Stewart: It would be a great folly to continue with Hall
Published:Tuesday | March 29, 2022 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Former national assistant coach Bradley Stewart believes it would be a mistake to continue with Paul Hall as coach of the Reggae Boyz following their 4-0 drubbing by Canada in Concacaf World Cup qualifying at the BMO Stadium in Canada on Sunday.
Hall, who took over as interim coach after Theodore Whitmore was sacked last December, has not won any of his six matches in charge, with one draw being his best result.
“Coaching is about getting the required results. If you are doing certain things, it will ultimately lead to better results in games.
“This coach has not got any result that we can be proud of. I am not impressed and it would be a great folly to hire a coach who cannot win a game, even though he says winning is not his primary goal,” Stewart commented.
He added that there is no confidence that the 49-year-old Hall has the capacity to deliver on the promises he has been making.
“He talks a lot and we listen because we hope that some of the things he talks will make sense. As supporters we read what the coach says out of respect but we have lost a lot of respect for him. He says he has been given a job to take over from the previous coach who they claim was failing but he is failing worse than the previous coach,” Stewart said.
Humble Lion coach Andrew Price said Hall was always going to have an uphill task, and does not think Sunday’s result will have a significant bearing on his long-term future.
Price reasoned that Sunday’s game was always going to be tough against a Canadian team on the brink of qualification, in very cold conditions in Toronto.
However, he said it will be up to the technical committee to assess his performance over the period before deciding if they should persist with the England-born former Reggae Boy.
“They (Canada) knew they only needed a draw and there were thousands of people at the BMO Stadium chanting for Canada. So we were definitely up against it and it was not our strongest team.
“The weather conditions played a big part in the result. The local players would not have been privileged to play in that sort of weather. So it was very trying conditions and I thought the Canadian team used their advantage to great effect,” he said.
Nevertheless, he thinks the federation will be looking beyond Sunday’s result to see if Hall is the right man to take the team forward.
“I do not think the result will have any bearing on whether they decide to hire him or not. He has been given the job for a certain period of time and he is expected to perform.
“But the Jamaica Football Federation and the technical committee must do the assessment and decide if he is the right man for the job,” Price said.
Jamaica complete their Concacaf World Cup qualification fixtures tomorrow against Honduras at the National Stadium. Kick-off time is 8 p.m.