MAXWELLAudley Boyd, Staff Reporter
FORMER national coach Geoffrey Maxwell has been fired by National Premier League (NPL) team Tivoli Gardens Football Club.
In a release yesterday club president Edward Seaga, who is also the Member of Parliament for the area, said: "Mr. Maxwell's position as coach was terminated yesterday as a result of serious difficulties between the coach and players."
The release added that Mark Mendel, who last coached Tivoli Gardens in 1992-93 when the west Kingston team won the KSAFA Major League title to regain promotion to the NPL, "will replace Geoffrey Maxwell as of today".
Maxwell's departure came fast on the heels of the team's elimination from the KSAFA Jackie Bell KO on Wednesday night in a penalty shoot-out against title-holders Waterhouse.
On one hand, there is widespread speculation that comments villifying players by the outspoken Maxwell in post match media interviews triggered the decision to remove him as coach.
Also, sources revealed that Maxwell was not afraid to punish acts of indiscipline among players - regardless of their stature - and this sharpened their differences.
Maxwell stressed, however, that there was no ill-feeling between himself and the players but said criticism was a part of the game.
"Criticism is a part of coaching and even the biggest players in the world are criticised sometimes harshly, both internally and publicly," he said.
Team manager Saleem Lazarus steered clear of the issue also, calling the separation "amicable".
"There was a conflict of personalities between the players and the coach. The players and the coach weren't working out and they came to an amicable agreement last night after a meeting and they decided he should not continue," Lazarus told the Gleaner yesterday.
The team started their see-saw campaign badly, but rebounded strongly to hold up fourth place in the overall standings before being overtaken recently by Village United (38 points) in the chase for a top-four championship play-off.
"We had a meeting last night with the squad, Mr. Seaga and the management. We've had differences between the players and myself. Some of the things relate to discipline, etc.," Maxwell divulged in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.
"We had a good meeting and both parties recognised they had different ideologies and we had an amicable parting of ways," said Maxwell, who went on to wish the team and their new coach well.
