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Friday, October 25, 2002
This is the fifth and final part of the RBSC’s interview with Carl Brown conducted by Karl Wallace and Mosiah Marshall
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| MM: I notice people coming in here to ask you about hotel reservations and whatnot. KW: I noticed it too and I was waiting to see how many people going to come inside to ask you about 'mundane' things, 'back office' things. CB: It is something we have to change, but again that is something that took place under Simoes. He had to be in control of everything, but it shouldn't be like that. I am not one of the coaches who specialize in formation. I don't really place a lot of emphasis on it. What is important to me is that players understand their functions. What they are on the field they must know what they need to do. That is what I have emphasized throughout the program. If you look at the Japan game, the most recent game we played (at the time of the interview), Linval Dixon came into the team, our central defender. He came in at midfield. What we did then was split the team in two with four people in the middle who are going to defend and stop the second goal from scoring, and the other six people would now concentrate on getting that goal for us. It worked wonderfully! The Japanese probably were surprised by what we did in that we now allowed the midfield to take Nakata out of the game, which was their strength, and nobody was supplying any forward passes any more because he wasn't getting any balls. So we could afford (Ricardo) Fuller up front, Barry Hayles up front and Paul Hall up front. We went with three strikers, plus the fact that Micah (Hyde) could now go forward to assist. When Jermaine came on he played that role. The two wing backs now kept the two wingbacks that they had coming forward quiet. So we were now able to outnumber them in attack. It is seeing out there and looking at the situation that calls for it. And it is practising the 5-3-2, the 3-5-2, the 4-4-2, the 4-3-3 to ensure that everybody, whatever demands we may have, that people will be able to do it. MM: I want to talk more specifically about tactics in that match, but before we move on I just want to touch on something again. You mentioned about funding and that the local players don't get any kind of local compensation. Simoes was successful in that it is said that he actually went out and did the marketing. He would meet with the Grace Kennedy CEO, I mean, whatever he had to do. Is that something you think you would have to emulate, because we need that player adoption program to start again, perhaps? CB: Yes, Simoes did that, but I think it boils down again to a foreigner coming to our country as opposed to Carl Brown who lives here. Should we have a marketing arm that would do that sort of thing? If needs be, if it means that I have to get out there and do it, I have no problem doing it, but I think we should have a marketing arm. Rene was able to get out there, himself the President and the General Secretary, but it boils down to the conception of a Jamaican as opposed to a foreigner. But after how well that worked, the concept should be able to go on. We should have a marketing arm that will be able to get out there to do business. But you know what is interesting though that I don't think a lot of people recognize, all this was not done until we looked like we could qualify for the World Cup. Up to 1996, the Captain mortgaged his house for us to have funds. So even though Rene was here in 1995 and 1996, it wasn't until 1997 when we were getting into the last round, granted we had some people who were there helping… MM: I think I jumped on at that point too. (laughter) CB: At least you are honest to say, but the bulk of that support came when it looked like we could actually make it. 1998 is there for us, and we don't need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to revisit what happened in 1998. KW: Do you have facilities that, if you wanted your technical staff as a group to see the match, to break it down, to analyze certain things, do we have facilities here? CB: No, we don't. These are areas that we, and now that we are addressing our supporters out there, outside of this country, that's another area that we have to look seriously at improving on. When we played in Japan for instance, they were able to give us after the game a sheet showing some statistics, which are very important to us. We are not able to do that. We are not able presently to tape a training session and for the players to sit down and look at it. This is an area that our supporters out there could greatly help us in. Audio-visual aids. Very, very important. To get into the sorts of stage that we are at now without these things limits us a lot. KW: What exactly would you need? CB: A video camera so that we can shoot our training sessions. When we went to Texas in 1993, I had a youngster I coached at Camperdown, who came to visit one of the training sessions, saw we were doing a shooting exercise ad he taped that for us. He brought a copy for me the next day. I am up at 1:00am looking at the tape and it was unbelievable! I couldn't believe that that was the session that I had. So the next morning session I had to say to the players, 'Gentlemen, I need for you to look at this tape for me. Not even the players could believe how terrible the kicking was! It was unbelievable after watching the tape what we got in the next session. If you look at computer technology today we are seeing statistics being downloaded instantly, we need to reach that stage. We need equipment that will do this sort of analysis for us and not for us to sit and work these things out. So we would love to improve in that area. There are programs, for instance, out there that cost 15,000 pounds, US$10,000. These are the sorts of things that are out there that can help. When I talk to a youngster I should be able to get on the computer and put something there for him to sit and watch. 'This is what is happening, this is what we did yesterday, this is what I want for you to do' - there are programs for that. We talk about training facilities. These are going to be important to us. I know you want us to look at the 'office' requirements, but the training ground has become an integral part ____So whatever we even sit inside this room and plan, we wouldn't be able to implement it on the field. We have to look at the situation that governs the English-based players when we invite them. There are always going to have choices. Once there is an opportunity to play for the USA…you mentioned Craig Zaidie earlier, that Craig had some point had decided that he wanted to represent the USA. When we actually invited him he said that he need some more experience and we were to wait. And I am almost certain that if the US had invited him to go to Japan that he would have grabbed the opportunity, and we couldn't kill him for it. But we have invited Craig now and he has accepted it and he has offered some options to us on the right side of the field, which was good. We look at the English players, Trevor Benjamin, for instance, from Leicester City. His agent called and said that he was interested in representing Jamaica. I said, I need to talk to the player. I said to Trevor, your agent called but I need to talk to you. I need to hear from you if you are interested. He said, Coach, I am actually in the process of looking about a Jamaican passport. So these are the sorts of things that we have to do. These are the chances that we have to take. When Trevor called, at what point do we say to him, no. Or do we take the chance with a Trevor and hope that we get another Paul Hall? Another Deon Burton? Another Fitzroy Simpson? MM: So David Johnson still has a chance to come back to us? CB: Of course, David has a chance! He has again started to get some goals. I'm certain he will be looking to get back to the Premier League and continue from there. I am not certain that his idea of playing for England is there, so once there is an opportunity to play at the highest level in playing World Cup or international football, I am certain that we will probably see him back again. MM: I want to go back a little bit to these days when we had a lot of camps in Brazil. I think that was because of Simoes' influence. Those camps were invaluable, would you say? CB: Of course they were! That is something we will have to look at. One of the things we will probably have to at now is probably not Brazil but somewhere else. England could be a good option. What England would afford us access to the players we have there. If you, for instance have a camp in London, you have at least 8 teams in London that you could get an opportunity to play. So it's definitely one of the things we are looking at. I just spoke to the Kenyan national coach who was in England recently and I asked him what it would cost for a trip like this, and he said it cost 25,000 pounds. So this is the kind of money you are looking at if you are going to put on a camp in England. It's going to be a very expensive one. These are things that we will have to do. The Captain has promised a 98 campaign, a similar campaign for 2006. One of the things that I will be doing is, I will be putting all of these proposals to him. This is what I want. At the end of the day, I will be able to say, this is what I gave to you and this is what you could afford. No stone will be left unturned in trying to ensure that we get some of these games. You mentioned the Brazil trips. They were very, very beneficial. You know, we got the opportunity to play against Flamengo. Even if we played against a Flamengo reserves, you are talking about a big, tough game. We played Corinthians, we played Sao Paulo. Those were always good games and I am certain that if we get to England, for instance, we have in London, you have Arsenal, you have Chelsea, all of these clubs, West Ham, they are right around there so that if you get a game against one of their reserve teams, that you would get… Because the reserve teams are not necessarily players who are way, way down. It could consist of players who have not played for a little while, but they want to get them back in the first team. So you would get good games there. It would be pretty easy to get games. The academies, for instance, we are looking at the U-17s, once they get through these games, we are looking at developing a camp there with them too. Again, they would be afforded good teams for training. These are fairly easy to organize. MM: I know you said that our schools are basically our academies, but do you think we should go the academy route really? CB: I believe that in the long run we might see it. I believe that some where along the line we might see the development of an academy that will cater for specialized subjects for these sportsmen and at the same time do the football that they want. In England, for instance, at Bolton, the academy, on Thursday all day they go to school and half day on a Monday, and they are at the club for the rest of the week. One of the things I tried to develop at Bolton is for them to take some of our youngsters, probably for a two or three week period. If they see the necessity to invest in these youngsters they can immediately offer them a contract at the academy. These are the decisions that are going to be critical. Because you could easily find a youngster, very talented, education wise, that we could pull him out of school now to get him into an academy for 4 years. What would he miss here as opposed to going there? So this is something that we will have to do. These are decisions that you would have to get the parents involved in, but it is a great opportunity. And they (Bolton) have actually agreed. As a matter of fact, last summer we had one youngster going there to spend two weeks. It is something we have spoken to them about. There are two youngsters on the U-17 that we want to send. Hopefully, we will be able to develop that with clubs with Jamaican players in England. I can just foresee the day when we have 10 or 15 youngsters going off to different clubs' academies to spend two or three weeks. The academies would be looking at theses youngsters and deciding that we couldn't get Bibi a little early, we would have a 17 year old going through the proper challenges and was afforded everything for his development. MM: That was what Lulu's article was about. Lulu is connected with Hearts of Midlothian Football Club where (Ricardo) Fuller was, and in a few days they are going to break ground for their academy. And she mentioned the possibility of having some players from Jamaica attend that academy, while encouraging us to do it ourselves too. KW: As the TD, you have all your teams 'going forward'. You have one team that should be in preparation now, the U-23. Looking back at the last U-20, what do you believe prevented us from going forward? CB: We just didn't do some of the things that we should have done. One, and if you look at it, the fact that we didn't do a lot of homework on the Haitian team that were supposed to play…. Again, we probably took it for granted that we had enough to get past Haiti and all the work should have been done when we did (? audio unclear) Costa Rica and Mexico. So we failed there. We have looked at correcting that. Presently, Jackie Walters is in the Dominican Republic now, looking at the Haitian team that we might play. But apart from that, if we look in terms of preparation, we did not afford them the sort of preparation that we want to have a team that is going into a competition might have. The U-23 you mentioned earlier, the seniors are on, the women are on, the 17's are on. We have one house where we could put our players when we are in camp, which holds 24 players. We have 24 beds there. Now, what has happened? We have had to send the women to GC Foster and basically, when they are on holiday we use those accommodations. MM: Is there any cost? CB: Cost? It costs JA$250 for each player and that doesn't include meals. That's just accommodation. What we have to do with the U-20's, the U-20's and the seniors, (they) literally share that house. So, Monday to Wednesday, we brought in the U-20's. So, they break Wednesday morning, the place is cleaned up, the seniors come in Thursday morning and they break Saturday morning. So, we usually use a one week for two teams, when in truth and in fact you really needed that whole week to work with. So, we look at the things that we should have done, but what was facing us? A federation that was saying that they didn't have any funds. So, a lot of things were thought of, and I told the coaching staff, 'Take the licks for it because we deserve it.' We were probably sympathetic with the federation for the fact that they were short of funds. So we didn't try to implement certain things and to put things in place. At the end of the day, it backfired on us and if you didn't say that you want this how, of course we did not do it and we take the blame. But I told you, it will not happen in the future. We are going to say to them that we want this and we want this. I must be able to say at the end of the day that we asked the federation for this, this and this, but we not able to get it because of lack of funds. So the U-20's have failed because of those things I've outlined, but at the end of the day, it could be a blessing in disguise because it has now afforded us the opportunity to look seriously and to wake up and ensure that the seniors, the U-23's the U-17's who are on board now don't suffer that. KW: And the women. Don't leave out the women. We have women on the site and they will attack! (laughter) CB: And the women! Just touching on the women, in truth and in fact, we have not really done a lot in the past in terms of exercising. And I remember when I took over, and I said to the coaches, we are not coaching these women like we want them to win anything. We were just participating. So, we took them to task. I remember I took the women down to GC Foster and we really push them through the works! And if you talk to them today, they will remember one session, the one at GC Foster. But what is it for them? For them to start believing in themselves. To believe that they are able to work as hard as any man out there. We have seen a great improvement in that team. What we are seeing in that women's team today, and if you had the chance to see them 3 months ago, it is amazing! I feel really very proud of them. They are going off to Canada, and I know that they are not going out there with a lot of credentials. They have not been afforded any practice games. We arranged 2 practice games with T&T; that fell through. So, they are going, but I expect a lot from them. They are going to do us proud there. MM: We could spend the whole day here. It has been very enlightening to us and to the people who will read this interview on the website. We want to thank you very much again. We didn't spend as much time with you, Wendell, as we would have liked… KW: Any parting words you would like to leave with us? WD: Well, I would say the program is very much alive and well. And as Carl mentioned, if we get the necessary support as it relates to the national coaching staff, then definitely we will produce the goods. No doubt about that. The years we have spent as subordinates, so to speak, and the fact that we get a chance to come to the forefront now, we will definitely give it our best shot. CB: One of the things I would like to say to Jamaicans abroad, feel free, that wherever they see me, any questions that they want to ask, any doubts they have, I would like to clear it up. I'm just asking for support. I am asking for the chance, for the opportunity to make Jamaica feel good again. It is something that I witnessed in 1998, something I want to be a part of, and I'm just asking that we be given the sort of support and assistance that we'll encourage and ensure that our players put their best foot forward whenever they represent this country, anywhere in the world. MM: And with that I would like you to check out the website. That's where you will see all sorts of comments, good and bad. And I know you have been through it for 30 years so it can't be any worse. Thanks again, gentlemen. |