Harbour View moves for more technical depth
Published:Saturday | October 28, 2023 | 12:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
IN A bid to increase their chances of winning more local and regional titles, five-time Jamaica Premier League champions, Harbour View Football Club, have sought to bolster their technical staff.
The ‘Stars of the East’ have appointed Sydney McFarlane (assistant coach), Rennai Byfield (team manager), Loxley Reid (goalkeeper coach), Nicholas Beckett (assistant coach), and Chevaughn Bailey (physical trainer) to their ranks.
According to Harbour View general manager, Clyde Jureidini, the five, who cut their teeth during the team’s run to the semifinal of the Concacaf Caribbean Cup are part of a move to increase the team’s depth in experience.
“It’s to increase our experience, depth and responsibility and continue our development as a club and its personnel not just on the field, but more importantly off the field. It’s also evolution, the Concacaf Caribbean Cup demanded that we had more persons in place, more persons with responsibility and the skeleton of the team be expanded with more work to do,” he stated.
Jureidini added that the five officially added to the team aren’t strangers to the club and have been part of the setup on previous occasions.
“These persons have been working in the capacity officially and unofficially, while some have been added, like Loxley Reid, who has come in to be full-time. Rennai Byfield has come into the managerial role to fill the spot that has been vacated recently but she has been part of the team before. Coach Sydney McFarlane has been with the junior team for years and started working with the senior team last season. Nicholas Beckett has just joined from the youth team, Chevaughn Bailey is an international player in Rugby and a professional who has been assisting from last season. So, we’ve formalised, expanded our team to greater responsibility both locally and internationally,” he explained.
The experienced football administrator believes that the demand for more professionals in the area of football has increased and as such will aid in the improvement for the players at the club by extension.
“Yes, there has been. Initially I have one person, who, as the head honcho in the main coach, now has a team of coaches. There is also a sub staff in trainers, masseurs, so there is more depth and more coordination and it demands managerial and professional skill sets across each. So, it’s better for the development of the players also.”