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Discarded 'Bora' deserved much better
published: Saturday | November 10, 2007
Tym Glaser
IT'S Déjà vu all over again as the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) goes back to the future to recapture the magic of Road To France '98.
The Captain is back in charge and has wasted little in shaking up things in his own inimitable style; and you can bet Rio to a brick that his Brazilian pal, René Simoes, will be the Reggae Boyz's supremo well before you start Christmas shopping.
Tough decisions had to made and Horace Burrell stepped straight into the fray by cancelling the women's programme, reinstalling wayward Boy Marlon King, organising two home friendlies and getting the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL) back on track.
The decisive moves were prudent and could not come soon enough to try to keep, or even put some cash in the JFF's coffers and spark an ailing national programme which still harbours pipe dreams of South Africa 2010.
However, there's a difference between decisiveness and undue haste and the unceremonious dumping of technical director Bora Milutinovic reeks of the latter.
The coach who has taken four different teams to World Cups in a storied career which has carried him all over the world deserved better, much better, than to be dismissed without even being given an opportunity to defend himself and his vision for the Boyz.
To receive termination papers at 11:00 p.m for a "breach of contract", which the Captain is reluctant to reveal to the public, simply rubbed salt into the wound.
brief reign
Sure, Milutinovic's brief reign was forgettable. Some shockingly poor results and an all-time low world ranking for Jamaica are not things he will proudly display on his résumé, but how much of that was the Serb's fault?
Don't get caught up in the title of technical director of football, 'Bora's' one and only mission when put in charge by the Crenston Boxhill regime was to get Jamaica to South Africa come hell or high water.
He picked young, internationally inexperienced local-based players to try to unearth some talent to complement an ageing foreign-based contingent and the youngsters, by and large, showed they weren't up to it with some massive and embarrassing thumpings which, coupled with a dearth of friendlies in the latter half of the year, saw the national ranking fall like the U.S. dollar.
However, Bora is not in charge of match scheduling and he can't be blamed for at least trying to unearth young, fit bodies for a possibly long and arduous campaign.
The coach's biggest mistake was putting in place a long-term plan with a regime that had a shelf life of less than a year after he signed up.
booted
If Bora had known Boxhill and Co. were going to be booted, do you think he a) would still have taken the job or b) picked stronger squads with overseas-based players to get better results and protect his position?
Now, unless the Captain is putting up a huge smokescreen, Simoes will come back on-board and inherit the same players Bora had. The little Brazilian will try to recapture that lightning in a bottle but there will be no Fitzroy Simpsons, Paul Halls or Deon Burtons falling in his lap this time around and the time frame will be much shorter than that of the '98 campaign.
Still, the Captain and the coach worked well together and maybe they can miraculously conjure up that old magic one more time. And Jamaica has to rally around the Boyz and make 'The Office' an impenetrable sea of gold again.
When the World Cup qualifiers begin in earnest next year, Bora will be relegated to a mere footnote in Jamaica's football history but that does not mean he did not deserve to be treated better, much, much better.
Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com
published: Saturday | November 10, 2007
Tym Glaser
IT'S Déjà vu all over again as the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) goes back to the future to recapture the magic of Road To France '98.
The Captain is back in charge and has wasted little in shaking up things in his own inimitable style; and you can bet Rio to a brick that his Brazilian pal, René Simoes, will be the Reggae Boyz's supremo well before you start Christmas shopping.
Tough decisions had to made and Horace Burrell stepped straight into the fray by cancelling the women's programme, reinstalling wayward Boy Marlon King, organising two home friendlies and getting the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL) back on track.
The decisive moves were prudent and could not come soon enough to try to keep, or even put some cash in the JFF's coffers and spark an ailing national programme which still harbours pipe dreams of South Africa 2010.
However, there's a difference between decisiveness and undue haste and the unceremonious dumping of technical director Bora Milutinovic reeks of the latter.
The coach who has taken four different teams to World Cups in a storied career which has carried him all over the world deserved better, much better, than to be dismissed without even being given an opportunity to defend himself and his vision for the Boyz.
To receive termination papers at 11:00 p.m for a "breach of contract", which the Captain is reluctant to reveal to the public, simply rubbed salt into the wound.
brief reign
Sure, Milutinovic's brief reign was forgettable. Some shockingly poor results and an all-time low world ranking for Jamaica are not things he will proudly display on his résumé, but how much of that was the Serb's fault?
Don't get caught up in the title of technical director of football, 'Bora's' one and only mission when put in charge by the Crenston Boxhill regime was to get Jamaica to South Africa come hell or high water.
He picked young, internationally inexperienced local-based players to try to unearth some talent to complement an ageing foreign-based contingent and the youngsters, by and large, showed they weren't up to it with some massive and embarrassing thumpings which, coupled with a dearth of friendlies in the latter half of the year, saw the national ranking fall like the U.S. dollar.
However, Bora is not in charge of match scheduling and he can't be blamed for at least trying to unearth young, fit bodies for a possibly long and arduous campaign.
The coach's biggest mistake was putting in place a long-term plan with a regime that had a shelf life of less than a year after he signed up.
booted
If Bora had known Boxhill and Co. were going to be booted, do you think he a) would still have taken the job or b) picked stronger squads with overseas-based players to get better results and protect his position?
Now, unless the Captain is putting up a huge smokescreen, Simoes will come back on-board and inherit the same players Bora had. The little Brazilian will try to recapture that lightning in a bottle but there will be no Fitzroy Simpsons, Paul Halls or Deon Burtons falling in his lap this time around and the time frame will be much shorter than that of the '98 campaign.
Still, the Captain and the coach worked well together and maybe they can miraculously conjure up that old magic one more time. And Jamaica has to rally around the Boyz and make 'The Office' an impenetrable sea of gold again.
When the World Cup qualifiers begin in earnest next year, Bora will be relegated to a mere footnote in Jamaica's football history but that does not mean he did not deserve to be treated better, much, much better.
Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com
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