I AM going to take a moment to thank Herb McKenley for his contribution to sports in Jamaica.

Well done, Herb, we will never forget you, and Jamaicans don't generally tend to forget the truly great ones.

With that aside, I am going to get back to my first love, football, and what I see as the possibility of an all-too-familiar mistake born out of ignorance rearing its ugly head.

Former Reggae Boy-turned-Premier League coach, Theodore Whitmore, recently coached the national team in two friendly internationals.

Speaking to a fellow journalist recently, I asked what he thought of Whitmore's joining the national programme in the capacity of a coach on a more permanent basis.

He intimated two things to me that made me almost sick.

First, he said he didn't agree with using 'Tappa' as coach of the national side. "Fine, tell me why?" was my response.

It was at this point that the gag of trying to hold back your insides hit me as he responded by saying corporate Jamaica would never sanction a move like that.

Equipped to be coach

He then went on to question whether or not 'Tappa' had the tools to be a national coach.

I don't know how good a coach Whitmore is, but I do know that Seba have looked like one of the few teams this season that is being coached.

What I also know is that players who have played at the highest level are revered worldwide as having a knowledge of the game that makes them ideal for coaching.

And in every country, except Jamaica, a former player becoming a coach is something that is welcomed.

I liked the idea of seeing 'Tappa' giving back to football at the highest level.

He might have much to learn and we won't be able to tell from the two games he was at the helm of the team if this is so.

What I can say, even before those two games, is that Jamaica needs new coaches.

We have been short of good coaches at the highest level for a long time and this might just be our opportunity to create at least one.

Whitmore as understudy

Whitmore

With that in mind, I am here and now advocating for Whitmore to be the understudy of whoever comes to coach the national team to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

And now that the churns of my disgust have subsided, I will respond to the first answer my colleague gave me in a more civilised manner than I would have first been tempted.

I am now asking, what does corporate Jamaica have to do with the decision of a coach?

Jamaica's last World Cup campaign was filled with rumours regarding the reason behind Carl Brown's sacking.

The rumour is, of course, that corporate Jamaica wanted to see an internationally renowned coach at the helm of Jamaica's football.

The rumour, and I think it was more than just a rumour, is that Brown, a local, did not fit the profile of a national coach.

That decision by the movers and shakers in our private sector might just have cost us another World Cup berth.

It is my sincerest hope they have bought into their 'Buy Jamaican' ad campaigns since that failed qualification bid and will realise that it is good for football if our coaches get the experience it takes to make it internationally.

I sincerely hope that corporate Jamaica will stand by the Reggae Boyz, no matter what decisions are taken or who runs the show, for the simple reason that their involvement is truly for the good of the game.

Send feedback to Paul-Andre. Walker@gleanerjm.com.