Sports
July 28, 2006

Carrington ready again with his blueprint for success

Sammy Carrington, the man who guided St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the second round of the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers has renewed interest in this country’s football development.

In explaining his renewed interest in the post, Carrington said, “We need to put a structure in place”.

The structure he proposes is contained in an 80-page document prepared by him named “2018 – A

Dream Team – A Blueprint for Success”.{{more}}

Carrington hopes his comprehensive developmental model will see this country qualifying for World Cup 2018.

He proposes a developmental package from age eight to senior national level.

“This proposal is about football development for the entire country,” Carrington disclosed.

Carrington presented his proposal to the executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) last Saturday, at the meeting of the General Council.

Carrington, a Vincentian national residing in the USA, has been the football coach of the St. Francis College in New York for the past 13 years.

“We have a lot of talent here, but there must be development,” Carrington observed.

He left the post of Technical Director in August 2000, after failing to procure a three-year contract with the executive led by Louis Daisley.

President of the SVGFF St. Claire Leacock at last Saturday’s meeting acknowledged Carrington’s proposal and indicated his body’s intent to study it.

Leacock hinted that Carrington could be working alongside current technical director Zoran Vranes.

Vranes’ income has come in for harsh criticism recently in some quarters. Leacock in defending his executive’s decision to pay Vranes US$6,000 per month plus other benefits stated that “coaching is not cheap”.

Vranes, from Serbia Montenegro, took over in September 2004, following the firing of the Technical Director Cess Podd and Head Coach Aide Shaw.

A trail of technical directors has been employed in this country’s four World Cup ventures.

Brazilian Jorge Ramos was summoned in 1992, after local coach Elliot Millington had taken the team to the group stages.

In 1996, another Vincentian Adolphus Davis got the boot, in preference to Trinidad and Tobago’s Bertille St. Claire, with Jamaican/American Lennie Taylor succeeding Carrington in 2000. British-born Jim Conway punctuated with a six-month stint in 1999.

St. Claire with his resumé enhanced, took charge of Trinidad and Tobago during the most part of the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers.

Taylor too has moved on, and is the current Technical Director of the St. Kitts/Nevis Football Association.