Despite running the risk of not always doing as well as they have the potential to in the country’s top football league, Harbour View have for over three decades, exported some of their top talent to various international leagues.
The St Andrew-based club had their first transfer in 1979 when 17-year-old Keith Cunning-ham was spotted by Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings during a match against Trinidad and Tobago. Altimont ‘Freddie’ Butler followed in 1986 when he was signed by Guadeloupe club, L’Etoile de MorneL-à-l’Eau.
‘The Stars of the East’ hit the jackpot in 1998 when 18-year-old Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner was signed for £1 million by English Premier League outfit, Bolton Wanderers.
“We have always been playing international competitions to expose our players from an early age,” Clyde Jureidini, Harbour View’s general manager stated. “We have found that window and that way of operating is the best way, so we have been preparing our players and our young players in particular,” he added.
In more recent years, the defending premier league champions have transferred the likes of Luton Shelton and Fabian Taylor to Norwegian clubs. Just last season, they transferred top goalkeeper, Dwayne Miller and influential captain, Lovell Palmer. Miller joined Swedish outfit, Syrianska, while Palmer signed with Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Houston Dynamo.
High credibility
“We have been fortunate and blessed and we have been doing it a long time, so there is reputation and a level of credi-bility that have been built up over time,” Jureidini expressed. “We have always looked to export talent, we have always invested in young players. The overseas market has really looked to Jamaica by and large to siphon off young, talented players who have the potential to become professionals in an international club environment,” he disclosed.
Since this season, the club transferred the youngest player in their history, 14-year-old, Martin Davis. He joined Spanish giants, Valencia, in November. One of their top strikers, Kavin Bryan, is plying his trade in the Vietnamese league, while another striker in the form of André Fagan is also on trial in Vietnam until the second week of January.
Harbour View, which currently lie fifth in the Digicel Premier League table, could lose more players during the course of this season as two of their players have received invitations and will more than likely go on trial this season.
Jureidini said: “We have built up a network with clubs and agents and are learning the trade a little bit more. Clubs and agents tend to look to us and accept our players because overall they have done well.”
He, however, conceded that the constant transfer of players has also had negative effects on the club.
“It has been good and it has been bad because you are going to attract the interest of international clubs and agents with your best players,” he pointed out. “We have been constantly losing our best players and most times, our attacking players. Sometimes it is at crucial times and it affects the local result of the league, and the performance in the league from time to time,” he concluded.