Henry wants to create Real Madrid-like structure at Humble Lions
EFFORTVILLE, Clarendon — Chairman of the Humble Lions Football Club Mike Henry said while he is pleased with his team’s progression in this season’s Digicel Premier League, he is not totally contented until they are at the top, and as such he is moving ahead with plans to transform the club into Jamaica’s Real Madrid.
“I am proud of it and I am proud of where we are now, but I am never satisfied until I am at the top,” said Henry, the Minister of Transportation and Works, on Sunday after his team gave a spirited performance to defeat league leaders Harbour View 1-0 and in the process overtook Arnett Gardens into ninth-place with 21 points, one more than Arnett.
Humble Lions, who are in their debut season of top flight football, have entertained all season with their hard-running and aggressive brand of football, but have not been able to get three points regularly, which many believe is as a result of them being new to the league.
They have, however, managed to put together five big victories, while drawing six games and losing nine from their 20 outings, thus far. Among the big-name teams that have felt the wrath of the Lions this season are Boys’ Town, Portmore United, who they defeated by 1-0 margins, and Rivoli United (2-1) at the Prison Oval.
And more victories could be on the card soon, as Henry said it has always been a passion of his to manage a football club, and now that he has the opportunity, he will be using his connections in high places to build a Real Madrid-like structure around his team.
He has already started by confirming that he has secured the services of four top players in local football with more to come. “I can confirm (Shawn) Sawyers, Cornelius Henry, Arjuran Brown and Denzil Watson, and that’s just off the top of my head. But, they are about seven players (plus) I’m signing a couple youngsters from the lower league too and I’m moving the Under-21 down and up, but I’m not releasing any of my players,” said Henry on Sunday.
He added: “Let’s put it this way, what I’m fashioning my club around is a Real Madrid structure, so the whole concept here is to develop on a community base too. A number of the players that I just spoke about… two of them are from Clarendon originally, so they are coming home so to speak.
“I am like Mr World Cup, my contacts go all the way to the highest level in FIFA and I have my contacts in those areas, so basically it’s been my love and sadly I had to replace the person who was taking the brunt of it earlier,” said the Member of Parliament for the Effortville community.
Henry said that he is now in the process of improving the facilities at the club, which he said, will be an annual thing.
“As you can see, shortly we will have lights and I’m pushing for membership now. We are looking for season tickets to put people in that stand over there,” he said pointing to the VIP area. “That is going to be exclusive for season ticket holders.
“Billboards will start to go up, so every year, there should be an improvement… the field need some improvement and I’m going to be working on that,” said Henry, who is a trained Historian.
And while he gave coach Christopher Bender a passing grade, he also pointed to the fact that he has recently added former national defender Linval “Pala” Wilson to the coaching department. Wilson, who is also the coach of Vere Technical daCosta Cup team, is currently the assistant to Bender and is in charge of the Under-21 team.
“He wouldn’t be in the job if I wasn’t satisfied up to this point, but we have strengthened the coaching staff,” replied Henry when asked if he was pleased with the coach’s performance so far.