Tony James (left) and current JFF president Michael Ricketts
Former Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Tony James says the recent move to cut Lorne Donaldson from the Reggae Girlz programme, could prove the final nail in the coffin of the Michael Ricketts-led administration, as he believes their chances of retaining leadership of the country’s football were already slim.
James –like many football enthusiasts at home and abroad –has always been critical of Ricketts’s leadership and even felt he should have relinquished the post last year when the senior Reggae Boyz players called for the scalp of then general secretary Dalton Wint.
At that point, James said Ricketts lacked the requisite acumen to continue leading the sport’s local governing body, as he failed to accept responsibility for the chaos that has unfolded in Jamaica’s football over the past few years with players and some coaches consistently expressing discontent at the constant “lack of respect, transparency and communication” from the JFF hierarchy.
Now thrown in the spotlight once again with the non-renewal of Donaldson’s contract, and the elections due by year end, James thinks it might just result in Ricketts and administration’s demise.
Donaldson, who was appointed in 2022, led the Reggae Girlz to a second-consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the tournament jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, they had an historic run to the round of 16, after drawing with France and Brazil and defeating Panama in the group stage.
The Reggae Girlz eventually bowed out following a 0-1 loss to Colombia.
In their most recent fixtures, the Reggae Girlz suffered back-to-back losses to Canada in a failed bid to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but the progress the team has made under Donaldson’s leadership is without question.
“The upcoming election is the exact reason why that decision with Lorne is poor. If you have an election in a couple of weeks, why are you going to make a move like this.
“You have a lame duck presidency and administration why are you going to take on a massive investment for a national women’s coach when JFF is still in restrictive financing, why would you want to do that now. So that decision is a matter of bad timing,” James said in a recent interview with Sportsmax.tv.
By virtue of hiring a new coach, James argues that the Reggae Girlz programme will be unnecessarily reset, when there are other areas of the country’s football that needs more attention.
“The schoolboy football needs to be reset, the academy programme needs to be reset and the parishes, the most important on the agenda heading into the elections, have to be reset,” he asserted.
For the upcoming elections, Ricketts, who has been in power since 2017, will be challenged by current vice-president Raymond Anderson.
Anderson, who has served in previous administrations has the likes of former Cricket West Indies President Dave Cameron, Marketing Strategist Cecile Dennis, Kingston and St Andrew Football Association President Mark Bennett and St Thomas Football Association President Wayne Thompson, on his campaign team.
Last year's changes to the JFF's constitutional reform will result in an increase in delegates from 13 –previously consisted solely of parish confederation presidents –to 56, comprising more stakeholders.
James also took issues with those changes.
“Everything seems to be wrong structurally about what they are doing. The election of the parishes comes three months after the JFF elections, and what exist now is a corrupt construct, you can’t have a corrupt construct electing a president and a new board for a four-year term. You should have the election for the parishes first and then out of that election you elect a new JFF board,” James opined.
“The thing is that when you have a corrupt construct that exist in the JFF, the majority of people that are going to vote are people you have to appeal to, to vote for you. So, if you accept the fact that the parishes, especially the rural parishes, some of them are extremely weak and extremely poor in their structure, you have to correct that first or at least attempt to correct that.
“But they are going for votes rather to correct the structure and if the structure is not corrected no matter who gets there (the presidency) then it won’t make a difference. Because you're trying to get football moving forward and get football resilient which means you have to always be moving forward without moving back. Instead, what has been happening now is that you take two steps forward one step back you need everybody in the same boat moving in the same direction,” he ended.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Arteta hails 'phenomenal' Arsenal drive to take Man City all the way
Mikel Arteta hailed the "phenomenal" drive shown by his Arsenal side to push Manchester City all the way in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners moved one point clear of City at the Premier League summit on Sunday with a 1-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
City have a chance to restore their advantage when they travel to Arsenal's fierce rivals Tottenham on Tuesday, before then hosting West Ham.
Regardless of what happens in midweek, Arsenal will go into their final game of the campaign at home to Everton with the title battle still alive.
Speaking to BBC Sport after his side's latest win, Arteta said: "It is a phenomenal thing they are doing."
However, Arteta was not entirely pleased with the manner of his side's slender victory, even if they were good value for the win overall.
"We weren't composed, clean enough, consistent enough and were unable to do the simple things right," he said. "That doesn't give you control.
"Some of the players have not been in this position; they don't know what is at stake and how you feel emotionally to have to win and win and win from December or January."
Arsenal's win was just their second in 17 Premier League trips to Old Trafford, most recently coming out on top in November 2020.
Lenadro Trossard scored what proved to be the winner with 20 minutes played, tapping in from close range after being set up by Kai Havertz.
"We needed a result today in a really difficult place," Arteta added. "Our history was not in favour of a result today.
"There was so much at stake and we're happy with the result. We started the game really well and were dominant.
"We scored the goal and I think the goal led to slightly bad things because we started to play too safe, too sideways, too backwards with not enough structure.
"We started to give the ball away in good areas and that is a danger against them. But we defended well and didn't concede too much."
Arsenal now find themselves cheering on Tottenham against City, knowing that anything other than a win for Pep Guardiola's men will leave their title fate in their own hands.
Asked if he will be watching that game, Arteta said: "We will be sat watching and it’s true we need the result in order to achieve [the title]. In football there are always possibilities."
Tuchel skips goodbye from fans after final Bayern home game
Departing Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel opted on Sunday to quietly slip into the changing rooms instead of joining his players to celebrate after the Bavarians beat Wolfsburg 2-0.
Tuchel will be leaving at the end of the season – a year earlier than his contract ends – following a disappointing campaign with no silverware.
The win came four days after Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid confirmed their first season without a trophy in over a decade.
"These are the moments for the players," he said when asked why he did not join his squad who went in front of the Bayern ultras after their final home game of the season.
"I don't want to be in the spotlight there. That's for the team. I know that the cameras are there.
"I prefer to go in [to the changing rooms]. It is about the team. The fans are there for the team. They need to be celebrated."
There has been little to celebrate for Tuchel in his 14 months in charge, with Bayern having managed to win only the Bundesliga title last season after Borussia Dortmund slipped up on the final matchday.
He said he did not yet know what he would take away from his time at Bayern, who missed out on Bundesliga glory to Bayer Leverkusen this term.
"Last home game and what remains I don't really know," he said. "It will take some time to see what is left.
"It is a privilege to coach at this level. I came to win as many titles as possible. We did not succeed in that."
Juventus 1-1 Salernitana: Late Rabiot goal salvages home draw
Juventus snatched a 1-1 draw at home to relegated Salernitana courtesy of a late Adrien Rabiot goal that cancelled out a first-half header from Niccolo Pierozzi in Serie A on Sunday.
Juve are fourth on 67 points with two matches left, six points ahead of Atalanta, who have two games in hand.
Salernitana shocked the Allianz Stadium as unmarked Pierozzi headed home after 27 minutes following a corner.
But Juventus dominated the rest of the match and equalised in stoppage time when Rabiot slid the ball home at the back post after a corner was flicked on.
Bottom side Salernitana were doomed to the drop last month.
Juve play in the Italian Cup final against Atalanta on Wednesday in an effort to save a disappointing season and stop their winless streak at six matches in all competitions.
Data Debrief: Another stalemate for Juve
Juventus were grateful for a point come full-time, albeit it was a poor result in the grand scheme of things. Juve have now draw five successive matches in Serie A for the first time since between April and May 2009.
In fact, only Heidenheim of the Bundesliga (10) have drawn more matches than Juventus have (nine from 18 games) across Europe's top five leagues in 2024.
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