BrownTHE EDITOR, Sir:
AS I pen this letter, the Reggae Boyz are just about returning home from their 2003 Gold Cup matches. And... already, the host of "I told-you-sos" are vehemently telling us that they did "tell us so".
Ever since the appointment of Carl Brown as the Technical Director of our football programme, the prophets of doom have been prophesying, and there are those who are not too disappointed when the Boyz lose, just so that their call for a new technical director will be given credence. Sad to say, a lot of those self-acclaimed prophets are not only the so-called "wagonists" among us, but persons in positions of leadership in the football fraternity, and journalists/sports commentators who should know better.
I have followed Jamaica's football with great passion since the 1960s. It's a passion which probably was planted by my late Dad's (himself a past national representative who had the honour of captaining his country both in football as well as track and field) involvement in football, and later nurtured by my own love for, and pride in my country. I have followed the national team in its ups-and-downs and still feel that pride and passion each time our team takes the field and our Anthem is played.
It is my fervent belief that our national programme has never been better. We reached hitherto unattainable heights under Prof. Simoes, and kudos to him for all that he did for our programme. However, most of us haven't realised that the Prof. would never have achieved the success which he did, had it not been for a Carl Brown.
People have too easily forgotten Carl's achievements as National Coach
The team which he started to build prior to the advent of the Prof.
The team which he took in the early '90s to 3rd place in the Gold Cup
The team which he took to Trinidad and Tobago in the summer of 1998 (after the disappointment in France) and with essentially a home-grown side, won the regional tournament in convincing style.
In 1998 we lost two key members of our side prior to France and our team never recovered. People need to realise that we recently fielded 20 players in two locally-played matches (against Cuba and Paraguay) and still did not have the luxury of calling on the services of players such as Pepe Goodison, Ricardo Fuller, Barry Hayles, Micah Hyde and Jermaine Johnson. In other words, for the first time ever, we now have a bench to call on!
It is my opinion that Carl Brown is the ideal man for the job. We, as a people, need to give him and the team our full support. The JFF, and its leader, Capt. Horace Burrell, need to stand firmly beside their Technical Director and display the confidence they appeared to have in him at the time of his appointment to the post.
Corporate Jamaica needs to throw its weight behind Carl in the same way that it did in the era of the Prof.
May God Bless and help you, Carl.
I am, etc.,
DR. JOHN C. ROYES
The Kidz Klinik
94 1/4 Old Hope Road
Kingston 6
