Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore FIRED
News broke about Tappa’s sacking back in November after the Reggae Boyz drew 1-1 with the United States of America, however, the JFF at the moment rubbished such claims and outlined that a decision was not made. The rumour was debased by the President of the JFF, Michael Ricketts who said that the claims are only based on speculation, since the public was aware of the meeting last night between the 7 members of the technical committee, to converse about the Reggae Boyz performance in the current World Cup qualifier games.
Fast forward almost a month later, new reports from the Jamaica Football Federation according to The Jamaica Gleaner is that coach Whitmore has been fired. The story is still developing and it’s unclear who will be the next manager for the Boyz.
Earlier reports suggested that Tappa would have been replaced by Ricky Hill while former Reggae Boy Paul Hall remains as an assistant coach, however, Ricky Hill in a tweet stated otherwise. Where it concerns Ricky Hill, the JFF president also earlier said there was no truth to the speculations. Ricky Hill and the JFF had an agreement in March of last year, which saw him getting the role of overseeing the developments of players between the ages of 15-17 which is aimed at saving and building gifted players, that’s it.
Back in November, Reggae Boy Ravel Morrison defended Tappa against a tweet requesting his sacking. A fan tweeted, “Tappa to be sacked,” Reval replied stating that, “Makes no sense to sack tappa,” highlighting that the last two matches were the best so far for the Boyz and that they were “unlucky to not take maximum point out of both games.”
49-year-old Whitmore who was a legendary player for Jamaica started coaching the Reggae Boyz back in 2007, he stepped down once and was reassigned as the head coach not long after.
Check out “Tappa” Whitmore’s Managerial record by team and tenure below.
Jamaica now has 6 more remaining games to play, 2 matches away and the other 4 at home.
At this point, the Reggae Boyz hold 6th place in the team standings with 7 points behind Costa Rica with 9, Panama and Mexico with 14, The United States with 15 and Canada who leads the group with 16 points.
At the bottom of the table are El Salvador and Honduras with 6 and 3 points respectively. Following the remaining games in the qualifiers, the top 3 teams will qualify automatically to the World Cup Finals, while the team in 4th position will gain an opportunity to qualify for the competition by way of an intercontinental playoff.
