‘NO PRESSURE!’
MOUNT Pleasant Football Academy Head Coach Theodore Whitmore says he never felt any pressure to perform after taking the job at the start of the season.
Whitmore, a former national senior men’s football team head coach, guided Mount Pleasant to its first Jamaica Premier League title, and the first for the parish of St Ann, in a 2-1 victory over Cavalier at Sabina Park on Sunday night.
Although Whitmore has experienced coaching at the international level, some sceptics argued that he had to win the title quickly because of the strength of Mount Pleasant’s squad and the money and resources invested in it by club owners Peter and Amanda Gould.
But Whitmore says he was always unconcerned about public opinion, even after criticism towards the end of his time with Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz.
“There was no pressure whatsoever,” Whitmore told the Jamaica Observer. “Sometimes we talk about pressure, but for someone coming from the national programme to a club team — come on now,” he said with a chuckle. “There’s no pressure.”
Whitmore said he also did not take the job to re-establish his name, as he never felt he needed to.
“Theodore Whitmore will always be Theodore Whitmore, regardless of what people want to say,” he said. “I’ve never had anything to prove. I have a job to do, 110 per cent. I have nothing to prove to anybody — no one.”
Whitmore describes winning the JPL as a great feeling as his hard work and planning worked out.
“It’s something we set out over a couple of months,” he said. “First we had an objective, and we did it in stages. We wanted to qualify for the play-offs — whether we finished first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth — then the semi-final, then the final. And we met those objectives. The Goulds said they wanted to play in the Concacaf Champions Cup. If you look at Mr Gould you’ll see how elated he is about being in the Caribbean Cup.”
But those objectives went further, as Peter Gould says.
“Our objective was to be here tonight and to pick the trophy up, so it’s bang on plan,” he told the Observer.
“It makes me feel proud, really proud. I’m enjoying the moment, reeling in the moment. We just picked the cup up, we’ve got the league. The kids, it’s all about the kids. We’ll get more kids in the academy and we’ll build Jamaican football.”
The top three teams from the Caribbean Cup will move on to the 16-team Champions Cup, based on Concacaf’s revamped format of its Champions League.
Whitmore promises more success for the club and the parish.
“This is just one of many,” he said. “First time in the Premier League, winning, creating history, bringing the trophy to St Ann.
“It’s not about history,” he said. “We want to leave a legacy in St Ann, not just tonight alone. We’re gonna bring more trophies to St Ann.”
To do this, Gould is already thinking about the squad’s depth for next season.
“We’ve got to strengthen,” he said. “We’ll lose players, maybe three or four players, but many people want to come to the club.”