President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde said yesterday that the federation has not held contract discussions with Golden Jaguars head-coach Jamaal Shabazz.
Following Guyana’s 2-4 loss to Jamaica in the third round of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Cup Qualifiers, Shabazz had expressed his desire to step down as head coach, a position he has held twice before his third coming in 2015.
In an invited comment with Stabroek Sports, Forde said: “The coach [Shabazz] has taken some time off and when he returns we will discuss the way forward.”
Following the hiring of Englishman Ian Greenwood as the nation’s new Technical Director Forde, asked what steps would be taken to arrive at a new coach declared: “The GFF has not taken any decision on the future of the national team.
“It is early days. We have a lot of time between the next competitive engagement for the nation so we will take our time and make a good decision.
“The Technical Director will be putting together a comprehensive plan for the national team. The intention is to keep the team as active as financially possible and be consistent with the programme the TD is putting in place.”
Meanwhile, according to pundits, the early favourite for the post in an interim capacity amongst the local contingent is current assistant national coach Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover. Dover, who is also the head coach for national heavyweights Alpha United, has previously held the position and is very experienced having been an understudy to Shabazz in each of his stints.
Additionally, the most recent local coach to take the reins of the senior program was Denzil Thompson, who marshalled the Golden Jaguars featuring predominantly locally based players at the 2014 CFU Caribbean Cup qualifiers.
That team was eliminated from the first round of the tournament, with a record of two losses and a draw.
