Unity Cup Provides Rehearsal to Bag Jamaica Hot-Seat

Two former English-born Reggae Boyz have to play waiting game as interim coaching staff are given another shot to prove their worth in London.

Rudolph Speid leads the four-way race to take over as permanent head coach of Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz this summer, but the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) look as though they need some persuading.

Speid and his assistant Miguel Coley, who failed to book a 2026 World Cup finals slot by losing 1-0 to DR Congo in March’s FIFA Inter-Continental Play-Offs, are back in charge of the Boyz on a temporary basis.

While former Jamaica defenders Michael Johnson and Darren Moore are currently also on the JFF’s shortlist, a broader choice of applicants would undoubtably be more appealing.

The English pair will have to wait to see how Speid fares when tackling the four-team Unity Cup this month. The Boyz face unfancied India in the semi-final on May 27 (7.30pm), with the winner returning to Charlton Athletic’s The Valley ground three days later for a shot at glory against either defending champions Nigeria or minnows Zimbabwe.

The pairing of Speid-Coley, initially called up as an interim solution following the resignation of ex-England manager Steve McClaren last November, were given a simplistic task by the JFF but failed.

After Jamaica missed out on an automatic berth to this summer’s prestigious World Cup finals under McClaren, the Boyz were handed a lifeline with the Inter-Continental Play-Offs Tournament in Mexico.

Speid, who became the technical advisor to flop McClaren, warmed up for Mexico with low-key and unconvincing friendly triumphs at Grenada (1-0) and in Martinique (2-0) this year.

Despite a tense 1-0 success over minnows New Caledonia in Mexico, the Boyz showed much more fighting spirit to only fall 1-0 to out-of-sorts DR Congo in extra time but miss out on a World Cup finals berth.

The contract for the Speid-Coley pairing expired after that game. The JFF have been surprisingly cautious about who to appoint on a permanent basis, and with very few options have tempted to get the duo back at the helm as an experimental trial run for their suitability.

Although there’s been the usual plethora of interest in the role, which has frequently been filled by numerous highly-rated coaches from overseas that taste failure, the JFF seem to be hedging their bets by handing the reins to Speid-Coley for the Unity Cup.

This is the pair’s second shot, having only conceded one goal in their four matches at the helm this year. Although they did only play DR Congo as a highly-competitive team, with three relatively easy games.

Jamaica’s set-up for the Unity Cup also includes Arsenal U16 coach Michael Donaldson (second assistant coach), Aaron Lawrence (goalkeeping coach) and Lamar Morgan (fitness coach).

Defeating India, who will be heavily supported by their vociferous fans, should be straightforward for Jamaica. A repeat of last year’s Unity Cup final, unless Zimbabwe stun Nigeria, appears to be on the cards at The Valley for May 30 (7.30pm ko).

Unless there’s a shocking slip-up against underdogs India or the Super Eagles smash Jamaica, then Johnson and Moore will stand little chance of usurping Speid or Coley for the coveted head coach role.

Although Speid was originally coy about committing to another stint with the Boyz, following the slender defeat to DR Congo, the 64-year-old reignited interest and appears to be in pole position to land the job.

His sidekick Coley is also in the mix to take over, but he may not wish to relinquish his recent appointment as a head coach in Iraq aged 43.

With the JFF’s ultimate goal of qualifying for the highly lucrative 2030 World Cup finals, they remain open to applications for the foreseeable future. Although have former players Johnson and Moore keen to coach the Boyz, despite both being based in England and probably leaning towards bringing in British players with some Jamaican heritage.

Nottingham-born Johnson, who played 13 internationals between 1999 and 2003, was most recently an assistant manager of England U18 and U21 teams. He moved from these roles in late 2021 to briefly become sporting director at Limerick FC in Ireland.

He made the transition from versatile defender to youth team coach with the Notts County U18 squad in 2008. He was promoted to the club’s academy manager and spent a week as the first team caretaker manager.

Johnson returned to Birmingham City, where the fans had nicknamed him “Magic” during his playing days, as academy manager in 2012 before shifting to U18 assistant manager.

He moved to Cardiff City as U21 assistant manager in 2015 and got his big break as Guyana manager in June 2018.

Despite guiding the Golden Jaguars into their first-ever CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2019, drawing on his experience of representing Jamaica at the 2000 and 2003 Gold Cup competitions, Johnson resigned in August 2019. He achieved four wins but three defeats during his brief stint of eight matches.

Birmingham-born Moore, who surprisingly picked up just two caps for Jamaica in 1999 and 2000 respectively, is also no stranger to the dugout and prefers to stick to an eye-catching 3-5-2 formation.

The former defender hung up his boots in 2012, and two years later kicked off his coaching career as development coach at West Bromwich Albion.

He moved through the ranks to assistant manager, served as caretaker manager during their time in the English Premier League and spent 11 months as head coach.

Moore has since been manager at Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield Town and until last December was the Port Vale boss.

TUncategorizedhe JFF seem to be unconvinced by their four main candidates for the Jamaica head coach role, as they are allowing additional time in a bid to attract more applicants.

Although winning matches is paramount, which kicks off with this month’s Unity Cup, the JFF need to consistently reach lucrative tournaments like the Copa America and Gold Cup to finance their global hunt for players of Jamaican descent.

Success in the Caribbean Cup and CONCACAF Nations League means little compared to the JFF’s ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2030 World Cup finals.

The JFF have for years unsuccessfully tried to emulate their 1998 World Cup appearance by bolstering the squad with British-based players. It worked for France 1998, but the sport has evolved.

Bringing in Johnson or Moore, both aged 52, could be a recipe for disaster if these coaches become over reliant on Brits in the squad. At least Speid and Coley are familiar with the top players in Jamaica, so can scout from the domestic league and widen their net to North America rather than the UK.

The JFF have the Unity Cup as a dry run for Speid and Coley, but it seems that there’s hesitancy about their quartet of main candidates until there are additional choices available to lead the Reggae Boyz into a new era.

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