Orville Higgins | Give them a 'bly' Whitmore

As it is right now, there is no one who is in the position of official coach for the Reggae Boyz. Jerome Waite will take the team to the eastern Caribbean later this month, but it is still not yet clear what is the position regarding Theodore Whitmore. Whitmore's resignation came as a surprise. We all knew that he was frustrated with the slow pace of the negotiation in regards to his salary, and at one point had given the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) a month to bring something different to the table. In his resignation letter, he cited being frustrated and you could see that he felt he was not being given the respect he deserves.

There are several ways to look at this evolving story. The truth is that in many ways Whitmore was lucky to have been named national coach to begin with. He did not have a particularly impressive resume when he was fast tracked to the job in the first place. There were many coaches in Jamaica who were far more qualified. He was replaced as head coach of the senior team and sent to the under 20s and when that failed, he was then placed in charge of a national beach football team. He never did anything spectacular there either. When Carl Brown and the JFF couldn't see eye-to-eye on him coming back, Whitmore was again thrust into the spotlight. It wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that Captain Horace Burrell felt that come what may, Whitmore had to be part of the national coaching staff.

The truth is though that in the last couple of years, Whitmore has done brilliantly. Taking a team of purely Jamaican born players to the Gold Cup final may well be as great a coaching accomplishment as anything we have witnessed in Jamaica. Even if Whitmore had gotten the position by "politics" the raw truth is that he has demonstrated a capacity to do well. At last check Jamaica were at 48 in the FIFA rankings and definitely heading in the right direction. Whitmore has shown that he can get the team to get positive results and on the surface, none can blame him if he feels he should be compensated, not only with a long term contract, but also a better salary package.

The JFF has brought up the issue of affordability, saying they cannot pay Whitmore no more than what is currently on the table. My understanding is that is within the vicinity of US$6,000 per month. We know the JFF is broke. Mr Ricketts took over an organisation that was indebted to the tune of hundreds of millions. It is against this background that Whitmore has asked for an increase. From Whitmore's point of view, what he is asking for is still a drop in the bucket of what was paid to previous head coaches. Therein lies the true dilemma.

The JFF had erred badly when they took these monstrous sums and paid to these international coaches. I'm sorry I don't believe ANY coach in the word is worth US$45,000 a month to coach a Jamaican national team. At best, Jamaica may play 10 or 12 games a year, even during the World Cup qualifiers. The team is assembled only days before these international games, which means most of the time the coaches are really just sitting around twiddling their thumbs, except for the occasional visits to watch Premier League and school boy football matches. If you add up match days plus actual training time, then a national coach is only on the job for maybe between 40 to 60 days a year! I am not paying US$45,000 for anyone to do that in the Jamaican context. We simply cannot afford it.

Not Tappa's fault

Having set that precedent, the JFF cannot blame Whitmore for seeing that as the blueprint for him to follow. Whitmore cannot be faulted for thinking that they are prepared to pay white international coaches huge sums, but paying out peanuts in comparison to him, a black man from the bowels of the working class. Whether the JFF intended it or not, this is how it is coming across to many.

I am urging Whitmore publicly to be lenient though. These are different times and we are dealing with a new president, who is insisting he won't break the bank to pay a head coach. Sports Minister Olivia Grange will act as a mediator when the two sides meet, and I'm confident the goodly minister can get both sides to meet halfway. Neither side can afford to play hard ball. I am hoping that good sense will prevail and that egos and pride will not get in the way of seeing Whitmore in charge again. He deserves the opportunity.