Lenny Hyde embarks on mission to rescue lame Lion
IT’S now official. Lenworth Hyde Snr is the new head coach of Digicel Premier League (DPL) outfit Humble Lion FC.
The three-time Premier League winning coach yesterday committed what is expected to be “the next one to two years” of his career to the Clarendon side by symbolically shaking hands with club chairman Mike Henry, also meeting other officials and players at the club’s headquarters in Effortville.
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This development brings to an end weeks of speculation that Hyde, who won titles with Portmore United, Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens — would indeed succeed Christopher Bender under whose guidance Humble Lion have struggled to find form this season.
The club, which is in its second season of top-flight football, currently sits at the bottom of the 12-team DPL standings on one point following four defeats and one draw.
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Speaking to Sporting World on Thursday night, Henry said Hyde’s appointment is expected to reverse their early season misfortune.
“…I thought he was the best available coach in terms of the issues that the clubs face, which is not scoring despite having a lot of ball possession, and his specialty is to train players to convert their chances into goals. He’s also a person who I think will set tasks and see that they are carried out.
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“He’s coached winning teams before and I’m giving him a fairly free-hand… to move the team from just a community structure into full professionalism,” Henry said.
The Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon also confirmed that Hyde, whose immediate goal must now be to lift the team from its current slumber, will be taking his long-standing assistant coach Max Straw with him to Clarendon.
Goalkeeping coach Clive ‘Spiderman’ Wedderburn also joins Hyde’s coaching team, which also includes Under-21 coach Linval ‘Palla’ Wilson.
Straw, who is presently the coach of demoted Premier League outfit August Town, formed a winning partnership with Hyde at Harbour View in 2006/2007 and proved that it was no fluke by repeating the feat a season later at Tivoli Gardens.
Henry said their directive at Effortville will pretty much be the same, promising that they will have all the freedom needed to do their job.
“His mandate is exactly what we have discussed, which is to be the champion and the way the game is going right now nobody seems to be dominating,” he said.
“We have been losing games because we give up a late or early goal, so I think we can do well with the experience that we have, but I’ll leave it to the coach to sort out.”
Meanwhile, Henry said Bender’s departure from the club was an amicable one, adding that he still has the utmost respect for him as a professional.
“(The spilt) was very professional and I admire him overall for that. I have always discussed issues that relate to soccer with him and where I want Humble Lion to go,” Henry said.
“And I’m not saying that this is an option, but football is a business and the club may need people to scout. The point is, I have not closed the door on anyone who has helped to make the club what it is.”
Bender, a former national women’s coach, was drafted in by Henry upon the team’s qualification to the Premier League last season, and in his first term in charge helped them to stave-off relegation and he also guided them to the final of the Flow All-Island Knockout Championship.
Since that time, the club has dominated the transfer market by signing approximately 18 players, which include high-profile campaigners Shawn Sawyers (former national goalkeeper), his brother, Tyrone; Roberto Fletcher, Denzil Watson, Zico Herrera, Loxley Thomas, Narado Brown, Kirk Duckworth and Cornelius Henry.
But despite having those players in their line-up, the club showed no signs of meeting Henry’s lofty expectations of a top-four finish.
“He (Bender) felt that the players weren’t carrying out the instructions that he gave and I have to go by that,” Henry noted.
For his part, Hyde — who is no stranger to Clarendon, having starred as a daCosta Cup player for Clarendon College under guidance of the legendary Winston Chun-Fah during the 1970s — said it’s a wonderful feeling to be back in the parish where he played most of his youth football.
“It’s like a dream come through seen that I played here for most of my school life,” said the man, who is known to his peers as ‘Teacher’.
“This is where people started to know about Lenny Hyde, so it’s good to come back and pass on the knowledge to the players who are from the community.”
Speaking about the make-up of the squad, the former national player said “it’s an excellent team”, declaring that his intention is to win the league.
“I’m very confident that with the calibre of players I see here we can win the league and that’s what I have to instill in them because they have to believe that they can do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Straw said he’s still the coach of August Town and will be seeing how best he can double his effort to great effect at both clubs.
He said taking on a club at the bottom of the table is a new challenge for them, but said they are prepared to give it their all.
“We have never taken a club which is at the bottom of the table, but we have done some homework and we feel that we can do something, so we are going to try our best to lift them out of this quagmire,” the former Arnett Gardens coach said.
Goalkeeper and team captain Shawn Sawyers, who also won the Premier League title with Hyde at Portmore, endorsed the reunion, noting that his (Hyde) experience as a player and a top coach will no doubt motivate the players.
Sawyers, who joined the club late last season, said it was unfortunate that Bender had to go because he’s a good coach, but was just unable to inspire the players to achieve their full potential.
“I think it’s a good move, Bender wasn’t doing a bad job, but I think the players weren’t responding to him,” the former national goalkeeper said.
“Coach Lenny is an ex-player and he knows how to get across to the players a little better, so I think that will help us.”
