Busby not worried over captaincy issue
Published:Monday | May 27, 2024 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
REGGAE GIRL head coach Hubert Bubsy Jr will be taking his time in naming the captain of the team but said he is looking for the process to happen naturally.
Manchester City striker and team poster girl Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has worn the captain’s armband undisputedly since 2021 after former captain Konya Plummer played her last game before announcing her pregnancy in 2022.
On occasions when Shaw has been unavailable, central defender Allyson Swaby has stepped into the role.
Goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer has also shown herself to be a good leader, and with Plummer now back in the fold, Busby will have a host of outstanding candidates to choose from.
However, he believes that with time, the right person to lead the team will be chosen.
“We haven’t had a chance to speak about those things as yet, but in this cycle, we are going to evaluate all things.
“One of the things we have to look at is that through this whole process, other leaders have emerged.
“In a lot of ways, we want to see it happen organically, and that is what these next few months will tell us because we have a lot of really good leaders in that room,” he said.
“So that is something we will look to see kind of organically take place and see those leaders kind of emerge and make a decision.”
Shaw, who is currently out injured and will miss the team’s two international friendlies against Brazil on June 1 and 3, will remain one of the undisputed leaders in the team said Busby, even if she is not wearing the armband.
“You don’t have to be the captain to lead, and she is definitely a leader for us. But we haven’t definitely spoken about assigning or going through the captain.
“But it is something to see how we can mould this new leadership group and the leaders within the group,” he pointed.
He added that the 27-year-old Shaw, who has been breaking goalscoring record after record with Manchester City in the Women’s Super League (WSL) in England, where she was the Golden Boot winner and player of the season, is irreplaceable with the national team.
“Every team in the world needs a Bunny Shaw. I don’t want to say that (her absence was) the main factor why Manchester City did not win the championship.
“But I would probably surmise that if she was in the line-up for the last two games (that she missed because of injury), they would definitely go on and win the championship
“So you cannot replace a Bunny Shaw. The key for us now is to ensure that she is healthy and she recovers and gets ready for the start of pre-season with Manchester City, and at the right time, we will incorporate her back into the group.”