The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is no haste to fill the vacant head coach position for the National senior team, the Golden Jaguars’ after parting ways with long-time serving Jamaal Shabazz, this is according to President of the GFF.
Since the Trinidadian-born contract expired at the end of 2016, there have been no indications as to who will take up the mantle since Guyana have international playing dates in the month of March.
According to Forde, “We are not hastily trying to replace the National coach, it is going to take some time but it is not going to stop us from participating in international tournaments; we have an assistant coach [Wayne Dover] and Technical Director [Ian Greenwood] who can guide that process in terms of the model in which we want to see the national team organize.”
Wayne Forde, President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF),
Shabazz who had close to 10 years of service to Guyana’s football, stepped down from the job in October 2016 after the Golden Jaguars were knocked out of the Caribbean Football Union Championships by the Jamaica Reggae
Former Golden Jaguars head coach Jamaal Shabazz
Boyz at the Leonora Stadium, West Coast Demerara.
The locals went down 2-4 in extra time to suffer the embarrassment of defeat on home turf and it seems the country will have to wait until May to know who will serve in the role but in the interim, the federation will be seeking to improve the current structure of the National team.
Forde stated, “It is likely to be filled in the beginning of the second quarter of 2017 but we want the new person to come into a structure and see what we have, bringing their own flavor but we need to improve the current structure we have.
Shabazz during the decade he has been at the helm of the Jaguars guided the team to two Caribbean Cup finals as well as the semi-final round of CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifiers for the 2014 finals, the biggest achievement for the country in World Cup history which began for Guyana in 1976. The 53 year-old was at the helm in leading Guyana to world prominence and a highest FIFA ranking of 86 in 2010. Shabazz who was recently appointed Head Coordinator of Technical Programmes for his homeland was always outspoken about the issues the country’s football fraternity endured.
Locally, former GFF Vice-President and current Chairman of the National Sports Commission Ivan Persaud has expressed interest in the position.
