Editorial | Name criteria for the new coach

Despite his parsing of the issue, there seems little doubt that Rudolph Speid harbours the ambition of a permanent appointment as Jamaica’s national football coach.

This newspaper makes no judgement on that matter and is not in a position to judge Mr Speid’s skill or competence for the job despite failing to take Jamaica over the line at the continental playoffs in Mexico for the final three spots at the World Cup in the summer.

However, if Mr Speid is chosen, he and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) must resolve some ethical questions relating to the management of conflicts of interest, or the potential, given Rudolph Speid’s position as principal of the Cavaliers Football Club as well as its official head coach. The JFF will have to satisfy Jamaicans that there would be no intermingling of Mr Speid’s role at Cavaliers and the national football set-up.

Moreover, before it begins its formal recruitment of a new coach, or any equivalent post, the JFF should publish the criteria of the job and the ethical conduct expected from the holder of the position. That should apply not only to the coach of the senior men’s team but to all teams for which the JFF is directly responsible.

IMPORTANT

This matter is important on several fronts, none of which has anything to do specifically with Mr Speid or any potential candidate. The bigger issue – as this newspaper has argued on a number of occasions in the past – is that the JFF cannot presume itself to be a private club, accountable only to its constituent parish associations and football-related entities. Football is a national sport in which Jamaicans are deeply invested, and the JFF enjoys critical financial support from the national treasury – which means money that belongs to all citizens of the country.

The JFF, therefore, has a duty of care to all Jamaicans, especially in the ethical domain. That obligation includes transparency and the avoidance of actions or behaviours that rise to real or perceived conflicts of interests and the potential for them. Which is the case The Gleaner has made against Kishore Shallow’s continued presidency of Cricket West Indies (CWI) while being a member of parliament and the senior minister in the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

With respect to Mr Speid and the JFF, we previously raised these questions in August after Mr Speid’s appointment as a technical adviser to then national coach Englishman Steve McClaren. At the time, in addition to his positions at Cavaliers, Mr Speid was a member of the board of the JFF and chairman of its technical committee. The JFF’s president, Michael Ricketts, somehow, didn’t fathom the concerns.

INTERIM COACH

When Mr McClaren resigned after Jamaica’s failure to automatically qualify from its group for the World Cup as one of the representatives from the CONCACAF region and Mr Speid was appointed as the interim coach for the playoffs in Mexico, he took a leave of absence from the JFF positions, Mr Ricketts said at the time.

In mulling the possibility of continuing as the national coach, Mr Speid told this newspaper that he didn’t intend to return to the JFF’s technical committee. His intention with respect to his board seat remains unclear. If he steps away from that, too, it still leaves to be addressed his position with Cavaliers, a potential point of conflict. After all, Cavaliers players would rightfully expect, if they perform well, to be considered for, and selected to, the national team without question that they received special treatment.

Indeed, Mr Speid should not be made to bear the burden of any such accusations. Which is why the JFF must have clear and transparent rules and regulations to avoid any such conflicts, including a written and published Code of Conduct for all its members, individuals, and organisations.