Vere Phoenix nearing full contingent

Vere Phoenix United have received a major boost in their Wray & Nephew-sponsored Jamaica Premier League (JPL) campaign as the club’s technical director Craig Butler stated they have now been able to register the majority of their players for the season.

Vere Phoenix currently sit 12th in the league standings, just above the relegation zone, with 13 points tallied.

Their placement has been below expectations for the club which had announced a merger with Butler’s Phoenix Academy at the start of the season.

While announcing the merger, Butler had promised an upturn in quality on the field for the Clarendon-based club.

“You can expect quality, quality and more quality,” Butler had stated.

“To get quality it is important to weed out the bad weeds so that the grass can grow clean and smooth, and that is what we have done. Now we have quality players, a quality team, good systems and coaches with a winning mentality.”

However, it has not been smooth-sailing for Vere Phoenix who have only won three games so far and have the second-worst defensive record in the league, having conceded 31 goals.

Butler explained a major reason behind their poor results has been the inability to field their full contingent due to delays in their registration as well as key players being focused on schoolboy competitions which ended last month.

“It’s the start that I knew would happen. We understood that we have returning players who could have challenges getting registered and our Manning Cup players are currently unavailable. Come January we will have our full complement of players,” Butler had explained during Vere Phoenix’s first round of fixtures.

Having secured the registration of several of their key players, Butler is confident the team will be able to turn the tables around as they now target a spot further up the standings.

He made the announcement on social media where he thanked the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for their work in ensuring his players would be able to take to the field.

“I have a big announcement to make. For the first time since I’ve taken over the Premier League club, Vere Phoenix United, I have a majority of my players now registered,” Butler stated.

“I’m grateful to the JFF. It may have taken some time but I’m grateful that we now have have the services of Damoi Whitfield, Marques Reid, Donhue Mitchell and Michael Graham, in addition to our top talent schoolboys who have come out of the league.”

However, he stated there are still a few players yet to be registered who could prove pivotal to Vere Phoenix’s campaign.

“We’re very excited. We have two or three more players left to come in: Shemron Phillips, our Brazilian [Marcos] Roas and our English striker Destiny [Oladipo]. Very excited about these next two rounds of the Premier League.”

The Clarendon-based club will next be in action tomorrow when they travel to Effortville Community Centre to take on Humble Lion in the JPL.