John Barnes must apply – JFF
Football bosses give full backing to Paul HallSay former coach could be considered in the future
Published:Wednesday | January 19, 2022 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
CHAIRMAN OF the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) technical committee, Rudolph Speid, said former Liverpool legend John Barnes should apply for the job if he is interested in coaching the Reggae Boyz in the future.
In a recent interview, the former England international, Barnes, who was unbeaten in his stint as Jamaica coach from 2008-2009, and who won the Caribbean Cup during his spell, said he has unfinished business with the Reggae Boyz and has not ruled out managing the team in the future.
Although Speid did not rule out a possible return, he insists they have full confidence in current coach Paul Hall and that if Barnes is interested in the job in the future, he should submit his application like everyone else.
“He has never applied, so we never considered him,” Speid told The Gleaner.
“We have others, so we looked at the ones who applied.
“We already have a coach in Paul Hall, who we are very confident in. Maybe sometime in the future we could consider him again.
“But our focus is our present coach, so maybe someday down the road. But he needs a formal application so we can know of his interests and look at it,” he said.
ONE OF HIS BIGGEST REGRETS
In an exclusive interview on Tallawah TV, the Jamaican-born player, who won six and drew three of his nine matches with Jamaica, said one of his biggest regrets was not getting the chance to coach in the Gold Cup.
His first match was a 2-0 friendly win over Cayman Islands. He then went on to win the Caribbean Cup, playing five matches and beating Guyana 2-0 in the final.
That was followed by international friendly draws against Haiti and El Salvador, before ending his stint with a 3-2 win over Panama.
His contract ended a month before the Gold Cup, but the Captain Horace Burrell-led administration didn’t renew or extend until after the tournament because Barnes had secured a job with Tranmere Rovers in League One. He was replaced by Theodore Whitmore.
“We won the Caribbean Cup and it’s a fantastic trophy to win. The Gold Cup was the big one, that is one of my biggest regrets that I wasn’t given that opportunity,” he said.
“The last game before the Gold Cup we beat Panama 3-2 for the first time since the 1960s, and the next game would have been in the Gold Cup.
“That was the last time I actually coached the Jamaica national team. So I don’t know if it’s unfinished business but that’s one regret, that I wasn’t able to go to a big tournament with Jamaica,” he said.
He added that should he return one day he would not do anything much different from a coaching perspective, but insisted he would need assurances before taking the job a second time.
“I never lost a game, so I wouldn’t do anything different because from a footballing perspective everything went well. I would just hope for other people to do things differently,” he stated
“I would say let’s have a discussion, which I didn’t really do first time round. The first time I just said ‘yes, I’m jumping at it’.
“We (would) have to have some ground rules as to what the requirements are, what are their expectations? What is the profile of the manager? What power does he have? Can he make all the footballing decisions?
“I’m not interested in any other decisions just footballing decisions, then I’ll be willing to have a conversation, absolutely,” he said.