Ricketts having the last laugh!
WHEN HE was running for the presidency of the Jamaica Football Federation following the death of Captain Horace Burrell, the critics were out in full force to paint Michael Ricketts in a bad light.
Many were not prepared to give him a chance, for no other reason than that he was said to be too close to Captain Burrell. Captain Burrell’s last few years in office lacked the spark and energy that was commonplace for him in his pomp. While Burrell’s overall body of work will probably remain unmatched, truth be told, his last few years were not his best and many Jamaicans had fallen out of love with national football and those running it.
With the logic appearing to be ‘Show me your company and I tell you who you are’, many of Mr Ricketts’ detractors were using – as we like to say, using Burrell’s ‘fat to fry’ the veteran administrator.
I remember how during the campaign, Ricketts was given a hard time by members of the public, including some wellknown media personalities, for not releasing a manifesto to the media. I couldn’t understand why. Ricketts did not need to woo the media, not then at any rate. Sometimes people in media can have a false sense of their own importance. His sole aim at the time was to impress the voting delegates. That he did in sufficient numbers to win the presidency, but the knives were sharpened and he knew that he would have had a short honeymoon period.
TAPPA’S SALARY
He was hauled over the coals in some quarters for his handling of the Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore salary affair. This was unfair.
Tappa may have got the best deal that any born and bred Jamaican coach has ever received, but that was largely ignored by people, who had an axe to grind. Many came down on Ricketts initially for not bowing to the demands of Craig Butler. Many so badly want to see Leon Bailey playing for Jamaica to the point where they would be prepared to throw all protocol through the window.
The president has stood his ground, and I think more and more Jamaicans are now appreciating the stance that himself and the coach have taken. Many started out supporting Mr Butler’s stance, but he is rapidly losing fans for one reason or another.
VANISHING CRITICS
In the last few weeks, the critics are silently disappearing.
The Reggae Boyz are getting good results. Yes, it may be against inferior opposition, but the scorelines have been emphatic, which hasn’t always been the case with our national team. The coup de grace has been the performance of the female team.
The more impressive they played, the less you heard from the naysayers. As it became evident that our chances to qualify for the Women’s World Cup was improving, the more some of the very same voices, who use to lambast Ricketts, started to be excited.
I wrote last week that Cedella Marley and the coaching staff deserve a whole lot of praise, but this happened under Ricketts’ watch and that can’t be taken away from him. The critics have gone completely quiet.
No more talk about manifesto. None about lack of charisma. Very little is being said now about “nutten nah gwaan” in the nation’s football.
Ricketts is “winning right now.” He has got some wiggle room and has now earned himself some brownie points. In straight Jamaican parlance “dem caan talk to him now.” The Captain Burrell clone is having the last laugh!