Dennis Chung, chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Finance Committee, is projecting that this administration will adequately meet its financial obligations to new Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson and his assistants, despite the local governing body’s impoverished state.
Icelander Hallgrimsson, his assistant John Wall from Sweden and goalkeeper coach Gudmundur Hreidarsson, also an Icelander, were last Friday announced by the JFF as having agreed to a four-year-old contract to guide the National Senior Men’s Team from January 2023.
The unveiling of the new head coach and his assistants at this time triggered obvious questions, especially for an administration which is critically in need of funds/
But Chung is of the view that the administration has identified enough funds to meet its demands, coupled with a number of internal changes geared to foster better efficiency.
”We’ve identified a lot of funding, we are working with FIFA, and we are trying to see where we can get additional funds from,” Chung told CNW Network.
“We think that we’ll have sufficient,” he added, as they’ve “paid off a lot of the debt that has been due, 11 of the last 14 matches (for senior Reggae Boyz for World Cup qualification, that has been paid off. We have another payment due next [this] week, we’ve liquidated the tax liability that has been here from before even this administration, so we are making strides and we are hoping that with the rebranding that’s happening corporate Jamaica will come on.”
Without providing any specifics, Chung reiterated that the present administration has done a lot of internal changes. He says they have established internal governance around the controls, and that the JFF is up to date with audited financial statements.
Still, he couldn’t help but admit that “some of it is a gamble, [but] a lot of it is efficiency, improvements and internal controls.”
But in clarifying, he said: “I don’t think it’s a huge gamble, you’ve seen the coach, you’ve listened to him, I think he’ll be a great attraction and I think he’ll do a lot for Jamaican football.”
It is expected that FIFA will lend financial support to the JFF in this regard. Still, JFF President Michael Ricketts made it clear that none of the financial benefits from the new Puma kit deal, due to start in January 2023, will be geared towards paying the coaches.
“Based on the discussion we have and based on the initiatives that are being taken, if it’s not going to happen because there is a possibility that it won’t happen, then we will let everybody know,” stated Chung.
 Finance Committee, says they can pay Reggae Boyz coach Heimir Hallgrimsson){kind=link}