TUCKER, St James – For the second straight season, Dr Dean Weatherly has been asked to guide Montego Bay United (MBU) through the last few games of the Red Stripe Premier League and the play-offs, after coach Carlos Garcia was relieved of his position on Monday, a day after a 2-1 loss to Cavalier at Wespow Park.

Garcia, who was the fifth coach to take over the club in their four years in the Red Stripe Premier League, had led them to within a point of qualifying for the semi-finals, winning 14 of their 31 games played, and got the club to the finals of the Flow Champions Cup Knock-out competition, where they lost 3-4 to Reno FC.

MBU are currently in third place on 52 points and seem set to qualify for the semi-finals of the RSPL.

Last season, Weatherly came to the rescue of the club, guiding them through the last four games of the regular season and into the semi-finals where they knocked out then defending champions Harbour View, then beat Waterhouse in the finals.

Donovan Duckie had started the season as the coach, but left midway the second round before Pastor Hugh

Solomon took over for seven games before he too left for an overseas assignment.

Orville Powell, the president of MBU, confirmed with Jamaica Observer West late Tuesday that the Spaniard Garcia had been relieved of his responsibilities and Weatherly would be taking over.

“We have been watching him [Garcia] since [January] and we saw where the team has not been playing well, the team is not fit and gets tired in the late stages of games,” said Powell, who also questioned decisions made by the coach.

“We had to do this now to shake up the team,” he said.

Garcia declined an invitation by the Observer West to comment on the matter, saying that he would not say anything until the club makes an official statement.

Meanwhile, Weatherly is expected to leave with the team for Haiti next week for the first round of the

Caribbean Football Union Club championships, where they will face America FC of Haiti, SV Excelsior of Suriname and Club Sportif of Guadeloupe, between April 15 and 19.

Meanwhile, the RSPL will take a break to accommodate both MBU and Waterhouse, which will be playing their CFU games in Trinidad at the same time.