Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
FITZGERALD
CALVIN FITZGERALD is the new coach of Tivoli Gardens following the expected resignation of Glendon 'Admiral' Bailey at the end of last season.
Fitzgerald, 45, who last season coached eventual champions Waterhouse at the start of their campaign, then relegated Rivoli, said the deal has been sealed.
"It has been finalised. Training starts the second week in July," Fitzgerald told The Gleaner yesterday.
Fitzgerald was made to wait because Bailey, who had tendered his resignation before the end of the season, seemed at one point to be having a change of heart. However, that changed.
LEVEL II COACH
Fitzgerald, who has a Level II coaching certificate from G.C. Foster College, started out at Olympic Gardens before having two stints at Waterhouse.
In between, he assisted at Harbour View before returning to Waterhouse where he resigned last year after a much-publicised row with Peter Hibbert, the club's president.
He took up the challenge at the St. Catherine-based Rivoli in their relegation battle to no avail.
Now he is back in the limelight with a top flight outfit, the question is what difference will he bring to the west Kingston team.
Said Fitzgerald: "Hopefully, a little more consistency in their performances. With this league format, you have to start earning points from the first game. Normally in the previous format, you just need to earn enough points to get to the semi-final and then push from there, but now you have to earn from day one."
Tivoli Gardens finished the season the strongly to end in third position after a slow start.
Previous coach Bailey had complained constantly about the late start to their programme with key players abroad.
New coach, Fitzgerald is hoping to change that situation but admits it looks bleak.
"I am not sure, as far as I have observed it looks the same. We will just have to get the players available ready so when the other players come they will face competition to get back in the team. I would like to approach it from that angle," he noted.
NOT PERTURBED
Tivoli Gardens, like their arch rival Arnett Gardens, have a large community fan base and at times the coach comes in for verbal abuses, but the new man at the helm is not perturbed.
"In my coaching career, I have been with Waterhouse and Olympic and you can't get much more pressure than that. I have not been exposed to a coaching job where there is no pressure. I have survived and survived quite well," said Fitzgerald. "All the teams that I have been to have managed to improve on their performance."
