Mount Pleasant sign MOU with Charlton
Jamaican football outfit Mount Pleasant and England’s League One participants, Charlton Athletic, have agreed to a long-term partnership which is expected to increase the number of elite players graduating from the former’s academy.
Dubbed ‘Mountain to Valley Partnership’, the agreement will provide a pathway to playing professionally in London for young talented footballers from the Caribbean, while allowing Mount Pleasant to benefit from the knowledge of Charlton’s academy.
Charlton’s Non-Executive Director Paul Elliott, an academy graduate with Jamaican roots, said: “This long-term, strategic partnership will allow Charlton to dramatically increase the talent pool our brilliant academy can draw from.
“Some of Charlton’s most successful homegrown players of the last 50 years have been of Jamaican origin – including many in the current team – so there is also a good cultural fit.”
Owner of Mount Pleasant Peter Gould stated: “This memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a symbol of the solid partnership and mutual commitment to the development of football talent in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. This will help move regional football forward, as young athletes can hone their skills and develop their talents outside the region.”
Mount Pleasant are the reigning Jamaica Premier League champions, with a charitable arm that provides children in the Caribbean with fully boarding scholarships. They currently are atop the JPL after the first round of matches.
The St Ann-based Mount Pleasant have provided players to Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz squad, while the Addicks, as Charlton are called, have Michael Hector and Karoy Anderson.
Mount Pleasant’s Sporting Director, Paul Christie, said: “Mount Pleasant are fortunate enough to attract many of the best young players from throughout the Caribbean. We believe that this partnership, with such a renowned London club, will make us even more of an attractive proposition for talent.
“Charlton and Mount Pleasant have longstanding connections at many levels, from our respective ownerships to directors to the coaching staff, so we are building on firm foundations.”
Charlton Academy’s Director Steve Avory added: “Quality recruitment is vital to a successful academy. Our recruitment of talented players in the immediate Charlton catchment area has been a crucial factor in our success and youth development over many years. It all starts with talent ID.
“The Mount Pleasant’s partnership is an interesting, potentially fruitful link outside of our south and east London focus, and I know Bert Dawkins [academy recruitment manager], who has been over to Jamaica to visit Mount Pleasant, is very positive about the possibilities with player recruitment from an emergent Concacaf academy programme.”
As part of the various commitments underpinning the partnership, Charlton’s young players will participate in an annual youth tournament at Mount Pleasant’s campus, while the Addicks will host Mount Pleasant’s senior team in an annual preseason charity match at The Valley.