JFF puts ball back in Tappa’s court
Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts has placed the proverbial ‘ball’ back in Theodore Whitmore’s court, having asked him to reconsider withdrawing the resignation letter he tendered last Friday.
He is now awaiting a response.
But in the meantime Whitmore’s assistant Jerome Waite will be asked to assume the head coach role for Jamaica’s two international friendlies on April 26 and 29 against St Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda, respectively.
Last Friday Whitmore emailed his resignation after months of protracted discussions over an improved salary package, among other concerns.
President Ricketts, along with chairman of the finance committee, Peter Reid; chairman of the Technical Committee, Everton Tomlinson; chairman of competitions committee Gregory Daley, as well as Vice-president Bruce Gaynor and General Secretary Dalton Wint were all in attendance at yesterday’s meeting.
“We had a real fulsome discussion, and I called “Tappa” while the meeting was in progress and I asked of him if this is what he really wants to do, and his response was it was done out of frustration,” Ricketts told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
Ricketts revealed that the ball is now in Whitmore’s court, and the JFF patiently awaits his response.
“I said to him, since you had submitted a letter of resignation I am going to give you the option whether to withdraw your letter or if you wanted the letter to go through,” Ricketts noted.
The JFF boss also revealed that he got an invitation from the Minister of Sports Olivia Grange regarding a possible solution to the situation.
“The minister of sports wants to be a mediator and she has indicated her willingness to meet with me and then with us, probably before the weekend, then we will take it from there,” he added.
With Whitmore not available Ricketts said he would ask Waite to coach the team for those two games in his absence, and Whitmore agreed.
“As it relates to the games in the eastern Caribbean, I told him (Whitmore) that since he has resigned I would ask his deputy, Jerome Waite, even though I haven’t told Jerome Waite yet. I said it to him that I wanted to talk with him tomorrow (Tuesday) and he agrees that is the right thing to do,” Ricketts said.
“So after we come back, whatever he decides to do, hopefully we will have an amicable settlement, and so we will just give him some time to think about it and then he will tell us,” said the president.
“Tappa has always been very cordial, he has never been confrontational and contrary to what some people say, he and I have a very decent relationship. He is always respectful and that has not changed even today when we spoke, he was very respectful in his responses and we just waiting on him to say what he has decided to do after thinking about it,” reiterated Ricketts.