainty about his status and his remuneration package is obviously one significant factor, but there were others. From my impeccable information, Whitmore felt totally disrespected and at times alienated by the current leadership of the JFF. Himself and President Michael Ricketts have had, and continue to have, a frosty relationship. However, despite Ricketts giving the impression publicly that he and Whitmore enjoy a good professional relationship, nothing is further from the truth.
Whitmore, as national coach, learnt about the return fixture against Antigua and Barbuda and the friendly against St Kitts and Nevis, believe it or not, via a media release sent out by the federation. On the recent trip to Turkey, where the national team spent 10 days on the road and played two friendly games, Ricketts and Whitmore were both in attendance and hardly exchanged words.
The broken lines of communication between the national coach and the federation president had begun to cripple the progress of the football. Outside of the uncertainty about his future and his remuneration, again reliable information is that the coach made representations to the federation leadership about the technical vision and long- to medium-term direction of the programme, and about specific areas such as player selection and development protocols. These were concerns that were either treated with scant regard or totally ignored by the JFF leadership. That resignation letter was written out of sheer frustration and a feeling of being repeatedly and inexplicably disrespected.
POLITICAL SMOKESCREEN
President Ricketts’ publicly expressing that all is well between himself and Whitmore is tantamount to a political smokescreen and is completely farcical to those of us in the know. The exact nature of the problems that the current JFF leadership has with Whitmore remains unclear. By any stretch of the objective imagination, under the circumstances, Whitmore has done a good job as national coach in this his most recent stint. One is forced to wonder, is it is all petty and personal? If that is so, what would that be saying about the highest level of leadership of the nation’s football?
I remember vividly during last year’s campaign for the then vacant JFF presidency, expressing the view that Ricketts and his team never seemed to have a vision or a plan for Jamaica’s football, and that his team was basically a clique of the late Captain Burrell’s yesmen, who themselves had very little leadership qualities. The chickens are now coming home to roost.
That harsh reality is now unfolding in front of our eyes. The poor handling of major issues such as the Craig Butler/Leon Bailey controversy, and the now the Theodore Whitmore saga, have both exposed the pathetic leadership of the federation.
If the current situation with Whitmore stands and his resignation is accepted by the JFF, it will be very interesting to see the direction in which the body goes, and importantly, how quickly they would be able to source the funding to pay Whitmore’s replacement. It will be impossible for Ricketts and company to acquire a credible coach for the US$3,000 (roughly J$373,000) per month they were paying Whitmore. And if they do get a foreigner, the Jamaican football public will be very keen on how much money they will pay that foreign replacement. The pressure to produce at least the equivalent results as Whitmore would be as immense on that new coach as it would be on the JFF leadership. All things considered, I doubt this resignation will be accepted by the JFF, as it ought not to be. But then again, we can never tell with the thoughtless and inept management we have seen so far from the current JFF leadership.