Boris leaves Waterhouse in limbo

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Digicel Premier League (DPL) leaders Waterhouse Football Club may be going into this Sunday's end-of-round final against Tivoli Gardens without a head coach as Boris Johnson has reportedly left the job after less than six months at the helm.

However, club chairman Bruce Bicknell says neither he nor club president Ricardo Chin has received a letter of resignation from the coach. "Frankly, I hope that he hasn't," Bicknell said.

Johnson was promoted to the head coach position after the club fired former coach Jeffrey Maxwell, who led the club to a third-place finish in the DPL last season. Maxwell was fired on June 10 with immediate effect. He was reportedly at philosophical odds with club president Ricky Chin over the future direction of the club.

Chin said then that following Maxwell's departure that the club was now on a path to develop the young players of the club and the current coaching panel that included Johnson will create a philosophy to ensure that principle is realised. However, according to sources, Johnson had been having serious concerns about the operations of the club since the very beginning of his tenure.

Some of those concerns reportedly involved players not being paid on time and the lack of equipment. Sources also said that Johnson had tendered his resignation more than a month ago and was to take effect in mid-October but he was asked to stay on. Bicknell refuted those reports. He said given the tough financial times, the club recently offered everyone on staff 75 per cent of their salaries with the assurance that they would receive the balance within a week. The club chairman said everyone appreciated the fact that the offer was made.

Losses

Despite the problems, however, Johnson led the club to the top of the DPL after 10 matches. The club has 25 points from eight wins, two losses and a draw. The club is three points ahead of Tivoli Gardens and five ahead of Boys' Town.

Waterhouse have a nine-point lead over defending champions Harbour View which are currently sixth in the standings.

Repeated calls to club president Ricky Chin went unanswered. During one attempt, a woman answered and advised that Mr Chin was in a meeting. She was unable to say when the meeting would end but assured that she would pass on the message.

'He said given the tough financial times, the club recently offered everyone on staff 75 per cent of their salaries with the assurance that they would receive the balance within a week.'