Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My burning desire is to help Jamaica to another World Cup... and rekindle those REGGAE BOYZ glory days that united the country so much
CAN JAMAICA RISE AGAIN? FITZROY SIMPSON DETERMINED TO FIND A WAY FOR THE CARIBBEAN ISLAND TO SHINE AGAIN
HIS place in Jamaica’s football history is already assured – but Fitzroy Simpson wants to help others emulate him.
After drawing with Mexico to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France, a national holiday was declared the next day on the Caribbean island.
The former Portsmouth and Manchester City midfielder still treasures the memories of Jamaica’s only World Cup finals appearance.
Simpson (at the 1998 tournament, right) is determined to ensure those historic days are not a one-off and has reached out to the Jamaica Football Federation to offer his assistance again.
Simpson believes the nation ranked 45th in the world has the potential to reach Qatar 2022, as they aim to tap into uncapped, eligible talent, like Michail Antonio, Demarai Gray and Ashley Fletcher.
They would add to Jamaica’s established stars, including winger Leon Bailey of Bayer Leverkusen.
Simpson, 51, who won 36 caps for the Reggae Boyz, said: “Even now, I have to pinch myself when I think what we achieved. It was breathtaking.
“It was the greatest honour in my playing career to lead Jamaica to history. I remember my mother, brother and uncle in the stadium when we qualified.
“I looked at them and couldn’t believe what we had achieved because Jamaica wasn’t recognised as a footballing nation.
“But the whole country really drove us on, the support was incredible. It was almost like it came from up above.
“There wasn’t really a national holiday because no one was in a fit state to go to work anyway!
“I have been following it with a passion since and I am looking forward to the Reggae Boyz hopefully being at the World Cup in 2022 and 2026.
“My burning desire now is to assist in any way I can to help Jamaica make it to another World Cup and rekindle those glory days which unified the country.”
With the Concacaf Gold Cup set for July and World Cup qualifiers later this year, Jamaica coach Theodore
Whitmore should be finetuning his squad. But many of Jamaica’s established stars were missing from a 4-1 friendly loss to USA last month due to a lengthy pay dispute with the JFF.
Simpson wants the JFF to modernise and improve off the field, including attracting new sponsors. He said: “Unity is so important. The set-up now has to be unified and improvements made on the business side.”
Simpson dreams of Kingston’s 35,000-capacity Independence Park stadium, known as The Office, bouncing again. He said: “If you come into my office, I am the boss, and that has to be the mentality.
“That ground gets full to the rafters. If there are 35,000 inside, there are 65,000 outside, who you can hear.
“I’ve played in Manchester derbies, Portsmouthsouthampton, Bristol Cityswindon and Scottish derbies, but that stadium, once full, is not for the faint-hearted.”
Simpson played in all three games in France in 1998, as they lost 3-1 against Croatia and 5-0 against Argentina, before beating Japan 2-1.
Simpson is now an agent and has teamed up with Marlon Gilbert-roberts, a Jamaican-born lawyer and businessman, who is the managing director of Business 2 Sports Group in Belgium.
They have plans to help grow Jamaica’s fanbase and commercial activities around the team and the country’s famous food and music scene.
Their vision also includes developing Jamaica’s successful women’s team, the Reggae Girlz, supported by the Bob Marley Foundation under the late singer’s daughter Cedella.
Simpson added: “Our national motto is ‘Out of many, one people’. That is the way we win – together.”