Price predicts quick return of Boys’ Town to RSPL
Following Boys’ Town’s relegation from the Red Stripe Premier League on Sunday, head coach Andrew Price is hoping for a speedy return to top flight football.
Boys’ Town, who won the premier league in 1984, 1986 and 1989, are currently at the bottom of the 12-team table on 17 points with five games remaining, hence their relegation since they cannot surpass the 10th-placed team Humble Lion on 33 points.
The ‘Red Brigade’ crashed 0-2 to Portmore United on Sunday, then had to wait nervously as Humble Lion scored a 90th minute goal to beat Harbour View 1-0 and moved out of their grasp.
It was heart-wrenching because had Craig Foster not found the net in the dying minutes for Humble Lion, Boys’ Town would still be alive in the premier league and fighting to the bitter end. Instead, they are now planning for life outside of the premier league with at least five weeks remaining.
“We have to regroup, restructure, look at new players. It’s a whole revamping,” Price told Jamaica Observer yesterday.
“We wouldn’t be the first team that has been relegated and then find a way back to the premier league a season after. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to look at a different direction,” he added.
In 28 games Boys’ Town managed to secure just three wins, drawn eight games and lost 17 times. They managed to score 19 goals while conceding a whopping 49 times, a sure recipe for disaster.
“When you look at the season, I don’t think we did enough to avoid relegation. To win three matches throughout the season is definitely a horrendous performance and we just weren’t good enough this season,” Price explained.
Boys’ Town, formed in 1940 and the producer of some of Jamaica’s best footballers, will be playing parish football next season after 12 years in the top flight football since returning in the 2005/06 season.
They finished second in 2010/2011 season by four points to Tivoli Gardens, then were runners-up to Portmore United in the 2011/2012 season by one point.
Price was a player on the Boys’ Town team that was relegated in 1994, and he returned as coach and took them back to the premier league in the 2005/06 season.
The former St George’s College Manning Cup winner remains steadfast that his beloved team will be back in the premier league in short order.
“I don’t think so. We have a good core of Under-17 and Under-20 players that have been matriculating over the last two years and we believe that it will be a good foundation for them in the Super League to get their feet adopted to the competitive nature of the Premier League, and I believe we will be able to come back in one season,” predicted Price.
“We don’t have the type of finances that a lot of the other clubs in the premier league have and as a result of that it doesn’t enable us the type of background training that we would have wanted going into the premier league — gym work and the whole nutrition part of it,” he explained.
“We just have to retool, regroup and see how we address those situations going forward,” said Price.
But Price is also mindful of the exodus of players which might make their return to top flight football even more difficult.
“There maybe a migration but I believe we have enough talent from the Under-20 and Under-17 to compete in the Super League. A lot of players have already committed that they will help the club get back to premier league,” he noted.
Over the last few seasons, Boys’ Town had to play their home games away from Collie Smith Drive, something which Price believed also attributed to their demise.
“The 12th man is always very important, especially down at Collie Smith Drive, and a lot of the games that we lost by the odd goal are games that we could have won had they been played at Collie Smith Drive,” he pointed out.