Whitmore’s fate long decided
Former Mount Pleasant coach to be replaced by Harold Thomas
Published:Tuesday | June 4, 2024 | 12:07 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
PAUL CHRISTIE, Mount Pleasant Football Academy sporting director, said the decision not to renew the tenure of Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore as head coach of the club had long been decided, and insists their Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final defeat to Cavalier had no bearing on the decision.
Whitmore led Mount Pleasant to their first JPL title with victory over Cavalier a season earlier, and although he took them back to the final this year, he failed to get over the hurdle this time, leaving many to surmise that this was the reason the club cut ties with the two-goal hero of the 1998 World Cup.
However, Christie revealed that they had already decided to move the club in a new direction at the end of the just-concluded season, when Whitmore’s and his entire backroom staff, which included Davian Ferguson, Warren Barrett, Lamar Morgan and Dwyane Peters, contracts expired at the end of the month.
“You always want to win but losing is a part of the game. People will say things but we all know it was a two-year project. That is why I say categorically that one did not affect the other.
Academy graduates
“People will ask what would have transpired if we won. But even if Mount Pleasant had won the title, the decision was already taken. So we all knew about the decision before,” he said.
“So the decision to move in a new direction has nothing to do with the result in the Premier League. It was long taken by the organisation’s leadership.”
It is well known that Whitmore has a preference for experienced players, and during his time at Mount Pleasant, only one academy graduate in Devonte Campbell has featured. Campbell got his breakthrough under Englishman Wally Downes in 2021.
According to Christie, the club’s leadership wants to see more of their youth investments making the move up to the senior team, and they believe Thomas, who coached Dunbeholden to the 2021-22 JPL final and who currently runs the academy, is the ideal man for the job.
“The organisation would love to see a mixture of the academy products and the experienced players. The club would have looked at what Mr Thomas did in his one-year tenure at the school.
“He knows the kids at the academy and he would have done an excellent job with them.
“So he is positioned in a way to actually make the transition at this time, and that is a reason for having him leading the charge, to help that transition,” he said.
“Mr Whitmore has done an excellent job and you couldn’t ask for more from him, and today the club is in a far better position than when he came
“But for this chapter of the development of the organisation, the owner would love to see more home-grown academy players transitioning into the senior team.”
Not fired
Meanwhile, in an Instagram post, assistant coach Davian Ferguson said information being bandied about in the public that the coaching team was fired is “grossly inaccurate and misleading”.
“I wish to categorically state that neither myself or any of my backroom coaching staff have been fired.
“We were employed to do a job with clear objectives and we surpassed them in both seasons.
“We had a tremendous two years and it is quite unfortunate that this is how our tenure is being viewed,” he said.
He continued that. “We inherited a failing club and turned it around immediately. We won the club’s first-ever championship in our first season, and took them back to the final in the second season, losing on penalties.
“We also qualified the club for its first-ever Caribbean Club Championship. And we brought structure and a professional way of running the club.
“I wish to clarify that we had a two-year contract, which ended in June 2024. Both parties agreed to an extension in principle. But in the end we took a different direction for a few reasons.”