The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) yesterday named four local coaches who will be employed as assistants to technical director René Simoes. Theodore Whitmore, Lenworth Hyde, Paul Young and Donovan Duckie will be initially contracted for three months and will work along with Simoes' Brazilian assistants, Alfredo Montesso, Chico Santos and Jose Alexandre Montenero.

"After the initial three months the coaches will be evaluated and their suitability assessed," said JFF president Captain Horace Burrell at a post-board meeting press conference yesterday.

Duckie, who has led Premier League debutantes St. Georges to a surprise fifth place midway the season, said he was elated by the news.

"I'm happy and I'm humbled by the opportunity," said Duckie. He added that he was one of a number of local coaches interviewed by Simoes earlier this week and that the technical director seemed impressed with his knowledge.

"We saw eye to eye on a lot of things and I know we are on the same page. Right now, I'm just willing to work hard and learn a lot from the professor."

To his credit, Duckie was assistant to former technical director Velibor Milutinovic during Jamaica's Asian tour last summer and was assistant to David Hunt for the U-17 team.

Several other key appointments were announced yesterday. Charles Edwards, Xavier Gilbert, Junior Francis and Oneil Thomas were named assistants to Simoes for the women's teams.

age-group trials

Jackie Walters, Leebert Halliman, Wendell Downswell (men) and Bradley Stewart and Vin Blaine (women) have been named national coordinators. Their specific roles according to Howard McIntosh, chairman of the Technical Committee, include identifying talent across the island, organising age-group trials and assessing coaches.

The increase in the technical staff means more wages.

Treasurer Gary Sinclair yesterday specified the budget at $1.231 billion, 27.5 per cent of which will be salaries.

The budget is for 30 months, ending after the 2010 World Cup. The majority of the budget, 44.5 per cent, will be required for match and training camp expenses.

Sinclair added that he expected 37 per cent of the budget to come from sponsorship, 30 per cent from gate receipts and the balance from the Government, merchandising, FIFA TV rights.

On the issue of TV rights, Burrell said there is still the unresolved issue between Sportsmax and Television Jamaica (TVJ). According to Burrell, TVJ has "paid a tidy sum" towards buying the rights for the World Cup qualifying home matches. However, a contract between Sportsmax and the JFF allowed the sports cable channel to have the first choice for buying the rights. The offer, however, was never made to Sportsmax.

"This situation is bound to erupt before long but we are willing to work with both entities," said Burrell.

The JFF president also pointed out that £135,000 pounds is still owed to the English FA for 9,118 tickets for the England vs Jamaica match in June 2006, and US$12,300 to CONCACAF due to the no-show of the U-15 team at the Caribbean Championships.

Burrell also added that a deal had fallen through with a kit sponsor, noting that they were unhappy with Jamaica's FIFA ranking.

"The negotiations hit a snag when they came back to us and said, based on our FIFA rankings, they were no longer interested. In other words, we are not a viable entity for them," he said.