‘Who fired Whitmore?’

JAMAICA FOOTBALL Federation (JFF) Director Danny Beckford is questioning the sacking of Jamaica’s senior men’s national football team head coach, Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore.

Beckford said the JFF board is responsible for making that determination and the board of directors has not met since its technical committee made a recommendation for Whitmore’s removal as Reggae Boyz head coach.

“Who fired Tappa Whitmore?” said Beckford.

“As far as I know it’s the board that has hiring and firing responsibilities.

“I know we have a board meeting scheduled for the 18th, so I don’t know when the board took a decision,” he said.

“Right now we’re waiting on a meeting on the 18th. Then we can elucidate our point.”

Efforts to get a response from president of the JFF, Michael Ricketts, and its general secretary, Dalton Wint, were unsuccessful as calls to their phone went unanswered.

Questions relating to the issue were also sent to Ricketts’ phone, but none of those messages were met with a response.

On Thursday last, the JFF sent out a press release advising that Whitmore had been relieved of his duties as Reggae Boyz head coach with immediate effect.

The JFF release also stated that the team’s assistant coach, Paul Hall, would fill the role of head coach on an interim basis through to the end of the current Concacaf World Cup qualifying campaign for Qatar 2022.

The decision to end Whitmore’s tenure has been up for the JFF board’s approval, following a recommendation, by a vote of 5-2, of the JFF’s technical committee. This came after Jamaica’s 1-1 draw with the United States at the National Stadium on November 16.

There are mixed views on the technical committee’s position among the JFF board of directors.

“Have no difficulty. The technical committee is made up of some bright people. They are on the ground, have a full grasp of the issues and should be empowered and be held accountable,” said Wayne Thompson, St Thomas FA president.

Team is gelling now

Wayne Shaw, president, Kingston and St Andrew FA, has a different view.

“The team is gelling now. I don’t think we should’ve made the change. I think it’s the wrong time,” said Shaw.

“I don’t agree with the move at this time. It’s going to be difficult now. You’re bringing in a new coach, it’s going to be hard.”

According to the JFF statutes, the technical committee’s position must be ratified by the JFF board, and Beckford explained that since that process was not followed, the decision to now part company with Whitmore is unconstitutional.

“There has to be a re-do of the decision according to the statutes,” he challenged.

“If it was a board decision, couple board members were not privy to that process, so something is fundamentally wrong about what has been done and how it has been done,” Beckford reasoned.

“If it’s the management committee who did that, they have no authority.

“The final decision has to be made via the members of the board of the JFF,” he reaffirmed.

Consequently, Beckford said the JFF’s decision to remove Whitmore is, at this point, illegal.

“From my standpoint, Tappa Whitmore has not been fired by the board of the JFF,” he said.

“If the board had a meeting, they left out certain people, so that decision would not be legal.”

The outspoken Beckford noted that the JFF has been operating in this manner by making decisions in an unconstitutional way and it must be brought to an end.

“All now no one has called to say that we made a decision. I only heard it in the media. I wasn’t a part of the decision-making as a member of the board,” said Beckford, who has been president of the St Ann Football Association and a JFF director for 18 years running.

“It seems they are making these decisions, and after the event, they want board members to rubber-stamp it,” he said.

“Board members have been rubber-stamping some foolish decisions,” Beckford continued.

“I think this is supposed to be the last of this. After we have this meeting, we should decide that it should never happen again.”

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com