‘I want to get rid of all of them,’ says Speid
The departure of two of his young guns, Jamoi Topey and Nicque Daley, to overseas clubs have really put a dent in the title chances of Cavalier.
But Technical Director Rudolph Spied said they are not really interested in winning the league, but looking at the bigger picture.
Both players left the island last week for North and South America. The towering defender Topey is off to United Soccer League team Bethlehem Steel in the United States of America on a one-year loan, while the powerful striker Daley has joined Chile’s top flight club Colo-Colo for a six-week trial.
Both Topey and Daley were part of Jamaica’s National Under-20 team that performed creditably at the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, and were integral as Cavalier pushed for their first premier league title since the 1980-81 season.
“It’s pure good. I want to get rid of all of them. I don’t see any bad. My intention is never to win this league; if it comes, we take it. But if I have everybody we could, but now there is a little doubt,” Speid told the Jamaica Observer.
Cavalier lost 0-1 to champions and leaders Portmore United on Sunday and are sitting third on 45 points. They are in a position to make the play-off which involves the top six teams. They are 10 points ahead of the seventh-placed team Tivoli Gardens with seven games remaining.
Last season, after 33 games, Cavalier had 48 points and entered the play-off as the sixth best team and were knocked out by Portmore United.
This season they have improved leaps and bounds and are actually being touted as genuine title-contenders to dethrone Portmore United with a cadre of young, talented players. But Topey and Daley’s departure have come as a major setback.
“Topey, as you know, was really one of, if not the best centre half in the country and the premier league. And what makes him unique is that he was not just a centre half, he was a triple threat — a goal-scoring centre half,” Speid noted.
“Topey has scored more goals than a lot of strikers. He has three goals and he was always near to scoring a next one. He was a goalscoring centre half; his calmness and passing ability is like a midfielder, so he will be missed,” he reiterated.
Topey had three goals, with Cavalier’s top scorer being Alex Marshall with eight goals. Arnett Gardens’ Fabian Reid and Calarado Murray of Tivoli Gardens are on top with 10 goals each.
Speid continued: “Then Nicque is probably one of the best closers as a super sub. He is one of the best. So that’s what we will miss from Nicque. So losing these two, it’s gonna cost us.”
It doesn’t stop there, Cavalier could lose more talented players with scouts and agents sniffing around and enquiring.
“But our cupboards not bare because the people who we putting in now is Dwayne Atkinson, Shaniel Thomas, Ronaldo Webster and Javel Coley. We have those replacements line up for those spots. It’s not gloom and doom. These are top talents that can do the business, not as well because of inexperience, but they can do the business,” said Speid.