Lenny Taylor is the best Technical Director to have served St Kitts-Nevis since the FA started employing overseas personnel. He made it clear from the outset that his focus was going to be on the youth. He recognized that this position was not going to last a lifetime and therefore his aim was to develop the coaching stock and the youth to build a solid foundation for the future. Unlike others before him, Taylor trained over 70 local coaches in the Federation. His point was that these coaches would go back to their communities and clubs and impart the knowledge and skills they had acquired to aspiring players in their developing stage. With that training, these coaches now had the opportunity to further their coaching education and move up to higher levels.

Having noticed his involvement with the national senior team, I had a problem with him being Technical Director and doubling up as Head Coach. I believe that was his fatal flaw. My view is that he should have developed the programmes and overseen their implementation at all levels. At the youth level, he did just that. In the U15 competition that I observed, Pedreaux, et al, ran the team from the bench and he stood in the stands and assessed the performance of both the team and the coaches. He made copious notes, then delivered his opinion during the breaks and after the game.

The FA should have appointed a head coach for our national senior team; just like the various youth teams, and allowed Lenny Taylor to be a true Technical Director.

Many criticized his youth policy, but to be fair to him, he did not have much to choose from in terms of experienced players. A couple of them had sour relationships with the FA and hence were “unavailable” for selection; a primary player had a disciplinary situation pending. There were others, in my view, who were of age to compete for places on the team, but had various reasons for not competing, such as fear of drug testing, work situations, and “superstar syndrome” (players who felt offended if they played only five minutes), and so did not return to the squad.

The only area where Mr Taylor lost marks in my book, was in using players from overseas. I believe that he did not have enough time to properly evaluate those players, so we had players from overseas on the squad who were no better than the local stock. My view is that if we can’t get players of the same caliber as Micah Richards (Manchester City), Callum Willock, or Sagi Burton (who are all clearly a cut above the rest), then they should be left where they are and our own local players should be used.

Fortunately we are at a juncture where the FA has realized that the emphasis must be placed on strong grass roots programmes in order for us to improve. The U13 is now on stream and once we find the correct persons to build and maintain this momentum, I assure you that the results in the near future will be far better than what we now have.

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