NO JOB FOR LAZARONI
published: Friday | December 3, 2004

By Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter

THE FORMER head coach of Jamaica's senior football team, Sebastiao Lazaroni, will not be heading the Jamaica Football Federation's proposed three-year development programme.

JFF president Crenston Boxhill, in a telephone interview yesterday, announced that Lazaroni would not be the man, despite rumours that the Brazilian was the frontrunner among a number of candidates for the position.

"We have not advertised the position but we have received a number of résumés," Boxhill had said.

At that time, Boxhill had seemed to be supporting Lazaroni's candidacy.

"We are looking for someone with international experience to pilot the whole development programme. Lazaroni has been here twice, understands the culture and has a wealth of knowledge and experience," he had said.

"Development must be the way forward and we need somebody with international
experience and he (Lazaroni) is one of those candidates," Boxhill added.

However, all that seems to have changed. Boxhill, in answering how far his team had got with a view to cementing a contract with one of the candidates, said: "One thing we know is that it won't be Lazaroni."

Boxhill was unwilling to say what the reasons for not using the former head coach were, however, in talking to Lazaroni, information was more fruitful.

BROKEN DOWN

The coach admitted yesterday that talks had broken down and that he would be on his way to Rio de Janiero today.

"After the game against America they asked me to continue. I said no, I don't feel good because Jamaica didn't qualify. Coach Brown, players, administration and everybody asked me to continue and so I stayed," Lazaroni said.

"I had ideas of development for Jamaica
in this transitional period. Better fields, fitter players, a football school, development of clubs and schools, all this was in my head.

"I went to many meetings to find sponsorships to help the programme. To my surprise, I got a call from Boxhill yesterday (Wednesday) saying 'I am sorry we can't get any sponsors so I can't stay with you'. I told him I'm sorry too," explained an obviously disappointed Lazaroni.

"I would like to tell the people of Jamaica that I'm sorry. The people are very kind and suppor-tive and I'll never forget them. Thank you," said Lazaroni, in what was his version of goodbye.

Thus, the search for the man to head the development programme will continue. A name that is still being mentioned is that of Argentinian Carlos Pachame. However, there are problems that still pervade the search.

"The main problem is funding. We will be meeting with one of the major sponsors next Wednesday to work out just how we can fund the programme," said Boxhill.

At present, the JFF still cannot be sure who it will approach because it is not sure what it will be able to afford.

"The price range depends on who we approach. Some people are better qualified with more impressive résumés and as such attract bigger contracts," explained Boxhill.