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Jamaal Shabazz and Wayne Dover secure two-year contracts with GFF
– duo aiming to create new achievements going forward
By Franklin Wilson
Back for their third fulltime stint as a team, Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz
Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz makes a point during the press conference in the presence of Assistant Coach Wayne Dover (right) and other GFF officials
and Assistant Coach Wayne Dover were yesterday presented to the media as two of the main Technical strategists responsible for charting the way forward for Guyana’s Senior Men’s and Olympic teams.
In announcing the appointments, Chairman of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalization Committee (NC), Clinton Urling remarked that Shabazz and Dover are no strangers to the football landscape.
Their appointments follows the one-off arrangement for the February 1st, 2015 friendly international against Barbados which ended 2-2 in the Land of the Flying Fish and also formed
Jamaal Shabazz signs on the dotted line to make the 2-year-contract official.
part of the evaluation process according to Urling to assess Shabazz as well as to get feedback from the players.
Shabazz and Dover will be working in tandem with Technical Director Claude Bolton who commenced a four year contract with the GFF in January this year. They {Shabazz and Dover} will have responsibility for the Senior Men’s and Olympic Under-23 teams.
The Senior Men’s team will be preparing for the CONCACAF Preliminary Competition for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 – Guyana is to start their campaign in June against St. Vincent & the Grenadines – while the Olympic Under-23 Team is expected to commence their campaign later this year.
Shabazz, a native of Trinidad and Tobago previously held similar positions with the GFF from 2005 – 2008 and 2011 – 2012 with Dover also being his assistant during those stints.
Shabazz stated his pleasure in being back noting that he is satisfied he has made the right decision.
“For me it’s always and exciting moment to pick up a new challenge. One of the things Coach Dover and I have discussed is that we are happy for the work we have done in the past but we are now ready to move on. Now is a new time, a feeling of desire and need and feeling to accomplish new things and try to push the programme further than it went before.”
He also noted that he and Dover are very motivated to work, noting, accepting that there will be challenges but they have time in the two years to work with the Technical Director Claude Bolton and other coaches as a united front in order to succeed.
Dover in his comments also thanked the NC for the opportunity to contribute to Guyana’s development and the process of rebuilding the game.
“This is a new era, always as a coach you have to look forward to the new stint that you are embarking on. I will do my best in helping this nation.”
The immediate task of the duo and staff will be to name a squad for the March 22 international friendly against St. Lucia set for the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. Shabazz informed that that squad will be named by mid next week. He also said that there are two Canadian based players already here in Guyana training with Alpha United who are quality players.
Technical Director Claude Bolton commented that he does not think that Guyana has appointed the best Head Coach here but it is the best appointment in the Caribbean region.
Quizzed on how the NC intends to offset the salaries for Shabazz and Dover, Urling said that while the GFF is heavily indebted they have been able to draw down on some bonus funds from FIFA which is just enough to pay the salaries of the duo.
Meanwhile, the new Assistant Secretary of the GFF Ms. Deidre Davis was also introduced to the media; she commenced duties on February 24. Condolences were extended on behalf of the GFF and the NC to the families and relatives of the late Mervyn ‘Pug’ Wilson (former U-19 player and National Coach) and Compton Julian (former National Player) who both passed away recently.
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