McNab unconvinced by JFF leadership

Adviser in the Ministry of Sport, Allie McNab, a revered national footballer in his day, said he aches to see the direction in which local football is heading under the current leadership, and believes more proactive leadership is necessary at this current time.

"My concern is that the game of football, which I owe so much to, is being short-changed. The state of Jamaica's football requires a dynamic, visionary leadership and I don't see those qualities with Mr Ricketts," McNab told The Gleaner.

Michael Ricketts is president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

"It (football) is going to require someone with the kind of communicative leadership like the late Captain (Horace) Burrell had. It is going to take someone with a vision and a clear capacity to pull the various stakeholders - the private sector, the football, finance and government sectors - all in unison.

"That person will have to have dynamic sales leadership that is going to be able to sell that to the stakeholders, and from where I sit, the present team that is in place [at the JFF] cannot achieve that," he added.

NO RESPONSE

However, when contacted, the JFF president had no response to offer.

"I have no comment on that," Ricketts said.

McNab insists his comments are not a personal attack on Ricketts, whom he said he admires as an individual. But he thinks there are a lot of persons out there better qualified to bring the stakeholders together and mobilise the nation's football product.

"All I am doing is putting it out there, so we [can] continue the conversation. I've mentioned someone like Chris Dehring [as JFF president], but Chris has his business (ReadyTV) to run. But if someone has all the credentials, he will need to have support.

"It's not about one person," McNab explained. "It's about what the situation is and I am just expressing it. When you go to somebody for money and support, they have to have the confidence in you that you can deliver. It's a business arrangement; it just happens to be in the business of sport," he said.

September 16 will mark one year in office for Ricketts. His term will come to an end next year.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com