Another Shot At Club Football For Ex-Reggae Boy
Jobi McAnuff, a former Jamaican international, has signed a one-year extension as player/coach with London-based Leyton Orient.
The 38-year-old, captain of the English League Two team, is keen to bounce back from this injury-ravaged season that has restricted him to just one appearance – as a substitute against Mansfield Town.
On the club’s website McAnuff is quoted as saying: “I’ve got a lot of work again to get to the level I want to get to. I don’t just want to be a bit part or be here for the ride, I want to contribute, that’s a big, big thing for me.”
The London-born midfielder, who last represented Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz in 2016, is in his second spell with Leyton Orient and helped them win promotion from non-league during the 2018-19 season.
He qualified to play for the Boyz through his Jamaica-born father and kicked off his international career against Nigeria in the 2002 Unity Cup exhibition game held in London, appearing as a 55th-minute substitute for winger Omar Daley.
But McAnuff was constantly overlooked by Jamaica for international duty until 2013, when he was plying his trade with Reading in the English Championship. He had been spotted by scouts who were monitoring club team-mates Adrian Mariappa and Garath McCleary, and went on to make 32 appearances for the Boyz.
As part of the Jamaican squad that captured the 2014 Caribbean Cup on home soil, slotting home a penalty in the shootout at the Montego Bay Sports Complex after the final ended goalless against Trinidad & Tobago, he also made appearances in the trio of Jamaica’s group game at the 2016 Copa América in the United States.
McAnuff’s international career may have been curtailed, but he has one more shot at club football with Leyton Orient. He enthused: “I’m absolutely delighted to get it [contract] all done, and stay at the club for at least another year.”
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