The fallout of Jamaica’s failure to qualify automatically for next year’s World Cup and Steve McClaren’s shock resignation has continued, with a former Premier League player calling the manager’s decision as ‘tacky’ and ‘tasteless’.
Jamaica were given a double shock within minutes on Tuesday night; first when a 0-0 draw at home to Curacao saw them resigned to a qualifying play-off spot for next year’s final. Then shortly afterwards McClaren resigned as manager during his post-match press conference.
During his speech, the 64-year-old said: ‘It is the responsibility of the leader to step forward, take accountability and make decisions in the best interests of the team.
‘After deep reflection and an honest assessment of where we are and where we need to go, I have decided to step down as head coach of the Jamaican national team.’
However, on Wednesday ex-Premier League striker Troy Deeney took aim at McClaren – stating that his speech was ‘disingenuous’ and that he has left Jamaica in a worse place for doing so.
Speaking on CBS Sports Golazo, Deeney said: ‘I like Steve. If you’re going to resign straight after a game and apparently it’s “emotional” then you can’t be reading off a sheet of paper. You can’t be reading a script.
‘To me it felt disingenuous. It didn’t feel like it was really him and also they’re in the play-offs so you’ve left them in a worse position now.
‘They’re still trying to qualify as there is an opportunity to do so but you’ve taken the easy route like “it isn’t my fault”.
‘It’s one more round of games, just figure it out. Just get through it and win the game.’
As Deeney alludes to, the Reggae Boyz can still qualify via the play-offs and will face either Democratic Republic of Congo or Iraq in the first round.
‘I would love someone to ask Steve that if they had won that game and gone through would you have still resigned?,’ the former Watford captain continued. ‘And the answer would have been no because there would have been a World Cup at the end of it.
‘For me it comes across as there was a little bit of fear of “what if I am not the person to get it over the line?”.
‘I think he’s created more of a problem now and I would’ve loved it, as someone of Jamaican heritage, to have not seen him read off paper. From the game ending to you doing a press conference you had time to write and self-reflect as a leader? Not for me.
‘If he anything about him he’d have screwed the piece of paper up and put it in the bin.
‘I could be wrong but it feels pre-prepared. It felt “if we win, we’re going in this direction. If we lose, we’re going in this direction”.
‘It doesn’t look right and Steve is a very a good guy but it comes across tasteless and tacky.
‘It doesn’t come across as something Steve would normally do but he said it so has to be accountable for it.’
