Coaches not surprised by Hallgrimsson’s exit
Published:Tuesday | July 2, 2024 | 12:10 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
FORMER JAMAICA Premier League and schoolboy football title-winning coach, Ludlow Bernard, explained that Heimir Hallgrimsson’s tenure as head coach of the Reggae Boyz was a marriage destined for divorce.
Bernard further suggested that the Icelander’s style of coaching and Jamaica’s brand of football weren’t the ideal combination, which led to a premature end of his contract.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to this kind of ending. However, from early this wasn’t destined to be successful, primarily because the type of players and philosophy of Jamaica’s style of play wasn’t consistent with this kind of coach. He’s an Icelandic coach that has exercised very pragmatic tactics on his previous engagements, while Jamaica is known for flair and speed,” Bernard explained.
Hallgrimsson’s tenure at the helm lasted a year and 10 months and saw the 57-year-old, across 27 matches, registering 11 victories, 10 defeats and nine draws.
Bernard added that in seeking a replacement for Hallgrimsson, the move has to be quick with the team expecting to begin Nations League action in September and the resumption of World Cup qualifiers in June next year.
“It’s about finding the right coach that best suits our system and the players that we have, which includes athleticism and flair. If it’s going to be a local coach, it has to be someone of stature and appeal. I think the best thing would be to seek someone overseas if coach (Theodore) Whitmore isn’t going to be the coach. There cannot be downtime where the programme is concerned because we have about 10 months before our next World Cup and the transition has to be soon,” said Bernard.
Raymond Watson, assistant coach of Jamaica College, said that while the win-to-loss ratio of Hallgrimsson looked similar, watching the team against top Concacaf teams made it clear the Reggae Boyz were inferior.
“Looking at his win and loss ratio, there are a lot of similarities but we judge a coach playing against the likes of Mexico, Canada and the USA. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either, as watching the team we were expecting a lot more,” said Watson.
If the Jamaica Football Federation should look locally for a suitable replacement, Watson said Davion Ferguson could be a solid fit for the national programme.
According to Watson, with the plethora of England-based players that Hallgrimsson had at his disposal, supporters were expecting much more positive style of play.
“We’ve had international players but never so many top-class at one time. A lot of Jamaicans didn’t see Hallgrimsson as a tactician who could figure things out if the team was in difficulty, but rather to defend in numbers. I would suggest Davion Ferguson, he has the personality and is a likeable person.”