Leadership debacle

Since Christopher Williams stepped down as Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) chairman back in September of last year, the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) product has experienced some troubling times.

In five years, Williams significantly raised the profile of the JPL to become the number-one league in the Caribbean, with games televised across the world.

This season, the PFJL has struggled with financial and leadership issues.

Recently, Montego Bay United boss Yoni Epstein resigned as finance committee chairman, with Mount Pleasant owner Peter Gould leaving the same days later.

Williams’ replacement, Livingston Morrison, only lasted months in the role before he also jumped ship.

The post of chairman is currently being held, in the interim, by Waterhouse FC president Donovan White.

While there are calls from within the PFJL for Williams’ return, Harbour View Chairman Carvel Stewart is totally against the idea of an independent chairman.

Paul Christie, Mount Pleasant sporting director, believes Williams’ influence has been gravely missed.

Craig Butler, Chapelton Maroons technical director, insisted that Williams forces the buy-in of even those who want to deny progress, arguing that they should ‘beg’ him to return for the good of the product.

Stewart, though, insists that an independent chair in any sort of business is unheard of.

He pointed out that an independent chairman has no stake in the game or in clubs, and can walk away whenever he or she pleases.

“I walked away from what eventually became the PFJL because I didn’t agree that independent persons should be chairmen and members of the board, because they have no stakes in the game and they can walk away when they are ready.

“Chris wouldn’t walk away if he was a club owner chairman. He could not afford to walk away. He would have had too much money invested. So he would have had to bite his tongue and hold on and work even more,” he commented.

“We (club owners) cannot get up and say that we are done with this and we cannot be bothered because we have obligations, so we cannot walk away. An independent person can leave at any time. “

He said independent chairmen do not exist anywhere in the corporate world.

“I see no chairman of any big company that is independent. In a major company, when you look at the chairman, he is a major shareholder. All company chairmen in this country are major shareholders. Every one of them.

“And nowhere in the football world is the league headed by an independent chairman. Everyone is headed by a chairman of a football club and he is selected by the other chairmen of the clubs, who form the board. So all of them have their investment and money to lose.”

He admitted that Williams brought value, but that the value left with him, and, although he is all for a chairman from the clubs, he wants someone who is willing to take on the responsibilities the role demands.

“I do not blame Chris, because he was used by the people who set up the PFJL. He did his best but, if the value was here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation

“People need to be objective. Do not select a chairman from the clubs for show, somebody who wants status and appears to be powerful.

“Select a chairman who is going to do the work. The chairman generally works harder than board members. So the chairman should come from one of the owners, not somebody that is appointed, because they do not really have the power of a club,” he said.

Outspoken Butler insists Williams didn’t walk away but was pushed out by detractors within the organisation, and calls for his return.

“He was really an asset to the organisation but sometimes the one-eyed man wants to remain king in the town of the blind.

“It was easier to get rid of him than to support him because to support him would mean giving up some level of control and allow him to do his job, and people didn’t want to do that.

“They rather have no money for the clubs, no marketing, no growth, so they can continue to control,” he stated.

He added that that product is now worse off, as there is no income coming into the clubs.

“The clubs are sufferings. Donovan White is the acting chairman but, until we can find somebody, we need to beg Chris to come back. Beg him.” he emphasised.

According to Christie, Williams was a gift to the product, and that football will forever be indebted to him.

“He came, he saw and he conquered and elevated the product as we know it. He ran his race.

“The Jamaica Premier League is the number-one product in the Caribbean and all this was done under the chairmanship of Christopher Williams,” he noted.

He is confident that, through collective effort, they can continue to lift the standard of the JPL.

“The next person that is entrusted with the next leg, should continue to thrust the upward trajectory of the product and continue to improve.

“It must be the approach of the collective and the support the collective gives to the chairman.

“Whoever is the next chairman, we will continue to move forward. What is most important is the commitment of all 14 directors and how we move forward together,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com