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Observer news, Jamaica
Editor
"Just before Mr. Burrell’s departure to the land of the KIWI’s he had a tidy sit down face to face with one of our very concerned agent on the state of Jamaica's football. Having lost our last 5 games -1 Gold cup, 4 friendlies- we the media feel it's necessary, as we say in Jamaica, we want to hear it "plain and straight;" concerning the ReggaeBoyz future."
Agent:
Mr. Burrel as a representative of the Jamaica media I have a responsibility to the public to be forthcoming as it relates to the state of Jamaica’s football, and what voice would be appropriate other than your own to articulate to us your plans for upcoming qualifiers.
Burrell:
Well, at the moment our concentration, as you know is our current friendly with the New Zealand team in New Zealand. We do have a number of players that we are still looking at from our local leagues. We don’t know how they will respond to this challenge to the call of duty, but we are hoping that things would turn in our favor and they would surprise us. Who knows maybe someone will take the bull by the horn and latch on, so to speak.
Agent:
are you referring to the fact that there’s a possibility some of these home grown talent may make a case for themselves and possible win the case, in this case being selected to represent us in June?
Burrel:
Well, not so fast; -well, a didn't know we have a case, Hahaha- but man affi creep before him walk. What I’m saying is this, we have a plan to help the local players. We are exposing them to a higher level of football; if anything -not knowing how they will perform because New Zealand is a fairly good team- they would get to see themselves. At what level they are at, or could become. However in the meantime we won’t go so far to say they will be a part of the qualifying team in June. Horse is horse and class is class. You ca bring horse to run next to class, know what I mean; hahaha.
Agent:
ok, very well people, Yu hearing it from the “horses” mouth. Hahaha. So come June Mr. Burrel we will see class and not horses, hahaha.
Burrell:
Yes, yes; hahaha
Agent:
Mr. Burrel do you think with this selection of locals, 11 I think, on the squad to New Zealand, do you think in all fairness they may have prematurely gotten their hopes up for possible inclusion into the squad for June?
Burrell:
Sometimes things get lost in the translation; for not wanting to dim the confidence and hopes of the players, its best certain things are not spoken beforehand. Look, right now there’s a host of players in England and even those in the RSPL who believe they should be in New Zealand, there’s a host of players in England that are credible options for us to consider.
I’ve being hesitating to speak about this in any detail until now. I travelled to England recently and did contact Darren Pratley who played for Bolton. As well we spoke with Junior Hoilett’s father in Canada regarding his son joining us. He was excited about the contact and he said he would speak to his son.
Agent: are there others to consider?
Burrel:
well, since I’m divulging I might as well say it; I take personal responsibility for waiting too long to act on certain things. I mean Daniel Sturridge who’s now playing for England, did express his love for Jamaica; and has even said, when ask on TV “why he didn’t play for us?” his response was, no one contacted him. So we can’t allow that to happen again, with a player of his capability to not make a credible request for services.
No we’re not about begging anyone to play for us, but we’ll make sure the high profile players in England of Jamaican heritage be reminded that blood is thicker than water. And that the Jamaican blood runs far and deep.
We realize what the other ConCaCaf top teams are doing, there’s great upgrading taking place all over and we do not want to be left out of the loop. Our local leagues are being upgraded at the moment but we are not at the place where they can soundly compete with the likes of the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras etc. who have professionals in top leagues around the world. We have some professionals as well, but as the Gold Cup proved we’re a little short on quality.
Agent:
a lot said there; so, what does the future holds now for the ReggaeBoyz.
Burrel:
I end with this; Brazil 2014 here we come. It won’t be like in the past. We’ll have the best out there on the pitch at all times. If not we won’t be able to compete admirable. So we’re asking the fans and news media, the Jamaica diaspora here and abroad for their full support on our way to our goal of making the next World Cup. It’s not Fitzroy Simpson, Robbie Earle, Franck Sinclair, Deon Burton this time around. It may very well be Junior Hoilett, Darren Pratley, Jobi McAnuff, Nosworthy, Beckford and some of the younger ones in the EPL reserves that I’m hearing about.
Agent; Very well; thank you for you’re time sir.
Burrel. Thank you….
Editor
"Just before Mr. Burrell’s departure to the land of the KIWI’s he had a tidy sit down face to face with one of our very concerned agent on the state of Jamaica's football. Having lost our last 5 games -1 Gold cup, 4 friendlies- we the media feel it's necessary, as we say in Jamaica, we want to hear it "plain and straight;" concerning the ReggaeBoyz future."
Agent:
Mr. Burrel as a representative of the Jamaica media I have a responsibility to the public to be forthcoming as it relates to the state of Jamaica’s football, and what voice would be appropriate other than your own to articulate to us your plans for upcoming qualifiers.
Burrell:
Well, at the moment our concentration, as you know is our current friendly with the New Zealand team in New Zealand. We do have a number of players that we are still looking at from our local leagues. We don’t know how they will respond to this challenge to the call of duty, but we are hoping that things would turn in our favor and they would surprise us. Who knows maybe someone will take the bull by the horn and latch on, so to speak.
Agent:
are you referring to the fact that there’s a possibility some of these home grown talent may make a case for themselves and possible win the case, in this case being selected to represent us in June?
Burrel:
Well, not so fast; -well, a didn't know we have a case, Hahaha- but man affi creep before him walk. What I’m saying is this, we have a plan to help the local players. We are exposing them to a higher level of football; if anything -not knowing how they will perform because New Zealand is a fairly good team- they would get to see themselves. At what level they are at, or could become. However in the meantime we won’t go so far to say they will be a part of the qualifying team in June. Horse is horse and class is class. You ca bring horse to run next to class, know what I mean; hahaha.
Agent:
ok, very well people, Yu hearing it from the “horses” mouth. Hahaha. So come June Mr. Burrel we will see class and not horses, hahaha.
Burrell:
Yes, yes; hahaha
Agent:
Mr. Burrel do you think with this selection of locals, 11 I think, on the squad to New Zealand, do you think in all fairness they may have prematurely gotten their hopes up for possible inclusion into the squad for June?
Burrell:
Sometimes things get lost in the translation; for not wanting to dim the confidence and hopes of the players, its best certain things are not spoken beforehand. Look, right now there’s a host of players in England and even those in the RSPL who believe they should be in New Zealand, there’s a host of players in England that are credible options for us to consider.
I’ve being hesitating to speak about this in any detail until now. I travelled to England recently and did contact Darren Pratley who played for Bolton. As well we spoke with Junior Hoilett’s father in Canada regarding his son joining us. He was excited about the contact and he said he would speak to his son.
Agent: are there others to consider?
Burrel:
well, since I’m divulging I might as well say it; I take personal responsibility for waiting too long to act on certain things. I mean Daniel Sturridge who’s now playing for England, did express his love for Jamaica; and has even said, when ask on TV “why he didn’t play for us?” his response was, no one contacted him. So we can’t allow that to happen again, with a player of his capability to not make a credible request for services.
No we’re not about begging anyone to play for us, but we’ll make sure the high profile players in England of Jamaican heritage be reminded that blood is thicker than water. And that the Jamaican blood runs far and deep.
We realize what the other ConCaCaf top teams are doing, there’s great upgrading taking place all over and we do not want to be left out of the loop. Our local leagues are being upgraded at the moment but we are not at the place where they can soundly compete with the likes of the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras etc. who have professionals in top leagues around the world. We have some professionals as well, but as the Gold Cup proved we’re a little short on quality.
Agent:
a lot said there; so, what does the future holds now for the ReggaeBoyz.
Burrel:
I end with this; Brazil 2014 here we come. It won’t be like in the past. We’ll have the best out there on the pitch at all times. If not we won’t be able to compete admirable. So we’re asking the fans and news media, the Jamaica diaspora here and abroad for their full support on our way to our goal of making the next World Cup. It’s not Fitzroy Simpson, Robbie Earle, Franck Sinclair, Deon Burton this time around. It may very well be Junior Hoilett, Darren Pratley, Jobi McAnuff, Nosworthy, Beckford and some of the younger ones in the EPL reserves that I’m hearing about.
Agent; Very well; thank you for you’re time sir.
Burrel. Thank you….